Looking to Nature: A Letter from our President & CEO

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As a society, we are experiencing a period of unprecedented stress and uncertainty – concern for our families, friends, and colleagues, remote working, struggles with school closings – to name only a few. But in times like these I look to nature and am reminded of its power, and how critical our advocacy is to protect it.

In nature, cooperation abounds – and so must we.

Looking out your window you can see it, as the birds have begun their grand migration through our region’s flyway, in the trees beginning to bud through the cooperative behavior of soil, tree roots and fungi. These examples remind me that, through cooperation and community, we will overcome this moment and thrive as nature blooms today.

While Openlands’ offices are closed, our dedicated staff continues to work remotely as hard as ever on the issues that are so important to all of us. We, like many others are monitoring the situation daily to ensure the health and safety of our community. As of today, we are following CDC guidelines to postpone gatherings and are looking for ways to create digital learning for the programs upcoming. We are working with our collaborators and partners to ensure that our region’s open spaces continue to be protected, preserved, and when possible, enjoyed.

Even at a safe distance, nature is an essential healer.

One study after another documents its positive effects on physical and mental health for people of all ages and backgrounds. Nature offers balm and solace to the weary – being a source of beauty, wonder, and inspiration. And nature can be found everywhere – in the trees outside your apartment or home, in our community gardens and local parks, along the lakefront, waterways, and the vast network of woodlands, prairies, and wetlands (here’s a post that covers many of the area’s closures). It is imperative we all follow the guidelines of social distancing provided by the CDC and each natural space’s rules and regulations at all times whenever deciding to go outside.

As nature remains there for us, our advocacy for it is more important than ever.

As we collectively wade through this worldwide pandemic, it may be easy to forget how crucial nature is to our lives. But as advocates for nature, we understand. This is the time we must band together to share that healthy rivers, lakes, and wetlands are essential to our clean drinking water; that migrating birds that fly over our region are worthy of protecting; that creating an equity of park space and tree canopy is vital to all of our health, safety, and well-being; and our ability to allow nature to work for us, mitigating the effects of climate change through nature-based solutions, is a crucial component to our collective resilience.

Right now, creating resilience to the challenges we face is paramount. And nature can serve as our model. Know that you can count on Openlands for community, collective resilience, and healing through nature.

Be well and take good care of yourself and each other.

Sincerely,

Gerald Adelmann
President & CEO
Openlands

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