Document text
0 of 3 Premium Clicks used this month SUBSCRIBE Print + Online Subscriber Activation | Register x Forgot Password | Need an Account? subscribe | newsletter | deals Classifieds Jobs Autos Real Estate FEATURED » NEWS NOW Herb Rothschild: The year in review ... Guest Opinion: Gateway art process failed ... International Peace Day: Ashland Culture of Peace event Monday ... Herb Rothschild: The year in review ... Guest Opinion: Gateway art process failed ... International Peace Day: Ashland Culture of Peace event Monday ... WILD SIDE 'Homecoming' can be to a time or a place — for a person, or a wolf Comment By Joseph Vaile KS Wild DailyTidings.com By Joseph Vaile KS Wild Posted Aug. 11, 2015 at 6:37 PM By Joseph Vaile KS Wild Posted Aug. 11, 2015 at 6:37 PM » RELATED CONTENT • Head out to the Siskiyou Crest before summer's end • Wild Side: Summer vacation lessons from the heartland • How to beat the heat (and climate change?) • The seven wonders of southwest Oregon • Earth Day: Hope for our 'pale blue dot' » Social News I don’t know about you, but I am ready for fall. The scorching heat and forest fire smoke has forced me indoors to the point where I am even working out on one of those elliptical machines at the YMCA. I can’t wait for the first big rain. I finally resorted to taking a trip to the southern Oregon coast to avoid the heat. As I drove back into town, through the lively streets of Ashland in late summer, I felt a deep sense of home — the kind of home you can feel in your bones. My mind on fall and the high school homecoming celebrations that ensue, I began pondering the real meaning of the term “homecoming.” Thomas Wolfe said, “You can’t go home again.” What Wolfe meant was that home is always changing. We are always changing. We are not static and we need to embrace the impermanence of our idea of home. As Wolfe elaborated, “You can't go back home to your family, back home to your childhood ... back home to a young man's dreams of glory and of fame ... back home to places in the country, back home to the old forms and systems of things which once seemed everlasting but which are changing all the time — back home to the escapes of Time and Memory.” I think about homecoming from the perspective of another “Wolfe” — the gray wolf. Wolves once abounded on the West Coast. But, after decades of trapping and poisoning, wolves were eradicated from our landscape and, in 1924, the last wolf in California was shot and killed. In 2011, a lone wolf named OR-7 made headlines after taking a short jaunt into California. Then, earlier this month, camera footage revealed that California is now home to a resident grey wolf — the first to live there in 90 years! It’s so amazing that the grey wolf has returned to its native home after total eradication. But what will home be like for the wolf? A lot has changed since 1924. Roads and highways cover the landscape, as do strip-malls, subdivisions and huge swaths of farmland. California is in the midst of severe drought and the effects of climate change are palpable. As Wolfe said, home changes but we are changing too. We know now that there is an end to the seemingly limitless wilderness. We have seen a need to protect species like the wolf and the habitat of other wildlife, so we have passed laws to protect dwindling habitats and clean up the environment for our needs — laws like the Wilderness Act, Endangered Species Act and Clean Water Act. While gray wolves will never come home to a landscape unchanged from the one that existed 90 years ago, we can help them recover and give them the opportunity to restore balance to nature. We can do this for the birds and mammals who also migrate home, for the salmon returning home to spawn in their natal streams. After all, homecoming is not just a human concept, enjoyed in the form of football games and class reunions. It is very much a part of the natural world. Joseph Vaile is executive director of the Klamath-Siskiyou Wildlands Center (KS Wild, 541-488-5789, www.kswild.org ). His Wild Side column appears every three weeks. By Joseph Vaile KS Wild DailyTidings.com By Joseph Vaile KS Wild Posted Aug. 11, 2015 at 6:37 PM » Comment or view comments Reader Reaction » STAY INFORMED Email NewsLetter Sign Up Today Sign up for our newsletter and have the top headlines from your community delivered right to your inbox. Southern Oregon Directory Featured Businesses Loading... Business Name address Location, ST | website.com Find Southern Oregon Attractions Bars Restaurants Beauty Salons Entertainment Doctors Medical Specialists Contractors Education Lawn Services Lawyers Shopping Travel Tanning Used Cars Wedding Services ▼ Add your business here + Events Calendar Connect with DailyTidings.com Facebook Twitter RSS Back to top Reader Services Reader Services home Subscriptions Subscriber controls Contact us Submissions Photos Events Letters to the editor Corrections Alerts Email alerts RSS feeds Text Alerts Advertise Media Kit Home Products and services Ad rates Advertising contacts Propel Marketing Mail Tribune Daily Tidings The Nickel Shop Our Valley Blogs Mobile Site Stay Informed Email newsletter Sign Up Today Sign up for our newsletter and have the top headlines from your community delivered right to your inbox. Your privacy is important, read our privacy policy. © Copyright 2015 Local Media Group, Inc. All Rights Reserved. Privacy Policy | Terms of Service | Local Media Group Publications Original content available for non-commercial use under a Creative Commons license, except where noted. DailyTidings.com | P.O. Box 1108, Medford, OR 97501