(An invocation for the October 8, 2010 Bountiful West Gala from Paulann Peterson, Oregon Poet Laureate.)

"Being invited to take part in a Sustainable Northwest event is a pleasure.  Being invited when that event honors the Klamath Basin Restoration Agreement is even more of a pleasure. It’s a privilege. 

I’m a native Oregonian who lived in Klamath for 31 years.  I have almost as many roots in Klamath’s high plateau as I do in Multnomah County’s sea-level valley.

Bountiful West.  When I first moved from Portland to Klamath Falls in 1960, I gained a new understanding of the bountiful West.  On display in a visitor’s station on the bird refuge a few miles south of where I lived, a page from a 19th century settler’s journal told how at mid day, the sun had been blotted out, noon had been turned into night by the mass of birds—water fowl—flying above.  Other early residents told of rivers transformed to liquid silver by the flash of scales as fish muscled their way upstream.

Of course, in 1960 the sky wasn’t dark with birds. The rivers weren’t gleaming with salmon. But fish and game were still abundant. Hunters and fishermen were part of virtually every household. 

The timber industry was going strong.  Mills—Weyerhauser, Klamath Lumber & Box, Columbia Plywood—were in full swing.  Huge semis, Reos and Peterbilts, rumbled the roads and highways hauling Ponderosa logs from the woods to the mills.

What seemed like endless amounts of irrigation water flowed from the lake into the huge A Canal, and out into smaller canals feeding surrounding farmland. Farmers and ranchers moved their solid-set sprinkler lines from spot to spot, field to field, never questioning the supply of water.

Jump ahead through 40 years of depletion to closed lumber mills, scant fish and game, to 2001 and 2002, the water war and salmon kill, the anger, hatred, and polarization.  The despair poisoning the Klamath community.

Then jump ahead to now, 2010, to the remarkable, inclusive, visionary Klamath Agreement.  And to the partners of that agreement, give thanks, give praise for showing us a new way to calculate bountifulness.

I give thanks to them for inspiring this invocation."

AN INVOCATION

Let our riches lie in finding paths that skirt fear, sidestep anger, circumvent hate.

Let our plenty come from seeking the wealth in which every seeker has a portion.

Let the music of many voices in harmony be our bountiful song.

May we hunger for a bread that nourishes only when it is eaten by many.

Whenever we draw a boundary line, may it be the mark for shared responsibility, never division.

Let our West be one we can sustain, one that can sustain our children’s children.

Let our West be abundant in people of wisdom, people of generosity and accord.

Wherever we take our stand, let it be on ground that is common ground.

May we follow, may we all honor the Klamath way.

 --Paulann Petersen