we preserve mountains and volcanoes and
places that are wonders to behold
places that are difficult to develop
or farm
or destroy
but what of preserving the lifegiving mundane?
the prairies as vast as the eye can see
but only seen
as ripe for cornfields and highways
or the wetlands
waiting to be filled
or the lakes
begging for boats and summer homes
places perfect in function
rich in biodiversity, carbon sequestration, and water filtration
lands fit for the boring tasks
of sustaining
not just the sandhill crane and pocket gopher
but the stumbling, foolish animal that is the human
the human
with needs so similar to those of
the deer and the deer mouse
clean water, clean air, nutritious foods
a place to call home
how similar even
to the golden paintbrush or the oregon oak
whose roots reach for water unpolluted by
fertilizers or industrial toxins
as our hands reach
to find the same safety and sustenance
three percent
only three percent of washington’s westside prairies remain
and how little tallgrass
left for the sparrow and shrike
more than half the marshes and swamps
taken from the otter and rail
where will the bog turtle or elfin go?
when home has become a parking lot
or landfill
no longer safe to lay delicate eggs
to raise their young
to swim or fly or run
in wild freedom
where will humans go?
when the mundane places that protect our water
and give us clean air
food
and soil
are gone
—
Fern Crossway is a conservation biologist, writer, creative, and educator working with endangered butterflies in New England and the Pacific Northwest. She obtained her BS from SUNY College of Environmental Science and Forestry and is currently pursuing her PhD at the University of Washington. Fern’s work is centered in ecology and ecofeminism and her writing often explores the relationship between women and nature, and the parallels between the subjugation of women and environmental destruction.
