The Fellowship of the Lynx
For those of you able to attend our Third Anniversary Party on October 6th, 2024, you had the pleasure of hearing board member John Rohrer tell a tall tale about Home Range and the Fellowship of the Lynx. If you weren't able to attend- you can still share in this wondrous story below. Enjoy.
A Tall Tale (a story with unbelievable elements, related as if it were true and factual) based loosely on real HRWR people.
I borrowed lines liberally from a popular movie Trilogy.
By John Rohrer
October 2024
The Fellowship of the Lynx
Chapter 1.
The world has changed. I feel it in the water. I feel it on the earth. I smell it in the air. Much that once was is lost.
Once the mountains here were cloaked in a thick green blanket of lodgepole pine, spruce, and fir. Wildlife was abundant. Chickadees, nuthatches, and flycatchers flitted through the forest canopy. Red squirrels, chipmunks, and snowshoe hares scampered along the forest floor. Black bears, pine martens, and porcupines padded around. And reigning over them all; elusive, silent, ethereal, the master of the mountain, the wraith of the woods, the lynx. Dozens of lynx prowled through the green blanket of the forest, stealthily stalking the snowshoe hare.
But much has changed. After a long absence, Fire has come back to the mountains and is re-establishing its dominance. In fact, it seems intent on catching up for lost time. Much of the green blanket has burned. Most of the mountains are now naked and black with only charred stumps and ash remaining. Lynx still linger in the remaining forest but their numbers are greatly reduced. Many predict, “The age of the conifer is over, the time of the shrubs has come.” Some predict, “The lynx is doomed.”
But not all is lost. There is still hope. All has not yet burned. And what has burned is not to remain black. A new forest is growing, but it needs time to be a thick, green blanket again. Yet Fire returns to the mountains every summer. Would the new forest grow back before all the old was lost? Could the lynx hang on? Or would the beginnings of the new forest burn too?
Chapter 2.
In a small valley at the foot of the mountains, Carmen, Anna, and Becca were out for their morning run. It was mid-morning, after second breakfast but before Elevensies. These 3 women loved the mountains. They loved all things wild and especially they loved the lynx. They would go to the mountains and skip through the meadows, holding hands and laughing. They would high-five and hug each other when they found a lynx track, or better yet, an image of one on a trail cam.
Yes, these 3 loved all things wild, but most of all they loved the lynx. They talked about lynx, thought about lynx, dreamt about lynx, and worried about lynx. Especially on this day because on this morning run it hit them all at the same time; smoke. They smelled smoke. A new fire. Then they saw it, a dark column of smoke mushrooming into the sky. A big fire, on the mountain. “Oh no! Not again!” they cried. “Will no one do anything for the lynx. Someone must do something before it is too late. We must do something. But how? What can we do? We are so small, we have no clout, no standing. How can we help? Gloom, despair, and agony. Oh woe are we.”
Chapter 3.
The fire was a big one. It burned for weeks. It burned more of the old green blanket of forest, and worse, it re-burned some of the new, regrowing forest. Something had to be done. Everyone knew it. It was time. A Council was called, a secret Council: the Council of the Bureaucrats. All those interested in lynx sent representatives; USFS, USFWS, WDFW, WDNR, CNW, and others.
The Council of Bureaucrats exhibited the best of bureaucracy. They hired a facilitator and built an agenda. They power-pointed, brainstormed, and flip-charted. They took coffee breaks and had break-out sessions. They synergized, leveraged for low-hanging fruit, then circled back for a deep dive after key performance indicators. They segued to foster collaboration and increase their bandwidth.
But mostly, they argued:
“We must punch holes in the remaining forest to protect it.”
“No! Too much has been lost, we must protect all that is left. We must keep fire out and keep every remaining acre intact.”
“Not with 10,000 men could you do this. It is folly.”
“We must use fire to fight fire.”
“You cannot wield it, none of us can. It has no master.”
As the day drug on and the coffee ran out, the facilitator summarized:
We must manage our forests but we don’t know how, why, when, or where to start. We need more information. We need more data. Who will collect it? Studying the elusive lynx requires specialized equipment, gear, knowledge, and skills of epic bad-assery.
The arguing starts again; who has the skill, who has the time, who can we trust? The Council of Bureaucrats descends into chaos as members accuse and bring up past wrongs and shortcomings. Fake news and alternative facts are being slung. The mics are not muted so they all try to shout over each other.
Then, from the back of the room, Carmen, Anna, and Becca have had enough. They stride to the middle of the room, leap up onto the table and shout, “We will do it. We will collect the data!” Clara and Christine burst into the room and jump up next to them and declare, “You’re not collecting anything without us! Besides, you need people of intelligence on this mission…quest…thing.” The room is silent, the Council members glance sideways at each other and slowly start to nod their heads in approval. Yes, Yes!
The facilitator says, “Five companions. So be it. You shall be the Fellowship of the Lynx.”
Carmen spoke, “We will collect this data, but first we must form a 501c3 so we will need some advisors.” A great wizard, who was also a bad-ass attorney in Olympia, stepped forward, “I will help you bear this burden, as long as it is yours to bear.” More advisors stepped up and the Journey began.
Chapter 4.
The Fellowship of the Lynx faced many obstacles and barriers on their Journey. Collecting data on the elusive lynx is challenging. There were equipment needs, bills to pay, permits to acquire, trust to be earned, more bills to pay, and the cave trolls of winter field work, snowmobiles. A painful necessity.
But the Fellowship strode forward, overcoming obstacles one at a time. Many stepped forward in support. Another great wizard joined the Fellowship, a wizard at QuickBooks and Excell spreadsheets. And the road got smoother. And the Fellowship collected data. They went to the mountains. They went there and back again. Many times. They live-trapped lynx, they back-tracked lynx in the snow, and they tracked lynx on trail cameras. Their enthusiasm and passion were so contagious they were able to convince student interns that spending a summer in the mountains counting sticks would be fun.
The data collection is growing but the journey is not over. There are more bills to pay and cave trolls to deal with. Will they fulfill this mission. . . quest . . thing? Will they give the Council of Bureaucrats the data they need? Will the lynx survive?
Join them.
Ride out with them.
The road goes ever on.
Even the smallest person can change course of the future.
John Rohrer is a Home Range Wildlife Research board member and retired USFS wildlife biologist. You can read more about him here.