November was a busy month for me. I’ve been wanting to post this blog for a couple of weeks, but I have been running, running, running…
Sometimes I have to choose my priorities, and blogging, well, sometimes it needs to wait.
This post is what I wrote for my speech for the High Sierra Volunteer Trail Crew dinner. I appreciate their interest in making the time, to take the time to sit in one room, together and take that moment to look at each other and just be together.
Here is my message to our volunteers and a few photos.
I am very proud to be here tonight. I am also very excited because I get to personally thank you.
Not only do I get to thank you, but I get to thank you from several different perspectives. Like many of you, I have several roles that I play, and I stand in front of you today not as one person, but as three.
Tonight I would like to thank you wearing three different hats, and I have them here with me.
The first person to thank you tonight is Cindy Whelan the Public Servant/Government Employee. This is the role most that is most familiar to you. Cindy Whelan Assistant Lands Officer for the Sierra National Forest and Partnership Coordinator.
The second person to thank you tonight is Cindy Whelan a fellow volunteer – not a volunteer for the Forest Service, because that is my day job, but I have volunteered other jobs because I have decided were important to me and my family
And the third Cindy Whelan that would like to thank you is Cindy Whelan a fellow citizen of the United States of America. A citizen concerned about our public lands, the health of our National Forests and the future of our environment, and our county.
I will start with the role that provided me with the opportunity to stand here; Cindy Whelan the Public Servant.
This is a good start because these are very challenging times for government employees. There are so many changes; I really can’t even begin to understand them myself. Change is occurring in the Forest Service so fast we really can’t keep up.
Many of the changes are very confusing and very challenging, but one of the most exciting changes is the change that is going to involve you. We are seeing a dramatic change in our approach to public involvement and our approach to volunteers and partnerships.
The Forest Service has been changing during my whole career. I would like to tell you about the Forest Service that I started working for. About 20 years ago to a Forest Service that was strong in timer management, big in commodity production and big in the belief that we government employees were responsible for taking care of the public interest. Not just taking care of the interest but guarding and defining it. We thought that we really new what was needed by the public and we knew what needed to be done with and on the land. We were charged with the public interest and by golly, we were the only ones who knew how to do the right thing. And people for a large part entrusted the government to taker of things and fix it if it wasn’t right.
But I believe that we have gradually seen a impressive change slowly working through the country. This millennium is different. People are not expecting the government to be caretaker and sole proprietor of the public trust. “Trust me, I work for the government,” doesn’t cut it at all any more. People are more and more beholding the expectation that they are to be included in public policy and the management of public lands, public interest. Being heard isn’t enough. Now it is time to participate.
We see it in the news every day. Distrust for government oversight of security contractors. Distrust of government regulation of importing toys and food; and distrust of the management of our public resources. America does not trust anyone who says “Trust me.”
Even though I am a government employee, I am very excited bout this change. I see us changing from a representative democracy, to a more participatory democracy. Instead of hiring someone go do the right thing, we are now going to be there together, learning from each other what needs to be done, evaluating the consequences, and participating in the planning, the decision making and the implementation of public policy. You are not longer only voting in the voting booth, you are now voting with your time, interest, and donations.
America is taking back its responsibility for democracy and the management of public lands. And you are the epitome of that change – and it is good.
So, as a government employee I want to thank you for showing up, and volunteering and participating in what I see as a new democratic approach to government.
The second Cindy, that wants to thank you, let me put on my volunteer hat… I too volunteer. I am very busy with my job, my family and my personal interests. But I try very hard to exercise one of our great freedoms of choice. In America we are so fortunate that we can choose where we live, we can choose where we work, and we can choose what we spend our time on. We can choose to support our local church, our kid’s soccer team, or our community service organization. Do you realize how beautiful it is to have the social, economical, and political culture that allows us the ability to choose how we spend our time? To spend our time with the things that don’t pay us in money, or food, but pay us in a spiritual and social satisfaction? You know all too well that there are places in this world where people aren’t safe enough to spent time on building trail. There are places in this world were there isn’t enough food for families to enjoy a child’s sporting event. There are places in this world where picking up the trash from the bad guys would mean getting shot by the bad guys. But we are safe enough, and well fed, and healthy enough to volunteer our time for our environment.
So I want to thank you as a fellow volunteer all for making this country a place where I too can volunteer my time for my family and community. We are very fortunate.
The third hat that I am wearing tonight is the hat of a fellow citizen. I love our public land and clean water and an environment filled with fish and fowl. But shucks, I can’t do it all. I have tried, but I just can’t. So I need you to help, to spend time to do what I can not. I can’t pick up the trash, and clear the trail and remove the noxious weeds – all by myself. But I can if I do it with you. We can do all those things we dream of. Clean air, clear water and a beautiful treasure of public land. We can gather as citizens, combine our vision, combine our effort and combine our love, to protect our common interests. To protect this country and more than ever to protect our precious world ecosystem.
So I want to thank you as a citizen of this country and a citizen of our world for taking the time and making the effort to volunteer for the Sierra National Forest.
I also want to let you know how much I look forward to our future together. I with all three of my hats, I am very encouraged by our small actions and our ability to make big changes. Last year was a milestone for volunteers on the Sierra National Forest, but is was nothing like what we will see next year. Last year was wonderful and we are off and running to a great relationship – we have a lot of work ahead of us wearing all our hats!
Thank you for this chance to share with you this evening.
