Opportunities and the Long View

Credit: Lauren Carroll/Journal
Relish Magazine

I have known Ken Bridle's opinions on land management and the environment for a few years. Despite this I need reminders from him about the basic principles. He's very straight up and matter-of-fact - which can be a little intimidating to a bird like me. Thank goodness he's also good-humored and easy to coax to a laugh.

You've heard his voice from the bandstand at the annual Stokes Stomp where he's MC'd for at least a decade. You may know him through his exhaustive research in the Upper Dan River Basin or his work for the Piedmont Land Conservancy. He has been soldiering on behalf of the Earth we will leave our children's children for a long time and has seen many battles.

If there is a "Mr. Dan River" it is Ken. I think his perspective is uniquely worth a careful listen.

Thanks for the permission, Ken.
[Update 2012-06-21 :: Ken had an adaptation of this email printed in the Letters to the Editor section of the Stokes News]

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from: Ken Bridle <kbridle@piedmontland.org>

to: Dale Swanson <dswanson@danriver.org>

cc: Palmer McIntyre <pmcintyre@piedmontland.org>

Kevin Redding <kredding@piedmontland.org>

date: Fri, 15 Jun 2012 13:18:56 -0400

subject: RE: bioremediation/land farming in Stokes

Hello Dale,

Thanks for keeping in touch and sending the link to your blog. I appreciate the effort that you have put into understanding this issue and fitting into the context of Stokes County.

My personal input to all of this is the same as it was when I first came to Stokes County 30 years ago. At that time Stokes was being considered as a site of a regional low level nuclear waste depository, after that it was tire dumps and trash dumping because we had no greenboxes for county wide trash collection, next it was old mobile homes that other counties had banned and were being allowed in Stokes, then it was a chip mill, now bioremediation and fracking, and soon it will be something else. All of these are problematic in Stokes County because we don’t have a county wide land use plan that would address many questions raised by this kind of activity. Our political leaders are afraid that land use planning will be opposed by the public when in fact most landowners, business owners, residents and other stakeholders benefit from the effort of working out a plan that protects what needs protecting and gives guidance to those who wish to develop a business. Stokes County citizens and politicians have missed many opportunities in the past to channel this kind of public awareness and energy into the constructive development of a plan that would benefit everyone in the county. I work in all the counties of the north west piedmont of North Carolina and the ones that have plans: Land Use, Farm Preservation, Historic Preservation, Scenic, Economic Development… are the counties that have given thought to the future and have mapped out a way to get where they want to go. They also qualify for assistance of programs that require adopted plans. Stokes County has no plan and so we go through these episodes where it seems like we take two steps back for each one step forward.

PLC will take no position on this bioremediation issue, it is not what we do. We work with willing landowners to protect properties that have conservation value. I think the organizations view would be the same as my own: use the opportunity to develop a land use plan that gives the environmental, recreation, neighborhoods and the development concerns a framework to each get what they need.

Ken

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Thank you for your honesty and wisdom. I hope we are able to find the will to provide a map for our legacy to grow and prosper while protecting our most valuable assets in the ground, air and water.