(frogs croaking, birds chirping) (water splashing) (birds chirping) (wind rustling through leaves) (birds chirping) (owl hooting) (ducks quacking) (rustling of leaves) (crickets chirping) - Ott: Mississippi wilderness speaks a special language.

Some people spend a lifetime learning to translate it.

Some people never even listen.

Some people hear a poem, others only noise.

The language of the wilderness is heard sometimes in a whisper, sometimes in a shout.

It tells us stories of yesterday.

It speaks of tomorrow with great authority.

It calls us, it sings to us, and it gives us gentle warnings.

It is a language of comedy and tragedy, of legend and lesson, and if we will take the time to understand, it will tell us the secrets of living.

(mysterious guitar music) There was a time when the language of the wilderness was the only word spoken.

It was a time when fish, and fowl, and beast alone could hear its message.

It was a time of balance in the universe.

A time when change was measured in eons.

A time when “land” meant “earth”.

The story of this time is recorded for us in stone.

Mississippi's Petrified Forest, like the fossilized remains of animals, speaks quietly of things forgotten.

These trees break their silence of 35 million years to give us a bold reminder of our natural heritage.

Instead of decaying, they became an everlasting monument to themselves.

They tell us that long before there was man, there were trees.

(calm guitar music) There was a time when the language of the wilderness was spoken by man.

There was a time when “land” meant “great provider”.

And man took from the land that which sustained him, nothing more.

For 10,000 years the Indian called Mississippi home.

He hunted, he fished, he planted, and harvested.

He claimed the right to use the land, but not to own it.

He knew a special kinship.

There came a time when European languages were spoken in the Mississippi wilderness.

There was a time when "land" meant "territory in the name of a king".

First came the Spanish seeking trade routes and cities of gold.

They found instead the Chickasaw, Choctaw, the Natchez, and the Great River known as "The Father of Waters".

They found, too, that the forests were heavily timbered, and the bottomlands were covered with the heaviest kind of cane.

One hundred and fifty years later, French explorers discovered a country they described as intermixed with extensive hills, fine meadows, and numbers of thickets.

A land extremely profitable for agriculture.

An early 18th century Dutch chronicler observed the bountiful land as he traveled.

He wrote of gentle rising grounds, fertile groves and meadows.

He attributed the fertility of the land to the many brooks, which fed the rivers, to the numbers of rivers which fell into the sea.

He spoke for many who would come later when he prophesied, "This country promises great riches to such as shall inhabit it.” The English soon followed the French struggling with them and the Spanish for control of this new found land.

If the Europeans brought civilization to the wilderness, they also made a mark on the land with other than their flags.

They introduced diseases to the Indians, which swept through the villages with a vengeance equaled only by the fierce fighting.

The trader's demands for pelts supplied by the Indian trappers and hunters led to the over-exportation of many furbearing animals forcing some tribes to move to land beyond the great river.

The pioneers introduced new sounds to the wilderness.

(gun cocking) (Gunshot) (Chopping) (Grass rustling) The newcomers settled on the river and the Coast, and pushed back the wilderness.

By 1800, they had fashioned for themselves a territory.

They opened up the land to the north with overland routes like the Natchez Trace, which was once a bison path and Indian trail.

They brought slaves to work the soil, and they introduced a type of agriculture never practiced by the Indians.

They cleared vast tracts of land and planted year after year with the same crop, robbing the soil of its riches.

As more and more settlers came, they forced the Indians onto smaller and smaller parcels of land bringing an end to the bison, and greatly reducing the bear and deer.

The Indian practice of setting fire to the forest yearly to rid it of undergrowth and reintroduce minerals to the soil disappeared.

it was a time when “land" meant "property," and possession of it gave its owner the right to be called "citizen," and the right to vote.

And the landowners gave their property a new name.

They called it a "state."

All but a handful of the original inhabitants were moved to Oklahoma, clearing the way for a new influx of settlers.

It was a time when another king was recognized in Mississippi.

(Banjo music) (Regimental drum music) (Cannon fire) It was also a time when “land” meant “country,” and the allegiances that split a nation also divided families and friends.

Suffering endured by those who fought the war, and by those for whom the war was fought ushered in a new century in Mississippi.

But the hardships would be felt by the people for a long time.

The war also took its toll on the land.

The collapse of the Confederacy and the bitter economic struggle that ensued set the stage for further exploitation.

The Mississippi wilderness was still seen as something to be conquered.

Something to be used.

With no thought given to the fact that it was also being used up.

Land too steep to farm was cut and stocked with cattle, and little by little eroded into gullies.

The River Delta, Mississippi's last frontier, was cleared and her swamps drained to open up vast tracts for planting.

Woodlands were stripped of their valuable timber with little thought given to reforestation.

Fires, some of natural cause and some deliberately set, destroyed thousands of acres.

Market hunting in the early 1900s seriously damaged the wildlife population, almost eliminating bear and greatly reducing wild turkey and deer.

Small game was still abundant, but encroaching settlements forced a constant change in habitat.

Towns and cities began to dot the rural landscape.

And roads, and highways, and railroads began to connect them all.

“Land” now meant "homestead."

(train whistle) When many of the voices once heard in the wilderness were heard no more, we began to understand with great sorrow that consequences are manipulating our environment.

Tragedies like the 1927 flood and creations like the dustbowl of the Midwest taught us that we had a hand in manufacturing our own misfortune.

We learned the lesson of give and take.

We had taken from the land.

Now we had to give.

We created bureaus and agencies and commissions and services to help us restock and replant and revitalize.

We worked to restore our natural heritage.

We learned that the “land” meant “resource”, something to be managed and protected.

We began to treat it with respect as we harnessed it and made it work for us.

(tractor engine) (continued sound of engines) (jovial harmonica music) (chickens clucking) (fiddle music) (airplane motor whirring) (saw cutting) (banjo music) (Electric guitar music) (birds tweeting) We also learned to value the land for the generosity with which it afforded us pleasure.

(fishing line buzzing) (Fast-paced country music) (water bubbling) (Wind whistling) (footsteps through dry leaves) (boat motor) Mississippi is an unmapped territory of possibility.

We claim a powerful vantage point as we stand on the brink of tomorrow.

To look back and see where we've come from.

To look around us and learn from the successes and failures of other states.

And we can look ahead and make sound plans for orderly growth.

We can ensure that Mississippi does more than expand.

We can develop.

But to do so requires careful design in reasonable compromise.

We must not take a step forward and find ourselves losing ground at the same time.

In order to enjoy the blessings of progress, or the benefits of growth, we must make some concessions.

But we must not destroy a way of life.

We've lost over half a million acres of forest land in the past 10 years.

We moved the forest aside to have room to grow.

But we must not do so indiscriminately, and we must understand the consequences.

We've channelized over 3300 miles of natural streams and rivers, and have similar plans for 3000 more.

(water bubbling) There is a need for some drainage and flood control along our natural waterways, but only after careful examination of the effects the alternatives justifies it.

We know that the price of progress is great, and we have already paid with great portions of our natural heritage.

We find that the wilderness is filled with new and different sounds.

(heavy machinery engines) (car horns honking) (heavy machinery engines) (Cacophony quiets) (Crickets chirping) Is it any wonder that we had to create an agency to protect the environment from ourselves?

(thoughtful guitar music) Now is the time to pause in the midst of our progress.

Now is the time to write a new definition for "land".

Now is the time to understand our place in the order of things.

Now, while we still have some wilderness left.

In Mississippi, we were wise enough to do that very thing.

In 1974, the legislature established the Wildlife Heritage Committee authorizing it to purchase land and water areas for hunting and fishing and related recreation, and to provide habitat for rare and endangered wildlife species.

Lands are acquired to the efforts of many.

Business, industry, private landowners, government agencies.

Special assistance is given by The Nature Conservancy, a private, nonprofit conservation corporation.

Once in public ownership, lands are administered by the Mississippi Game and Fish Commission.

(Engine cranks) In comparison with neighboring states, Mississippi is poor in terms of wilderness property owned.

But the Wildlife Heritage Committee is working to close that gap.

Significant acquisitions, noted for their diversity as well as acreage, have already been made.

The Pascagoula tract, 32,000 acres of streams, lakes, timber, and sloughs along the Pascagoula River in Jackson and George counties.

One of the largest areas of land ever acquired by a state, and one of the unique natural areas remaining in the southeastern United States harboring wildlife of every sort.

It's the home to such rare animals as the American alligator.

The yellow-blotched sawback turtle, and the swallowtail kite.

(Bird tweeting) It also abounds in game popular sportsmen: deer, squirrel, and wild turkey.

And it's a fisherman's delight.

(boat motor cranks) McIntyre Scatters, a section of prime Delta bottomland hardwood and waterfowl habitat located in Leflore County.

Its owner, Mr. Hayward Jacks, wanted to see his land preserved, so he sold the Wildlife Heritage Committee over 800 acres of land adjoining the Mason Wildlife Management Area.

Then he generously donated back over 15% of the purchase price.

A good example of how citizens can help preserve our natural heritage for everyone's enjoyment.

(water rushing) Clark Creek meandering through stands of oak, beech, and hickory.

Where sweetgum and poplar shade mossy banks nestled with ferns.

Where rare plants find room to grow, and wildflowers cling to steep cliffs.

Where cool, quiet waters round a bend and suddenly cascade 40 feet.

A Wilkerson County wonderland.

Some 430 acres of this spectacular site have been donated to the state by the International Paper Company.

Located in a wooded area adjacent to the Mississippi River, this property represents the first industrial gift of land in Mississippi to be set aside and protected as a natural area.

(soothing music) These remnants of Mississippi wilderness belong to all of us, but only because of thoughtful management, careful consideration and wise planning.

We must continue to use such care and wisdom as we protect these lands.

And to take steps to bring other areas to public ownership.

In 1976, the Wildlife Heritage Committee initiated a program to do just that.

Working with the Pat Harrison Waterway District, the Pearl River Basin Development District, the Bureau of Outdoor Recreation, and The Nature Conservancy, they established a natural area inventory.

Its purpose, to identify significant natural areas and recommend methods of protecting them.

Biologists with the inventory collect and analyze data from the state's colleges and universities and scientific communities.

They verify the continued existence of occurances previously documented.

They identify the locations of special features.

Features like an ancient prairie, a quaking bog, the nesting place of the Mississippi Sandhill Crane, a yellow lady slipper, the home of the red cockaded woodpecker.

After the team surveys the areas needing preservation, they recommend what type of protection is best.

Their findings are used to help set priorities on which areas need attention first.

Prime consideration is given to areas where critically endangered species have been cited, like the nesting area of the bald eagle on the Gulf Coast.

Indeed, all around the state there is much work to be done.

What we know about the remaining wilderness in Mississippi gives us much reason for concern that it be preserved.

And what we have yet to learn gives us an even greater challenge.

By setting aside land now, we are protecting our options for the future.

Aldo Leopold, generally regarded as the father of game management in this country, once remarked that the prerequisite to intelligent tinkering is to save all the pieces.

Having all the pieces is what made possible such discoveries in nature as penicillin and quinine, the value of which is unable to be measured by man today.

If keeping open such possibilities is not reason enough to prize the land, we need only consider its potential as a financial investment, which can be measured.

The findings of the inventory points to the land's worth in another area.

It would make it possible for us to move into tomorrow in Mississippi with enlightenment.

Developers and government officials can make informed decisions about land use, protecting while they plan using environmental impact projections drawn from the computer-stored data.

The natural area inventory operates out of the Mississippi Museum of Natural Science, a division of the Mississippi Game and Fish Commission.

Located in Jackson, the museum is a valuable source of information on Mississippi's native plants and animals.

It has been said that conservation is somewhat self-defeating.

That to appreciate the wilderness, we must see and touch it.

And then what many have seen and touched, there will be no wilderness left.

The Natural Science Museum can help us prevent such loss.

It's displays give us all access to the wonders of the wilderness with the added benefit of supporting educational materials that helps us enjoy the music without contributing any noise.

As we use these resources to grow in our knowledge, and appreciation of our natural heritage, we will begin to have a deeper understanding of the message of the wilderness.

But for true communication to take place, we must all speak the same language.

We must all begin to see with the same clarity as the first inhabitants.

They knew the land as a community to which all living things belong.

It is said that one of their chiefs issued this warning over a century ago: (somber guitar music) When the last red man has vanished from the earth, in the memory is only a shadow of a cloud moving across the prairie, these shores and forests will still hold the spirits of my people.

If we sell you our land, love it as we have loved it.

Care for it as we have cared for it.

And with all your strength, treat the beast of this land as your brothers.

For if all the beasts were gone, man would die from a great loneliness of spirit.

All things are connected.

Whatever befalls the earth befalls the sons of the earth.

When the buffalo are all slaughtered, the wild horses all tamed, the secret corners of the forest heavy with the scent of many men, where is the thicket?

Gone.

Where is the eagle?

Gone.

Where is life?

Gone.

(guitar music ends) All things are indeed connected.

That is the message of the wilderness.

How they connect and why and where are questions whose answers unravel the mystery of life.

To destroy the wilderness is to destroy our chance of ever knowing.

When the wilderness is gone, wise men will no longer ponder whether there is a sound if a tree falls in the forest and no one is there to hear it.

We will be civilized, but we will never know.

(wind blowing)