Fjölrit RALA - 05.12.1999, Side 19

Thadis W. Box
17
deliver the technology of developed countries to depleted rangelands in countries un-
able to provide for their human population.
Stopping or mitigating desertifícation will be linked to cultural demands. Cultures
change, land use changes. and people will want new things. If what cultures want
from the land is not compatible with the ecological base, cultures cannot succeed.
Balancing land capability to cultural demands will be controlled by what we can
imagine, creativity, vision, and all these are tied to education.
There are some simple steps in education and creating a vision: (1) making people
aware of the facts, (2) giving people problem solving skills, (3) providing a bag of
tools, and (4) inspiring people to do something to solve the problem.
We need to create new visions and tie science and application together into those
simple steps if we are to care for the land as proper stewards. First we need to identify
the problem. What is causing desertifícation of our lands? We need a clear definition
of what land degradation is and why people should be concerned about it.
Second we must set priorities. What problems can we tackle that will really make a
difference? How can we focus our science on the problem?
Third we must continue to improve our bag of tools. We have made progress in
biological and physical sciences as they relate to desertifícation. Now we should tie
ecology, economic development, and social justice together. We need to accept social
sciences as land management tools, and improve our application of science to new
cultural demands.
Fourth we must inspire people to make something happen, create new visions of
what may be. But we are having trouble implementing new visions because we do not
know how to relate to our new cultures.
We are products of our own cultures, but our children’s children will be living in a
different time. We deplore the overgrazing of our grandfather’s sheep, but we were
not part of his fight for survival. We live in a different time and are faced with differ-
ent problems. Some years ago I tried to relate the survival actions of New Mexico
pioneers with the degraded landscapes in the Organ Mountains with the following
poem. I think it describes how our grandchildren mav view us.
Stump Near Soledad Canyon
on desert ridge
bare
save yucca
cacti
and woody scrub
a stump clings
relict of a gentler time