Judi Scharns with the conservation group MountainKeepers sketched an awkward outline of an indistinguishable tree on a large piece of paper and then instructed members of the 28 businesses and organizations present for the High Country Conservation Summit to decorate it.
It may not have looked like an oak, but it clearly wasn't a choose-and-cut Christmas tree. The members of the conservation groups, meeting for a daylong networking summit at the Broyhill Inn and Conference Center Tuesday, were told to take construction paper and colored pens and "decorate" the tree with symbols of how their particular group or organization related to the large, symbolic tree outline.
Appalachian Regional Initiative for Solar Energy (ARISE), working to educate the public on the value of solar heat and energy, placed a cutout of the sun and rays of renewable energy beaming down on the branches. Watauga River Conservation Partners put a clean, clear-flowing source of fresh "food" at the roots of the tree.
The organizations filled out the branches and then introduced themselves with a brief explanation of purpose and goals. The introductions were the message and purpose for the summit. Hosted by the MountainKeepers, the Watauga County Center of the N.C. State Cooperative Extension Service, Appalachian State University and the Boone Area Chamber of Commerce, the word for the day was "networking."
The summit purpose was to gather agencies and organizations addressing conservation issues and provide the opportunity to share ideas, concerns and activities and meet other organizations with similar goals and interests.
In addition to the Watauga River Conservation Partners and ARISE, representatives from the other 26 groups, representing conservation interests, concerned businesses and community action organizations, included Appalachian Voices, the Blue Ridge Parkway Foundation, the Blue Ridge Rural Land Trust, the Blue Ridge Wildlife Institute, Partnership for Watauga's Future, the Cove Creek Community Council, the High Country Conservancy, Mast General Store, the Middlefork Greenway Association and the N.C. Wildlife Resources Commission.
Nancy Reigel with MountainKeepers said, "The purpose of the summit is to get to know each other; discover overlaps, gaps and develop a synergy with concerned organizations."
Another purpose, according to Reigel, was to lay the groundwork and support for a Community Conservation Expo currently scheduled for Sept. 21 in the ASU Varsity Gym. The expo will share information with the public on conservation issues and invite them to get involved in issues important to the individual and the community.
If "networking" was the word for the day, "involvement" was the theme.
Lenny Kohm, a long-time resident of the Todd community and conservation director for Appalachian Voices, was the keynote speaker and he was flush with victory. "Last Thursday," Kohm said, "The U.S. Senate voted 54 to 46 to preserve the most perfect, pristine place on the planet."
Kohm had no need to explain to those present that he was referring to the recent vote to prevent oil drilling and exploration in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge in Alaska. Referred to by the acronym ANWR (an-war) by the national media, Kohm said that he didn't use the term, invented he said, by oil companies so that they would not have to refer to either wildlife or refuge.
Kohm has been working in the front lines of the battle to prevent oil drilling in "the refuge" since 1987 and was, according to many present, a leader in the fight and instrumental in the victory.
"I was the messenger," Kohm said. "Credit goes to you folks."
Kohm said Spanish explorers, Francisco Pizarro and Hernando Cortes wiped out the Inca and Aztec civilizations because they needed the gold. Americans wiped out the buffalo and the Indians because we needed the land. "We are preparing to do it again because we need the oil," Kohm said.
Despite his credentials and battle pennants, Kohm did not come across as a radical conservationist of the type depicted as spiking trees, camping in branches to prevent old growth forest logging and burning and destroying equipment for a statement and a tactic.
Kohm is a soft-spoken conservationist of inclusion.
He said that when he started he wanted to change the world over night and realized that it was not going to happen.
Kohm used the example of depositing one penny in a bank on May 1 and doubling that (two cents) on May 2, doubling each amount on each successive day. At the end of 30 days, when all figures are totaled, the balance will be in the millions of dollars.
He suggested that the audience do the same thing with people; talking to one today, two tomorrow, four the next day until the message is spread and the population is working on issues that they recognize as important to their piece of the planet.
"We have to," Kohm said, "by some means, make 'they' 'we.' 'They' (all levels of government) are 'us.'"
Kohm cautioned the groups to work to include the community in action and to find areas of common concern and interest to bring people who would never call or consider themselves as conservationists into the fold.
Everyone wants to drink clean water and breathe clean air, Kohm said. Half of the battle is finding the right way to convince people that conservation issues are their issues.
"That is a sales problem," Kohm said, " and I'm a salesman."