Dan Shaffer | Staunton, VA
Dan Shaffer is the Executive Director of Allegheny-Blue Ridge Alliance (ABRA).
Why does wilderness matter to you?
It is about the only place left where we have the opportunity to completely unplug from the screens, constant, intrusive notifications and the ever-present NEED of the rest of society that we have somehow come to accept, if not become addicted to. There is a real chance that your phone WON'T work to steal you away from experiencing each precious moment.
Spending time in wilderness or wild places reminds us that we can still DO things (indeed we have to) without the modern crutches that do more to hold us down than lift us up.
Feeling the sun on your face, hearing leaves rustle in the trees, smelling last year's leaves on the wind, seeing a hawk soaring on a thermal, watching a chipmunk go about its daily business, we are reminded where we come from: basic elemental forces, simple acts of survival, living fully each fleeting moment.
The beauty of simply EXISTING is something we have learned how to forget. In doing so, we lost ourselves. Wilderness helps us reclaim a piece of it.
Why does wilderness matter to your community?
Western Virginia is blessed with an array of outdoor opportunities. Not only a number of wilderness areas, but heart of the eastern hardwood forest are found here in the George Washington, Jefferson and Monongahela national forests (that's WV!). Aside from AT hikers, mountain bikers and autumn leaf peepers, these mountains, and the wilderness areas at their hearts provide solace, clean water and air, and a sense of pervasive life that makes this such a beautiful, nurturing place to live. Oh yeah...and jobs!
Without the protections afforded the wilderness areas, and the lesser-but-significant protections for the roadless areas that surround them, this could quickly become a very different, much less hospitable place. People live and play here because it's beautiful and welcoming. If it wasn't anymore...?
Share a story about a special experience you have had in wilderness.
Toward the end of my senior year in high school, several friends and I decided to go camping at local wilderness. Two guys were really late and I got fed up. I decided I'd go secure and set up camp, about a mile up the trail, and come back and meet them at the trailhead. I can't remember why, but nobody showed.
At first I was annoyed, but it was a beautiful May night and the moon was full. I knew the trail and didn't need a light to get back to camp. Rather than pack up and hike out, I decided to stay myself and just enjoy being out there...alone, in the quiet.
Even aside from the rushing river, it was anything but! With no fire and no talking, the mountains came alive around me. Sounds of bubbling water, soft bird calls, insects and tiny foraging animals reminded me that I was just one little part of the world doing its thing. It was one of the most beautiful nights I've ever spent on Earth - a single moment that went on and on. I could not be more grateful that the others bailed!
What are your hopes for the future of wilderness?
Mainly that we don't allow greed to destroy it. I want my kids to share these places with their kids and their grandkids.
A world without wild places is a world that has lost a big part of its soul. Or rather, had it stolen!
