by Phil Vieth

I recently saw a program on TV about a woman who had spent a good deal of her life in the arctic. I was impressed by what she learned about her life and the things she marveled at and came to appreciate by living and barely existing there. In my younger days, having spent some time at the far ends of the earth I decided to go on a walk around Hastings to see if I could find some environmental jewels that I could marvel at. What is here that I am overlooking? I decided to not take the traditional paved paths but walk off the trails and find out of the way micro spots to indulge in. They had to be micro because if I looked to far or listened to hard I would see houses, cars, and the rest of civilization.

I started by walking a deer trail down by Kennedy school as it parallel the railroad track. I noticed the wooded area along the tracks and especially the walnut trees both large and sapling sizes with squirrels searching. That didnt impress me much because I have walnut trees and plenty of squirrels. What did impress me though was how we tend to neglect other life forms and how they struggle to survive. How many species survive and thrive in spite of humans. We usually don’t see them but there are fox,s, coyotes, Beaver, Muskrats, Turkeys and many other birds species and other animals that can be found here.

As I walked I followed a deer trail. I knew at least some deer came by here due to tracks. Yes there is Deer in town. I was next to the Vermillion River. I started viewing the river from the high banks and looking at the rock walls ie cliffs. I have seen this area many many times while walking over the bridge . I began to wonder how do we as a society view this stretch of river . I would call it a gorge or it could be called a canyon. I have seen people wading , fishing, kayaking and swimming in it. Do we take it for granted. Does it impress us to have this environmental feature in Hastings. We probably get so used to having it here that we don’t even think about the value of it. It is something to marvel at. It isn’t the Brooks range in the Arctic, but it is still a marvelous spot because it is a natural environment. It is touched by man to some extent but it has existed for eons and has not significantly changed over time.

I then hiked west across Hwy 61 and west along the edge of the vegetated area just south of the Vermillion river. As I went I smelled burned vegetation. This whole area is being converted to prairie plants. So a prescribed fire had burned here this fall. What a marvel is happening here. The area being improved for environmental benefits. Not just plants but the potential increase in pollinator species which need an assortment of wild flowers to thrive. This effort is happening right before our eyes and is a marvelous undertaking. We can thank the City of Hastings, the Friends of the Mississippi with some help from the high school and HEP group for this work.

Then hiking back to the east along hwy 46 cars were passing and I was brought back to reality. However, upon turning north into a residential area, I started to walk past and noticed a monsterous maple tree. I had probably driven past this tree a hundred times oblivious to its character. It was not only monsterous probably at least two adults with arms stretched out around the trunk size. It had a twisted shaggy bark on the trunk with many bumps and many large branch stubs that had been cut off and were overgrown. It had character that few trees develop. What a marvel that tree is.

I haven’t even mentioned the Mississippi river, the St. Croix, Spring Lake, the myried of back waters etc. and the flora and fauna that live and survive and migrate through here. Marvelous, all of them.

I guess the moral of my hike was that I don’t need to live in far and remote places to find things to marvel at and to have the impact on my life. I just need to look and realize what is here and it is not about material wealth but about the environment that lies around me that makes me wealthy. If I open myself to appreciating it.