Our Goals in Conservation and Political Activism
Why we are here!
Our public lands are at a crossroads, caught in a back and forth between people who seek to exploit them as a profit center with total disregard until they are tapped for resources, and people who believe that each area should be roped off, guarded and remain untouched by humans. Both groups are a minority, but their aggressive tactics and political posturing will leave the majority of us staring at an unusable mass of land, either void of life or locked away under rules written by the marginal extremes of our society. Furthermore, as they are publicly funded lands, we as taxpayers will still be holding the bill for these lands without any opportunity to benefit from them, no matter how ethical or sustainable the methods may be.
Fin + Forage is founded in the idea that all people should have the opportunity and knowledge to access public lands and waters while enjoying the natural bounty they provide. While our primary goal has been to provide information to do so in a safe manner and to teach the most sustainable methods available, we also recognize that we need to help retain and preserve the areas that will provide these activities for us and future generations. A definitive part of keeping our lands open and accessible is making sure that every person who participates in collecting and consuming these foods are well versed in both the scientific and legal issues surrounding them. It is imperative we stay engaged in the ongoing studies, action plans and proposed legislation in government, as these can have a massive and sudden impact on our community. It is our belief that these key principles: knowledge, practice and community action, will be the keys to preserving both the environment and the resources available to our people, and they must be approached hand in hand. Otherwise they will lead to an unbalanced and misguided outcome.
What we will do.
Behind the scenes, Fin and Forage has been creating connections with the officials at the overseeing governing bodies and conducting meetings with existing and like minded conservation groups to establish a report and map out the best and most effective methods available to ensure that our community is heard on the topics that matter most.
For those of you interested in following along and helping us create active change, we will be creating a monthly newsletter as well as adding to our blog to help inform our community of environmental and legislation issues, while providing a fair and balanced overview of each item, so that each individual can create a undirected and nuanced opinion. We believe that all people should have the opportunity to develop thoughts on these matters without influence, fear mongering or grandstanding and will do our best to create a wholly journalistic view point with additional resources to dive into. On the other side of this, we will be publishing opinion pieces, not to influence, but to hopefully open up different avenues of thought on certain topics. These pieces will be clearly labeled and will not be in anyway posted as fact and will also include outside resources.
If you feel the need to get more involved, like minded organizations will be explored and showcased so that you can get an educated and detailed look at groups that are on the forefront of these efforts. We will be interviewing the leaders and highlighting their main efforts so that you can choose to be part of those who may take on the topics you are interested in and who may not have a similar goal in mind.
Last and not least we will be open and willing to take your questions and concerns via email. If you feel we are missing a topic or area of focus that may be key to our way of life, please send all the information to conservation@finandforage.com and we will start working on a way to bring it to the community and looking into ways to help.