Vital Ground

Vital Ground is an amazing organization. Once you go to the link, I'm sure you'll agree. I wrote the following article for the upcoming Peaceful Blue Planet newsletter.

After reading my article, please use this link to visit their official web site: www.vitalground.org

Because of it's tendency to stand on it's hind legs and survey it's surroundings with it's keen eyes and powerful nose, the Native Americans called the Grizzly Bear "the bear that walks like a man".

For thousands of years the Grizzly's range extended from what is now Alaska throughout almost the entire North American continent. The great bear roamed, hunted and hibernated without boundaries and with no natural enemies.

When Europeans settled on the eastern coast of North America, their natural curiosity and eventual need for expansion dictated that they move west. Curiosity and expansion were not the only reasons that people came west however. Gold, silver and freedom from religious persecution were just some of the factors that caused the great migration.

Then, as now, when human beings exert their presence or will on the natural environment, it is the environment that must change and adapt. Predatory animals such as the Grizzly, wolves and mountain lions were hunted and driven to the more remote corners of the land. Mainly because they were seen as a threat to human lives and as direct competition for grazing land for livestock.

This competition for land still exists today between ranchers and predators and, as a result, the land that the Grizzly calls home is only 2% of it's historic range and is under constant threat of disappearing even more.

But there are organizations trying to curb this trend and actually, in some areas, reverse it. One such organization is called Vital Ground. Doug and Lynne Seus, of Heber City, Utah, are the founders of Vital Ground. They were the owners and trainers of a literally huge movie star. "Bart the Bear" stood 11 feet tall and weighed over 1500 pounds. He was the animal star of such films as "Legends of the Fall", "The Bear", and "Walking Thunder" to name a few.

But there was much more to the relationship between the Seuses and Bart than just trainer and animal. Bart was a life-long friend and as much a member of their family as any human could have been. He lived for 23 1/2 years and, shortly before his death from cancer in 2000, Doug and Lynne decided to keep Bart's legacy and memory alive by establishing Vital Ground. The mission of Vital Ground is "to protect and restore North American Grizzly bear populations by conserving wildlife habitat".

The opinion of Vital Ground is that when the land is wild enough for the Grizzly, all other animals and plants in these fragile ecosystems benefit as well because the Grizzly is at the top of the food chain.

Since it's founding in1990, Vital Ground has preserved more than 467,000 acres of wild habitat.

Mark's new CD, "Heading West" (due for release in September) includes a brand new song written by Mark called "Vital Ground" and a portion of the proceeds from the sale of "Heading West" will go to benefit Vital Ground.

Mark says, "Vital Ground is an extremely important organization and it is doing very critical work. The well-being of the Grizzly is a barometer for the health of the wilderness."