On Thursday, March 1, Wygal Auditorium saw a huge influx of visitors, students, faculty and com munity members alike, gather to listen to a pre sentation by Yellowstone National Park conserva tionist Michael Leach. Leach is also the Program director, Founder and Executive director of Yel lowstone Country Guardians, a nonprofit whose "mission" according to Leach "is to inspire local communities to nurture the wildness and spirit of Yellowstone country." Leach, a fourth generation Idaho, Montana and Wyoming native, also came to bring a little of his home's wildness to the Virginia he described as "regal."
During a short introduction, Associate Profes sor of Sociology Dr. Carl Riden talked about Leach and his role in securing her comfort and identity at Longwood. Afterwards, Leach took the stage.
Leach exploded into an energetic display of con scious corniness. After breaking the ice, he spoke of his experience feeling Longwood's energy at Yellowstone and his reason for being there that night, which was to talk about the power of pur poseful action and its place in continuing the field of conservation. He also told the students to have an open heart and mind, to be adaptable for their eventual encounter with real life and their immi nent encounter with conservation.
What he did in Wygal that night was what Leach calls a "sermon about the big, large mega fauna." There were mentions of the grizzly bear, the bison and the wolf, but also talk of the fisher ies that Leach protects and has become intimately involved with several summer fly fishing trips. Fly fishing, Leach said is a religion. Part of glamour emerges not only from the beautiful art of cast ing and waiting for the next trout or Senor Blanco but the native sacredness of Yellowstone National Park.
Shortly explaining the history of Yellowstone, originating in the preservation of its many ther mal features such as geysers and mud pots, Leach launched into a discussion about the preservation of the park's wild life. First, he talked about the destruction of bear habitat and food sources, their occasional hunting and their feeding by humans which only caused more issues.
Citing 1,800 miles of protected national forest land around Yellowstone, Leach talked about the long and difficult history between people in the area and wolves. Their reintroduction, still found threatening by many people, is shown to re-bal ance ecosystems and keep a healthy population of organisms as distantly related as willow trees. Fi nally, Leach arrived at the bison and their reintro duction after the long period of decimation during the 19th century.
While praising the leaps made in conservation, Leach also saw it as important to recognize the current situation that has caused 29 mammal spe cies to dwindle in the lower 48. These species are attached to a person's sense of place Leach said and suffer from the encroachment of human popu lations known as Island Syndrome.
Stressing the connection between a healthy eco system and a healthy community of people, Leach then talked about the preservation of plants that Grizzlies depend on. He also discussed the wont on way in which humans deal with animals show cased in his essay "Bison and Bigotry: Is Gardiner Montana the Selma Alabama of Conservation To day?"
Leach went on to say that "one of the great things about Yellowstone is that I can travel to Longwood University. You could travel to Chi cago, Seattle, Manhattan … Yellowstone, it's an American icon yet it's a global treasure. I hope to help people acknowledge the spiritual significance and ecological importance of Yellowstone."
A big point for Leach was the comparison, though respectful towards the humans involved, of the Civil Rights movement with the Modern Conservation movement for the rights and pro tection of wild life and its habitats. Leach said "I think it comes down to education … and some times I think it comes down to a generation dying. I mean there are people who will go to their graves [believing a certain thing] but this generation I'd like to believe would be more open minded and can hopefully recognize the [importance] of sci ence and ecology."
Expanding his focus on young volunteers, Leach said we're "trying to create a new surge by inspir ing a new paradigm. I think the fate of this big rug ged watery planet earth rests in the hands of our young people. I think they are much more than the future. They're the here and now."
