Rural areas like Appalachia are our country’s backbone. More must be done to save them
As I write my thoughts about all things outdoors each week, they are usually triggered by an adventure I have taken, a sight that I encountered, a thought that entered my head as I traversed the fields and waters, but this week my mind wandered to a different frame. It involves a hunting adventure, one taken to search for hunting areas for those who live in cities and need wilderness space to satisfy their hunting desires. And it involves the beautiful mountains and hollows of Appalachia.
If you travel farther and farther southeast in Kentucky, the mountains get taller, the hollows much steeper and darker, and flat land is at a premium. We were visiting the heart of elk country to see what kind of upland adventures might be in store. Mining is still a way of life and we saw a couple of different sites that are still being mined for coal and a couple that are being reclaimed after the company walked away in bankruptcy. One such adventure covered my truck in mud like I have never encountered before.
The main thing that crossed my mind, however, is how and where do all the people who live in the Appalachian part of our state live and work. We encountered houses and trailers upon one another with settlements full of people. We have areas like that here in Estill County but not to the extent we encountered on this journey. Counties such as Estill, Jackson, and Owsley also had farming and agriculture as a way of life but the farther southeast you go it would be hard to find enough ground to plant a garden.
Populations in Appalachia are declining just as they are all across rural America. The youth of these communities strike out for educational opportunities but few return. Logging and wood products have taken up a little slack from coal but recent tariffs are slowly grinding this enterprise to a halt. For many years trying to log on National Forest lands has been harder to accomplish than threading a needle. Environmental attacks, often misguided, have led to this road block.
Tourism offers some possibilities but how many ATV tracks can the forest and surrounding communities stand? There are still many natural wonders to see but infrastructure must be improved to make the sights available.
Interestingly, just this week I read of similar problems in the rural areas of Japan. This decline has also contributed to negative population growth in this country. The country as a whole and the communities involved are trying to take steps to remedy this situation.
For our rural communities to survive we must ask more of our political leaders, corporations, financial institutions, and others to make an investment in the backbone of America. Make no mistake about it, the farms, the woods, the waters, and the people of our rural areas are the foundation that lifts this country up. They provide the basis of our energy infrastructure, be it gas, wood, oil, coal, wind, ethanol, water, or something yet to be discovered.
Our rural areas provide places for people to go when life upon the roof starts to get them down. Just as an abandoned farm reverts to the path that Mother Nature provides, so can our cities revert without the resources our rural areas provide.
An eagle is just as important as a skyscraper. A bed of trilliums is just as beautiful as a downtown urban park. Our rural heritage propelled this country to the forefront and it is time for this country to return the favor. Economic development must return to Appalachia and every rural area of our country or there will be no one to teach our children how to whittle a branch from a tree, skip a stone across the water, bait a hook with a worm, drink water from a clear mountain spring, or more importantly to know the importance of family structure. If these ideas vanish then we will know the wealth of water when the well runs dry.
Mark Reese is retired from the University of Kentucky Cooperative Extension Service and lives on a small farm in Estill County, Kentucky where he raises sheep, and writes a weekly outdoor column for the Estill County Citizens Voice and Times.