ENHS Nature Trails March 2000 Article 1

This month's speaker: Tom Giesen

March brings us another great speaker and an environmentally objective voice to talk to us about "Forest Ecology on Private Lands," a topic not so heavily addressed. Tom hopes to educate us through his video-accompanied talk about forest ecology, which he feels has aspects more profound than even scientists can recognize. This concept of Tom's grew out of a statement made by the now somewhat famous, Jack Ward Thomas, a retired Chief of our National Forests and currently a college professor. Writing about elk in an article in The Bugle a few decades back, Thomas stated, "Ecosystems are not only more complicated than we think, but more complicated than we can think." This article, geared toward the niche elk have carved in our forests, encouraged forest service and wildlife managers to spend less time managing herds on the basis of numbers of bulls and cows and more time on habitat.

Tom knew from his own experiences in the woods that habitats on our public lands were not in good shape: silt build up from operations in and along rivers, the development of forest monocultures, clear cutting . . . Since his early years growing up in Wisconsin and Texas, Tom has spent considerable time in our forests. He learned the skills of hunting and fishing in his youth, though has since abandoned them, not out of disapproval of the practice, but out of a lifestyle change incorporating vegetarianism.

After earning a BA in History with a minor in Civil Engineering from Rice University, he came to Oregon in 1966. He did graduate studies at the University of Oregon and earned an MA degree in Fine Arts and Creative Writing--yes, he wrote some short stories early on in his career. He still writes but in a more educational vein today.

Tom became a member of and eventually assumed a leadership role in the Isaac Walton League and developed a particular interest in elk. Realizing their loss of habitat, Tom began focusing his efforts on restoring healthy forests and joined the ONRC, Oregon Natural Resources Council in the mid-1980s. He eventually became president. This involvement caused Tom to become even more aware of the role all our forests play in our eco-systems, not just the public forests.

And approximately three years ago, Tom switched from concentrating his efforts on public lands to one of educating about private land habitat management. He will speak to us on this topic as a representative of CPR 501 C3, Citizens for Public Resources. We will be enlightened!

Tom is president of Tom Giesen Consultant, Inc. a company providing estimating and budgeting for construction projects.

ISAAC WALTON LEAGUE OF AMERICA

The League, named after the 17th century British angler/conservationist, was formed in 1922 in Chicago by a group of sportsmen concerned about the deteriorating conditions of America's top fishing streams. "To accomplish its mission of conserving and properly managing the country's soil, air, woods, waters and wildlife, the League has a number of national organizations," including Legislative Affairs and Save Our Streams. For more information:

http://www.iwla.org

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