It seems only appropriate to write a blog on Earth Day. A Midwestern thunderstorm has darkened my office and I can hear thunder rumbling through my open window. I can also hear the birds calling each other in the late afternoon, car traffic across the street, and wind rustling the leaves on a black walnut tree. Rain has started tinkling on a table outside. This is the sound of our planet, of nature.
I have recently found a movement that is new to me and embodies such a cacophony of life and nature.
Have you heard of it?
Admittedly, I had not until about a month or so ago. I received an email from an Iowa Women for Water colleague, and she connected me with someone who is very interested in making sure that the Iowa leads the Midwest with this movement.
It's pretty simple- create corridors for animals to travel along that allows them to migrate freely. It's also seemingly impossible to envision such a proposal in the land of corn and soybeans. Our Iowa is 93% row-cropped agriculture with a growing industrial meat sector that has put animals in buildings and converted fields to one or two crops. This is not surprising news to anyone with a pulse, but it does create one major roadblock for wildlife migratory patterns. Transportation infrastructure creates another.
But here's an opportunity (an Earth Day silver-lining, if you will) - connect corridors along our rivers and creeks, where land is heavily sloped or the potential for flooding keeps development away, and maybe, just maybe there's a chance.
There's quite a bit of learning to do, but I'm looking forward to jumping into this very wild idea. There is an active Facebook page (Re-Wilding Iowa) that I recommend and I'll keep you posted so check back in!
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