Disorderly Conduct

from 2021 Summer Ridgeline

MFFC dedicates this issue of the Ridgeline to Liz Putnam

By Rob Terryr

We have nearly endless idioms to express simplicity: easy as pie, like shooting fish in a barrel, no sweat, like stealing candy from a baby. The list goes on. However, it does not contain many references to land management: “easy as regenerative agriculture,” “simple as a log job,” or “like dropping trees in the forest” are never used to imply ease. There is good reason for this. Land management is a complicated endeavor. Ecosystems are so complex as to appear chaotic, even to the highly trained eye, and we are not creatures of chaos. Instead, we are soldiers in the army of order—we plant the flag of symmetry, straight line, balance, and pattern to mark our victories. We dissolve continuums into binaries so that we may categorize outcomes into “right” or “wrong.”

Take, for example, a classic right-versus-right dilemma popular in undergraduate and graduate ethics courses that pits the logger against the spotted owl. In the distilled version, used to spark conversations about making difficult decisions, the continued health and well-being of the owl is at odds with the economic prosperity of the logger. In order for the logger to feed his family, he must cut the owl’s habitat for timber. Cutting down the owl’s habitat creates a situation in which the owl cannot feed itself. Is it right for a logger to feed his family? Yes. Is it right for an owl to have the opportunity to feed itself? Yes. What’s right for the owl is wrong for the logger, what is right for the logger is wrong for the owl—hence the dilemma. In the example, the complexity of the interdependencies dissolves, and only the binary remains. The intricacy of the interwoven biotic and abiotic factors present in the ecosystem, and the balance required to ensure its enduring health, are sacrificed for an orderly example.

Sacrificing complexity for order has consequences. Over time, the repeated use of this example, and others like it, have contributed to a false dichotomy positioning active land management and ecosystem health as opposing objectives in the American consciousness. In truth, a chainsaw can be an effective tool for conservation. It would be fairly easy to write this example off as an instance of true science being convoluted by the humanities. However, our desperate need for order runs so deep that behavioral ecologist Jennifer Campbell-Smith suggests that our drive to quantify animal behavior in a “stimulus-and-instinct driven framework” so that data can be used to support peerreviewed science” winds up “denying the role of thinking, plasticity and decision-making in other creatures’ lives.”

In a recent article in High Country News, Dr. Campbell-Smith reflects on a viral video showcasing an interaction between a badger and a coyote. The video features a coyote playfully bowing in front of a badger and then appearing to lead it through a tunnel designed to let wildlife pass safely underneath a highway. For Dr. CampbellSmith, the video highlights a subtlety that is often lost. She reflects that, in her experience, interested members of the public, even many scientists, frequently come to her seeking demonstrable data backed rules of animal behavior. However, there is not a consistent, natural rule that these two species, coyote and badger, get along. Yet these two individuals seem to. In this effort to create order out of chaos, the individuality of these animals is lost.

This moment of cross-species playfulness occurs between two animals that have been shown to both hunt together and hunt each other. In the video, Dr. Campbell-Smith sees “an elegant demonstration of how complex and flexible nature is. How intelligent these two animals are — not simply two animal-robots reacting solely to stimuli. How the body language and ease between them suggests that they know each other as individuals, and that those individuals matter.” At some level, these observations run counter to the anti-anthropomorphism prevalent in the scientific community. It would therefore seem, in reading her reflection, that this conclusion did not arise from reviewing data sheets or pouring through scientific literature, instead it is likely born of intense observation and her capacity to see past our fabricated order.

That is not to say that rigorous science has no place, or that considering ethical binaries has no value. Instead, it is simply to suggest that, as Nobel Prize winning author José Saramago famously stated, perhaps “chaos is order yet undeciphered.” There are limits to our understanding and the complex systems that underlie the natural world stretch those limits in wondrous ways.

Merck Forest & Farmland Center offers a wide variety of immersive, hands-on learning opportunities for all ages and skill levels. Through self-guided tours, workshops, summer camps, field trips, residential internships, seminars, and certification courses,, learners are able to experience the joyous chaos that is the natural world. A list of upcoming programs can be found here in the Ridgeline as well as on our website.

Merck Forest’s Annual BioBlitz is almost here! From dawn to dusk on July 24th and 25th, the Merck Forest Conservation Team, Merck staff, and expert guides will be facilitating scientific exploration for community members of all ages, backgrounds, and experience with wildlife. Come for as much or as little time as you would like. We have the tools on site and on hand to support your BioBlitz experience! With the success of BioBlitz 2020 in the face of a pandemic, high energy from new faces on Merck Forest and Farmland Center’s team, and 3200 acres of wildlife to explore, BioBlitz 2021 is shaping up to be the best Merck Forest BioBlitz yet!

What is a BioBlitz?

A BioBlitz is an event that focuses on identifying as many species as possible in a specific area over a relatively short period of time. For Merck Forest, this is anywhere on the property on July 24th and July 25th. Identifying species in a BioBlitz can be done in a variety of formats, but here at Merck Forest, we’ll use iNaturalist, a platform made for anybody to identify wildlife in the form of an observation. Anybody can participate; all ages and experience levels are welcomed!

How to Participate

We choose iNaturalist to document our BioBlitz observations. It’s easy to use, and major biodiversity networks like the Vermont Atlas of Life and the Global Biodiversity Information Facility collects data from iNaturalist, so your observations are seen around the world! Preparing to participate in Merck Forest BioBlitz 2021 is easy!

1. Register for the BioBlitz with Merck Forest! Navigate to its event page by clicking “View & Register for Upcoming Events” on the merckforest.org homepage.

2. Print and fill out a Merck Forest liability waiver which can be found on the BioBliz registration page.

3. Make an account on iNaturalist.org or on the free smartphone app.

4. Join the iNaturalist project by searching Merck Forest BioBlitz 2021 on the platform and clicking “Join”.

5. Take a picture (or a lot of them!) of a wild organism at Merck Forest on July 24th or 25th and upload your picture to iNaturalist!

Exciting Past BioBlitz Observations

Newly Identified Species from BioBlitz 2019 & 2020:

• Merck Forest property: 226

• Bennington Co.: 69

• State of Vermont: 3

Plantae (plants) and Insecta (insects) scored the most observations at BioBlitz 2020: 106 “Research Grade” observations of each! We also logged observations of Aves (birds), Amphibia (frogs, toads, and salamanders), Mammalia (mammals), Fungi, Arachnids (spiders and mites), Reptilia (turtles), and even Mollusca (snails and slugs) and Actinopterygii (fish)! To see some of these observations highlighted with their pictures and information about the species, check out Merck Forest’s BioBlitz 2021 Facebook Event Page, or the Merck Forest BioBlitz 2021 iNaturalist Project Journal for “Observations of the Day” until July 24th.

These four observations were all first documentations of their species at Merck Forest and in Bennington County, VT in BioBlitz 2019 and 2020!

Blue Dasher (Pachydiplax longipennis)