“When I was young and I would see scary things in the news, my mother would say to me, "Look for the helpers. You will always find people who are helping.” --Fred ("Mr.") Rogers
So many of us have been working on ecological challenges for so long, that in seeing what is broken, we might lose sight of progress. We might forget to celebrate how far we’ve come—and most especially acknowledge and celebrate The Helpers.
This week I attended the Clear Lake integrated Science Symposium organized by the County of Lake. The two days focussed on improving the health and life of Clear Lake. It covered lake science, what people are doing, and of course the challenges and opportunities. What made this truly special was the huge attendance from of all corners of Lake County and beyond.
Helpers everywhere.
People who love this lake. Who want it to thrive. The desire for a healthy lake not only brings us together, the challenges humans have created and endured here have too. The event was concluded with a movie highlighting the beauty of the Lake and the insights with which Clear Lake has gifted us—featuring many who share this wisdom: tribal leaders, scientists, local community leaders and hard-working citizens.
Who would have imaged years ago that a science symposium would bring us together? For me, it was a celebration of how far we have come—an acknowledgement that healing IS possible—that humans can and will come together to restore the ecology—the life—of a place. We know what we all want—a vibrant healthy lake, and vibrant healthy watershed.
So many helpers in one room together was, well, INSPIRING. The whole event sparked joy.
I’ve written about the helpers before—and fellow travelers in our little lifeboat here—in 2016, AFTER the Valley, Clayton, Rocky and Jerusalem fires, but BEFORE the Ranch, and River fires and the August complex burned over 70% of the lands surrounding Clear Lake.
In re-reading this post, it occurred to me that the fires, those horrible, destructive fires, brought us to this new place of cooperation.
Today, the Tribal Ecosystem Restoration Alliance (TERA), Tribal Governments, Local and State Agencies, the County of Lake and hundreds of citizens work to restore this place—our home—in ways that we might not have imagined in 2016. I am so grateful to live in THIS place with people who want to steward the land, and are willing to work together to do so.
So, let’s celebrate the tribes, the scientists and all manner of helpers who are leading us to a better ecological future. And, if you’d like, revisit this post from eight years ago— before we could even imagine such healing was possible:
Thank you for all you do, helper you.
P.S. If you would like to learn more about the Clear Lake Integrated Science Symposium, the County of Lake will post the proceedings here: https://www.lakecountyca.gov/1662/Clear-Lake-Integrated-Science-Symposium-
And you can view some of the science presentations on the County’s youtube channel: https://www.youtube.com/@countyoflakeca4328/streams