Go West, Young Man. Go West and Grow Up with the Country

Driving West out of Washington, DC.  What an absolute trip, in all senses of the word.  Our Nation's capital is a place of bustling crowds and full of bustling ambition.  I can relate - having always felt an innate desire, an internal urge to do something big and important, not just for myself, but for the world.  
I believe we all share that urge, it just manifests uniquely in each of us.  For some it may aim towards family; for others it may target riches; and for others still it may seek out service to others - no matter what that vision seeks out, it creates an insatiable, internal drive to create. 
In centuries gone by, in the infant and adolescent years of our Republic, they called it manifest destiny.  It began with Columbus in the West Indies, then extended to America's eastern shore in places like Plymouth Rock and Jamestown, then sprawled into 13 colonies who took the ground beneath their feet, and through a revolution, made it a Country.  Then, in the mid 1800's, once those eastern states started to stifle the very same adventurous spirit that built them, the wilderness beckoned once again.  It was at this time, amongst the opportunities to create a homestead in the Midwest or pan for gold in the Sierra Nevada's, that an American author named Horace Greely told a young friend, 

“

Washington is not a place to live in. The rents are high, the food is bad, the dust is disgusting and the morals are deplorable. Go West, young man, go West and grow up with the country.   I've lived these past 8 years in Washington, DC.  And while I agree that the rents are too damn high, I have found our Nation's Capital to be a place of all morals, all peoples, all ambitions, and all intentions - and I have loved it.  Where else in this world can a young man, having just emerged from two years of living in the jungles of Bolivia, go from a broke, dollar-store shopping, career-lacking lifestyle all the way to some of the highest levels of government - and from that position do some real good as a public servant.    DC is a place where opportunity abounds - all you have to do is out-work, out-network, out-perform and out-persist those around you, and then grasp onto that opportunity.  In essence, that same vision of manifest destiny from century's gone by still abounds in present day America.   But now, just as seems to happen over and again, it's time to move on, and my family and I are forsaking the crowds, and the hustle, and the bustle of DC, and setting our sights out West.  It's time to focus on the full spectrum - family, community, surroundings, and career - not just career.  It's time to manifest our destiny in NorCal.  And while we're not heading out to California to pan for gold, we'll be panning for a golden lifestyle from out on the left coast.     

NRCS Assistant Chief Hosts Three White House Roundtables in California

April 3, 2012

NRCS Assistant Chief Hosts Three White House Roundtables in California

NRCS Assistant Chief Hosts Three White House Roundtables in California Story by Jonathan Groveman and Photo by Anita Brown – Public Affairs

At the request of the White House, NRCS Assistant Chief James Gore hosted three roundtable meetings on issues and opportunities related to conservation, the environment and energy in California. The meetings were held March 21 in Salinas, March 22 in Modesto and March 23 in the Santa Rosa area. Approximately 15-20 attendees, representing the agriculture industry, non-profits, local and state government and other entities, attended each meeting and had an open discussion with Gore on local topics of concern. Each meeting was organized to bring a diverse group of stakeholders together so that a good discussion could be held, not just with Gore, but amongst all participants. Gore collected input and intends to follow up with participants to keep a good dialogue and momentum going. Common discussion topics included water and air quality regulations, resource collaboration, permit coordination and the next Farm Bill.      NRCS Assistant Chief James Gore (center, in the background) meets with attendees at a White House Roundtable meeting in Salinas, March 21. Gore discussed conservation, environment and energy-related issues with attendees, and collected input on how the White House and federal agencies can assist with concerns and opportunities in California.

Robert "Bobby" Kennedy - Leadership in Social Justice

“Let no one be discouraged by the belief there is nothing one man or one woman can do against the enormous array of the world’s ills – against misery and ignorance, injustice and violence…Few will have the greatness to bend history itself; but each of us can work to change a small portion of events, and in the total of all those acts will be written the history of this generation…
It is from the numberless diverse acts of courage and belief that human history is shaped. Each time a man stands up for an ideal, or acts to improve the lot of others, or strikes out against injustice, he sends a tiny ripple of hope, and crossing each other from a million different centers of energy and daring, those ripples build a current which can sweep down the mightiest walls of oppression and resistance.”

Robert F. Kennedy

USDA Official - James Gore - Visits Hoopa Valley

USDA Official - James Gore - Visits Hoopa Valley

By Dave Sanden Public Affairs Specialist, Red Bluff   James Gore, Special Assistant to the USDA Assistant Secretary for Departmental Management, visited the Hoopa Valley Indian Reservation February 28 during a two-week tour of California.  The visit included meetings with Klamath Trinity RCD (KTRCD) staff and Tribal Council members, a tour of farms and EQIP and AWEP project sites, and talks with landowners and NRCS staff. Recently appointed, Gore is visiting several sites around the state to meet people, find out what the issues are, and how they’re being solved.  NRCS’ work with the Hoopa Valley Tribe is notable for its team approach and trust-building efforts. Staff from the Eureka office and the North West California RC&D have been developing a relationship with the Tribe for years, resulting in establishment of KTRCD in 2007 (the first tribal RCD in California) and an NRCS office in Hoopa in 2010.  KTRCD joined NW CA RC&D as a member in 2008. NRCS also helped the Tribe complete a soil survey that will help farmers better understand the properties of their soil.  In 2009, the first EQIP contract was funded in Hoopa Valley, and the Hoopa Public Utility Department was awarded the first Tribal AWEP in the US.  In 2010, NRCS assisted the Hoopa Forestry Department in submitting a CCPI proposal that was funded for $825,000.  In 2011, NW CA RC&D adopted three new projects in Hoopa Valley. Photo: Hoopa tour participants (from left):  Juan Armand, KTRCD President; Kirsten Losse, Ag Engineer, Eureka SC; James Gore, Heidi Harris, Soil Conservation Technician, Hoopa LPO; Ed Burton, State Conservationist; Rhoby Cook, KTRCD District Coordinator; Jim Spear, Assistant State Conservationist for Field Operations; Diana Sturrock Dellinger, District Conservationist, Eureka SC; Reina Rogers, American Indian Liaison; Bryon Hadwick, NW CA RC&D Coordinator; Jennifer Figueroa-Golder, Rangeland Management Specialist/Tribal Liaison, Eureka SC.

USDA’s Gore Visits the Central Valley on Outreach Tour

USDA’s Gore Visits the Central Valley on Outreach Tour Text By Jim Cairns, Public Affairs Specialist & Photo By Ken Grimes, Fresno Service Center
 James Gore (3rd from right) met with African American farmers during his outreach tour of the Central Valley. 

USDA’s James Gore, Special Assistant to the Assistant Secretary for Departmental Management, continued his outreach-focused tour of California on March 2, hosted by NRCS, with a stop in the Central Valley (see our March 4th e-news for details on Gore’s visit to Hoopa Valley).

The 12-hour-long day of activities included six meetings with 43 NRCS conservation partners throughout Fresno and Madera counties. Tribal outreach included meetings with the Picayune Tribe, and Tribal Council, followed by a visit to the North Fork Band of Mono Indians. Both the Picayune & North Fork Tribes now have Tribal Conservation Districts (TCD). Including his previous visit to Hoopa Valley two days before, Gore visited all three existing TCDs in California.

Other visits included a stop with Mr. Lee at Cherta Farms; Mr. Galavan, a small Hispanic farmer; and Will Smith and the African-American farmers at his property near Raisin City. Additional meetings were held with local Hispanic farmers and UCCE farm advisors.

NRCS staff accompanying Gore included Luana Kiger (S.O.), Curtis Tarver (Fresno), Sharon Nance (Fresno), Jenny Johnson (Madera), Sam Vang (Fresno), Garry Ford (Madera), and Ken Grimes (Fresno).

Under the Gun – literally and figuratively – in Chistochina

By James Gore

1/12/11 

Our meeting with the Cheesh’na tribal council began at 9am, before the sun had risen over the small town of Chistochina in eastern Alaska. 

As Wilson, the tribal administrator, introduced us to their community – its history, its people, and its culture – I focused on one specific part of his overview: the current population demographics.  Of the approximately 100 tribal members in Chistochina, some 40 are under 30 years of age while another 40 are in the 60 years plus range.  With only some 20 people in the 30-60 year array, this remote village and the tribal members find themselves at an important intersection:  one path leads to progressing with the world around them; the other to hold onto their traditions, their culture, and ultimately, their link to their people and this land that provides for them. 

In just looking around the room at my fellow meeting participants, I could see this paradigm at work.  For example, to my left sat Jessica, a vibrant young woman who serves on the tribal council.  In addition to her leadership role, she works throughout her community while also endeavoring to start her own business.  In her work at the Chistochina school – with its two rooms and 14 students (aged 7 to 14) – she and her counterparts teach lessons of tradition interlaced with mathematics and science.  They teach of subsistence hunting, fishing and gathering; however, they also hold basketball practice.  This mixture of tradition and modernization also shows itself in two of her passions: dog sledding and snow machining.  Outside of these activities, Jessica also told us that she has been working on a business plan to purchase a coffee hut and small rental property.  Like many young entrepreneurs, she was both excited and anxious about committing so much of herself to create her own business.  She told us that she had been awake the previous night around 3am, excitedly writing down ideas and plans. 

Sitting across from myself and Jessica during our meeting that morning, and offering a counterpart to Jessica was Jerry. He was a worn yet vibrant man in his 70s, and I could tell when I first met Jerry that this was a man who had done it all, was well respected, and had earned and deserved that respect.  Jerry didn’t speak much himself, but throughout the meeting the other participants continued referring to him and his experience on the local trails as a hunter and fisherman and steward of the land. 

I couldn’t help think about Jessica and Jerry and how the two of them so exemplified the demographic divide that Wilson had spoke of that morning.  I also thought about the vital importance of Jessica's age group, and how they are carrying the weight of both their culture’s past – seen through the eyes of the likes of Jerry  – and their culture’s future – shown through that desire to be an entrepreneur and the development of those 14 students. 

THE FIGURATIVE GUN

Jessica and her counterparts are under the proverbial gun to succeed.  While some might see this as pressure, I only saw strength in the eyes of those young Athabascan women.  That kind of strength breeds faith, and faith is what leads people forward. 

I have faith in Jessica and her generation.  I have faith that Chistochina will survive and thrive.

THE LITERAL GUN

Just towards the end of our meeting, I saw two of the men attending the meeting lean towards each other.  The first, an older man, pulled a pistol out of his pocket and asked the other to show him how fix something with it.  The second man nonchalontly dropped it below the table line and showed the first what he needed to know. 

Now, I don’t care who or where you are.  Even for me, a guy who grew up with hunting and guns around me, it’s a absolutely shocking to see a pistol during a meeting.  As I watched them work the piece, I thought about growing up hunting and fishing, and how although I’m comfortable with firearms, I definitely know how to keep my eye on one, whether in my hand or another’s, just to be safe. 

So as I’m having great conversation with the others at the meeting, I keep my eye on the piece to make sure I’m not in front of it.  Their dialogue comes to a close, and the older man slips the pistol back into the pocket of his coat - but darn it if the grip isn’t angled downward and the barrel of that little .22 sticking right out of his pocket and right at my chest.  Without cutting my conversation off with another young man I was speaking to, I stood up and walked over to the other side of the table – still holding the conversation.  As I continued to discuss community development programs I kept an eye trained on that barrel.  The entire time I absolutely knew that in their mind, the presence of the gun in that meeting was as normal as anything. 

Knowing that there was no bad intentions, I took care of myself and made sure that I shimmyed my way out fron under that barrel.

Whether literal or figurative, we’re all staring down the sights of one barrel or another.

I guess that no matter what, we have to continue what we're doing while at the same time ensuring that actions, whether harmful or harmless, don't get us blasted. 

Just another day on the job.

A Meating over Moose Stew

A Meating over Moose Stew

By James Gore
1/12/11

We arrived at the Ahtna Regional Corporation offices around sundown in the small town of Glenallen. The three hour drive from Anchorage was a striking one, with powerful winds blowing our truck around the icy roads. The views were absolutely spectacular, and I couldn’t help but think of the majestic winter wonderlands depicted in movies as we passed by fierce mountain peaks, frozen lakes, and permafrost tundra. As my colleagues, Barbara Blake and Laura Gidley, and I drove through an especially long and low valley, the vehicle’s thermometer hit fifteen degrees below zero, a new low for me. Over the next few days, I would see that number go lower and our bodies colder more than once.

Ahtna is one of thirteen regional corporations that together control the 44 million acres of tribal-owned land in Alaska. They control the resources in a way that I can only surmise to be a hybrid of County Government and Big Business.

I quickly learned that in this particular area of Alaska, traditional agriculture does not exist, and that they instead define agriculture as subsistence. Locals refer to their harvest of meat and vegetation as “take,” and pride themselves on “taking” in a sustainable manner. As Alaskan Natives believe in their right to self governance, they also believe that their “take” should be self governed and not subject to the oversight and regulation of the State and Federal authorities. They detest the fact that within their culture of taking only what they need, they must still comply with the State’s rule of law. This desire is only reinforced once learning that some 70-90 percent of the dietary protein consumed by rural Alaskan natives comes from a mixture of marine and land-based wildlife, specifically – salmon, moose, and caribou.

This discussion of subsistence focused on the plight of the local moose population. For the Athabascan people, to “take” a moose means much more than hunting, killing, and eating. The meat is cut to ensure short, mid, and long term consumption. The hide is cured and made into clothes and artisan goods for both use and sale. The antlers are proudly displayed above a home or carved into beautiful depictions of Athabasca life and culture. As a hunter, I admire this reverence.

I think it only more appropriate and relevant that as I listened and conversed with our hosts about this mighty moose, we were being served a hearty meal of moose stew. And, boy was it tasty! I was at first brought a steamy bowl of the meat, potato and vegetable concoction at the beginning of our meating (pun intended). The conversation and the flavor must have overtaken me because I found myself going back for seconds, and then thirds – while increasing the ratio of meat to veggie until my final bowl seemed to be just meat and broth. Oh boy!

As I finished that third bowl and continued with our meating, I couldn’t help but stop the conversation for a minute to let my new friends know that I was about as happy as a man could be. It wasn’t more than a minute later that Kathryn Martin, the head of their group, placed a fourth bowl in front of me and smiled, which I proceeded to devour as if it was my first. As our meeting came to an end and we said our goodbyes, I realized how voraciously I had been consuming both the conversation and that stew, and how full I felt in both thought and stomach…quite a nice combination.

It was only two days later that our friend Wilson Justin from the Cheesh’na tribal council – about 60 miles from that first meeting, told us that there was a legend developing around the area about a guy from Washington DC who had tried to eat half a moose during a meeting in Glenallen, and that he had made a good attempt at it. I told him that I could have probably fit in two more bowls if the meating hadn’t ended. He told me that if I had done so, the legend would have only been bigger and lasted longer.

I hope I get the chance to get back there and give it another go.