Greetings,
The Biography section for some reason gave very little room, so here is some standard stuff:
Grew up in Mount Horeb, Wisconsin in same house as my father; built by my grandfather. Attended the local public school system K-12. Post-secondary education includes a BA Zoology, 1977, Univ. of Northern Colorado; MS Ecology, 1981, Univ. of Minnesota – Twin Cities; and MS Water Resources Management, 1984, Univ, of Wisconsin – Madison.
Career has largely been with the State of Wisconsin Departments of Natural Resources (DNR) and Health Services (DHS), primarily involved in the enforcement of environmental and public health laws. While at the DNR, I was involved in environmental enforcement policy development at the state, regional, and national level. How that ended is for another time.
Also served from 2002-2012 on the board of The Madison Institute (TMI), based in Madison, Wisconsin. TMI has historically provided progressive policy forums and roundtables; often bringing in speakers of national prominence. However, it has been chronically underfunded.
Officially retired from DHS (last day in office was the day of Trump’s inauguration). Now live with cats Freddy and Greta in the hills of the Driftless Area west of where I grew up, in a cabin started by my grandfather, continued by my father, and now in my hands. Much of my time is focused on music and Tai Chi Chuan as well as the latter’s foundations in Taoism and its philosophical cousin so to speak, Zen Buddhism. Also building a variety of things around here to varying degrees of success and trying, on my few acres, to create a wildlife area focused on biodiversity.
Greta (left) and Freddy:
Here’s a photo of my Grandpa Johnson standing outside of the original cabin, nearly completed, around 1931:
Oh – and writing things that are largely ignored.
I’m a rookie at this, so we’ll see how this evolves,,,
In recognition of Earth Day, I would like to start with a quote from someone who has greatly influenced my world view and for that matter, my spirituality.
“Conservation is getting nowhere because it is incompatible with our Abrahamic concept of land. We abuse land because we regard it as a commodity belonging to us. When we see land as a community to which we belong, we begin to use it with love and respect. There is no other way for land to survive the impact of mechanized man, nor for us to reap from it the esthetic harvest it is capable, under science, of contributing to culture.
That land is a community is the basic concept of ecology, but that land is to be loved and respected is an extension of ethics. That land yields a cultural harvest is a fact long known, but latterly often forgotten.”
“Perhaps such a shift in values can be achieved by reappraising things unnatural, tame, and confined in terms of natural, wild, and free.”
Aldo Leopold
Madison, Wisconsin
4 March, 1948
The quote comes from the introduction to a compilation of his writings generally referred to as “A Sand County Almanac”, although other key writings of his are generally included. Leopold is considered the father of the field of Wildlife Management and was an early advocate for the vital role predators (and everything else, for that matter) played in a healthy ecosystem. He was also one of the founders of The Wilderness Society.
Leopold is a shining star of the old Wisconsin that I knew. An experience that has been denied to generations of children. Systematically and maliciously destroyed over the course of my lifetime.
I guess this is a starting point to contemplate in light the freak show masquerading as reality now imposed upon us. Let’s hope we haven't achieved herd immunity from the knowledge and reason on which this Republic was founded.
Fred
Happy to subscribe and to partake in the sharing of your perspective