{"id":7260,"date":"2019-06-28T21:30:07","date_gmt":"2019-06-29T04:30:07","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/radicaljoy.org\/?p=7260"},"modified":"2023-03-01T09:21:29","modified_gmt":"2023-03-01T17:21:29","slug":"radical-joy","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/radicaljoy.org\/stories\/radical-joy\/","title":{"rendered":"Radical Joy"},"content":{"rendered":"

This year\u2019s Global Earth Exchange found me in a beautiful place in West Virginia\u2014Dolly Sods Wilderness Area\u2014a place once deeply wounded, but now transformed by loving intentions and nature\u2019s resilience. I\u2019ve been returning there whenever I can since the early 80s.\u00a0 The \u201cSods\u201d is a unique area in our mountains, often referred to as \u201ca little piece of Canada gone astray.\u201d\u00a0 Due to its elevation (2,000-4,100 feet) numerous plant and animal species found there are seen much further north.<\/p>\n

\"Keating

Fortunately for Dolly Sods, in 1915 the federal government formed the Monongahela National Forest to help make up for this wholesale destruction; and the following year, the area known as Dolly Sods was included in the purchase, excluding the mineral rights.\u00a0While logging had ended, in 1930, a brutal fire, destroyed the remaining trees on 24,000 plus acres. \u00a0An eerie landscape of stumps clinging to boulders persisted for many years although the Civilian Conservation Corps attempted restoration by planting red spruce trees. Even though logging had ceased, the U.S. military had its own ideas about using the Sods.<\/p>\n

Before American troops were sent to Europe to fight in World War II, Dolly Sods was used as an artillery and mortar range and maneuver area.\u00a0 Unfortunately, some unexploded ordinance remains undiscovered despite attempts to find, detonate or remove it.\u00a0 In the 70s and 80s various threats persisted, from strip mining of coal to subdivisions, but these were fortunately defeated. Eventually, some tracts were acquired through purchase and federal legislation bringing the total wilderness area to date to over 17,000 acres.<\/p>\n

My 2019 Global Earth Exchange, then is a story of hope.\u00a0 Conscious efforts and good intentions by countless, caring people gave Dolly Sods the time and space to recover from human abuse, becoming one of the most scenic and beloved places for hikers and campers in West Virginia.\u00a0 My tiny circle of stones, flowers, and leaves speaks not only to my gratitude to the earth for her gift of wilderness and that special place, but also to the visionaries and dreamers whose lives have made such a positive, indelible mark on West Virginia.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

This year\u2019s Global Earth Exchange found me in a beautiful place in West Virginia\u2014Dolly Sods Wilderness Area\u2014a place once deeply wounded, but now transformed by loving intentions and nature\u2019s resilience. I\u2019ve been returning there whenever […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":7261,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"wds_primary_category":3,"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[],"place":[142,140],"event-year":[203],"media-type":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/radicaljoy.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7260"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/radicaljoy.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/radicaljoy.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/radicaljoy.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/4"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/radicaljoy.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=7260"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/radicaljoy.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7260\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":17250,"href":"https:\/\/radicaljoy.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7260\/revisions\/17250"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/radicaljoy.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/7261"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/radicaljoy.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=7260"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/radicaljoy.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=7260"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/radicaljoy.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=7260"},{"taxonomy":"place","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/radicaljoy.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/place?post=7260"},{"taxonomy":"event-year","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/radicaljoy.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/event-year?post=7260"},{"taxonomy":"media-type","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/radicaljoy.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media-type?post=7260"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}