Guides of wilderness rites of passage programs can’t just take people into beautiful, pristine forests, deserts, and mountains whenever and wherever they want to. They have to deal with permits, applications, and regulations from such agencies as the U.S. Forest Service, The Nature Conservancy, and the Bureau of Land Management, the owners or caretakers of those places. Some people regard these federal or corporate agencies as enemies and the requirements as nuisances. But as this story shows, a spirit of cooperation offers surprises and gifts.

A friend of mine recently arrived in the wilderness area of California* where she has been guiding programs for many years. Shortly afterwards, three Forest Service firefighters drove up in truck. They checked to be sure she was the person who had filled out the permit they carried and informed her that two forest fires were burning on opposite sides of her base camp. They told her that the fires did not pose any immediate danger and assured her that, if conditions changed, they would personally come to make sure that she and her participants were safely evacuated.

Then they revealed something else. They said that they had been working diligently to protect that particular area because many generations of a species of endangered raptor had been nesting there.

This encounter offers several insights:

* The Forest Service has requested that my friend not reveal the exact location.