O’fieldstream Outdoor Journal

The OUTDOOR HERITAGE TRADITIONS

• Have been with us since the earliest days of civilization
• Form the core of our understanding of the interface between man and nature
• Accent our position in the ecology of the earth
• Demonstrate our responsibilities within the natural world
• Can provide life sustaining needs to self, family and neighborhood

The Activities within the Outdoor Heritage Traditions by the O’fieldstream definition, are, in order of necessity for development …

• Wilderness Skills
• Orienteering
• Hiking
• Fishing
• Hunting
• Trapping
• Camping
• Canoeing
• Kayaking
• Archery
• Snowshoeing
• Skiing
• Dogsledding
• and all associated activites

Outdoor Heritage Traditions, are not, despite the current marketing machine, “Sport”. Definitely not in the more commonly used sense of the word in today’s society; i.e., with regard to the “X”-ball, tennis, golf, hockey, soccer and the like genre. Hence the reason O’fieldstream prefers to avoid referring to these Traditions as “sport”.

Sport, in an older or more traditional reference and time, implied a very different temperament in the defining, understanding and execution of the word. The most obvious differences are demonstrated by the knowledge-of and action-in, what was known is earlier days as, fair-chase .

Fair-chase is a gentlemanly term that presumed conquest while pointing out a higher-purpose: intimate knowledge of the man-nature-relationship through the pursuit of such outdoor activities as hunting, fishing and other such wilderness skills. Thus the participation in a heritage activity resulted in an educational, as well as tactile, opportunity. Teaching and instructing the participant in a “purpose for” as well as a practicle, “how-to” activity.

Passing on the knowledge of the heritage activity was a necessary tool in “easier times”, but as society has become less dependent on the heritage activities, they are now enjoyed as recreational pleasures. The result of this transition has become an emphasis on the need for future generations to receive the same valued education in the heritage activities as a means of civil action and appreciation for the natural resource.

It is a grave misnomer to believe the early days of our forming societies were without confusion and miseducation in the use of the natural resource. The “Good Old Days” .. were filled with a great deal of destruction and carnage. Often times abuse of the resource was promoted for the sake of personal gain much as it is today. Many of the “Good Old Days”, were really not all that good.

Unfortunately, not much has changed.

Today we find ourselves attempting to operate from other ‘extreme-swings’ in public opinion, while still suffering from being stuck in the old ‘ditch-of-the-extreme’. We’re either steeped in over-consumerism or over-protectionism. Balance, being the goal, is a state in which we never quite seem to be stable enough to maintain.

O’fieldstream does not oppose recreational enjoyment within the use of the natural resources. Quite the contrary, we encourage it. We encourage it to be undertaken along with a high-level of education, responsibility and accountability -by the person or persons involved - for any action taken within the natural resource arena.