I’ll never be a student missionary. That’s
why I spent 10 months teaching—and learning—in Palawan.
I’m never going to college. Three
semesters now stand between me and graduation.
I am not going to be a writer. A bird bum, a lawyer, a logger, even—but not a writer.
So, it
should come as no surprise that here I am, in Three Lakes Wisconsin, using my
Christmas Break as a sort of writing hermitage. I sit in the lobby of Deja Brews, drinking my caffeinated dues
that endow both (a) wi-fi and (b) an escape from the curmudgeonly companions sharing
my cabin 2 miles down the road.
Escape. Sam Campbell (1895-1962), one of
the early voices of the early American conservation movement, journeyed to
Three Lakes for escape too, then using the inspiration from his time here to
encourage all that would listen to pursue their own nature escapes.
Sam Campbell
Encouraging conservation
through invitation rather than regulation, Sam didn’t leave The Wilderness Society
or the Boundary Waters in his wake. Sam’s approach to environmentalism instead
employed his woodland friends to speak his message of stewardship; this
strategy had an exceptional impact on his audience.
Ironically,
these things setting Sam Campbell apart from other environmentalists of his era
render him one of the least-remembered forces of the American conservation
movement. This enigma is remarkable for a man who, in 30 years, delivered more
than 10,000 lectures to a collective audience of more than 9 million, produced
more than 150,000 feet of film, and published numerous books.
Nature's Messages, Sam Campbell
One set of
his books, the Living Forest Series, played
a role in developing my own affinity for nature. Many nights my dad would tuck
me in and read Sam’s tales as I fell asleep. The stories about adventures—and the
animals and people he befriended in the process—excited me. I wanted to make my
own escapades and nature friends!
Little did I
know that, years later, I would be
making my own nature stories. Right now, I write for TLD Productions, a video and production house in southwestern
Michigan. Last May, their script writer for Philosopher of the Forest, a documentary film celebrating Sam’s life and legacy, flaked.
I flippantly said that I would do it; here I sit in a northern Wisconsin town
working to recapture Sam’s voice for presentation to a new generation.
Enjoying an interview turned story-telling session with Judy Lehmkuhl, June 2014
As I get
deeper into the project, I realize just how much Sam gave to the world. He used
his gift of writing, movie making, lecturing, his sense of humor—and most of
all, his passion and love for people—to build the bridges necessary to inspire
people to awaken and warm to the idea of conservation. We need Sam’s message
today at least as much as we did then. Our culture’s relentless pressure to
achieve and maintain the American dream compounds our isolation from nature. Sam
Campbell is a man worth remembering.
I write this
to a soundtrack of Stevie Ray Vaughan. Just as the death of a musician doesn’t
render their song obsolete, Sam’s message won’t fade—not if we don’t let it.
His legacy will continue on in new ways, with new voices. I am honored to be
one of those voices.
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