Reflections on Fifty Years as a Columnist

OUTDOOR RAMBLES with Terry Sprague 

REFLECTIONS ON FIFTY YEARS AS A COLUMNIST

(Thursday, December 18, 2014)   

Not enough people remember the late Phil Dodds. Phil was a tireless volunteer who was active in service clubs, was a familiar face at Picton Fair every year, and very involved with the horticultural society. With his “make the world a little better and more beautiful, because you have lived in it” motto, Phil always struck me as a pioneer in these efforts.

Phil was also editor of the Picton Gazette, a position he obtained at the young age of 26, and held until his retirement in 1969, at the age of 61. His column, “Phil-ing-in” always inspired me, for in it, he would promote his beautification message and report sightings of birds that he had seen in his Cherry Valley backyard. As a result, we became good friends, swapping sightings and it wasn’t long before he started incorporating these into his column, or made them into little news items or fillers.

One day in early 1965, Phil dropped a bombshell. “Why don’t YOU write a weekly nature column?”

I declined, claiming that I couldn’t even form a complete thought weekly, never mind a column. I was only 20 years of age. He replied, “Nonsense”, and ordered me to have something to him Monday morning. And, I did – but, because Phil never really specified how many columns I should write, or when I should stop, I continued to submit columns weekly for 50 years! In total, 2600 columns!

The columns knew no bounds when it came to their headings. Originally, called, simply, “Outdoors”, it left an open door for a wide range of  outdoor topics. “Talking at Random” expanded the possibilities even further. For a while there was “Sandscript”, written on behalf of Sandbanks Park where I worked, then “PERCA Update” when I was employed with the Prince Edward Region Conservation Authority, then “Conservation Corner” when I moved to Quinte Conservation. In more recent years, it has been “Outdoor Rambles”.  Since 2001, the column has also appeared in the Picton Gazette’s sister paper, the Napanee Beaver.

There have been several editors, and one editor many years ago, suggested that I should make the column more controversial. Clearly, the original intent of the column had sailed right over his head. I made it a policy through the years to avoid controversial issues, because you never win. I learned that lesson in the 1970s when I entered a debate in my column that dragged on for a year with a resident north of here. He felt predators should be exterminated – not extirpated, but wholesale exterminated, because he was a staunch believer in childhood storybook fables and openly said so. Where do you begin with someone like that?

So I purposely stayed away from getting extensively involved  in controversial issues. I would state my opinion, and then quietly move on to another subject the following week. After all, the main purpose of the column was to gently introduce readers to nature in a thought provoking, yet sensitive fashion. That seemed like the best approach. Let the readers find their way with a little guidance.

As a columnist, I became more knowledgeable about the world around us. Needing to come up with new material weekly, it was mandatory that I get out there and learn new things, then write about them and impart any new found wisdom to the readers. I certainly hope by doing so that I inspired them, for they certainly inspired me with their phone calls, letters and e-mails about their own discoveries.

In this process, however, I learned that we can never expect to know everything; we are always learning. How incredibly boring it would be if the day ever arrived when we knew everything about Nature. All the excitement in nature that lures us to the pursuit would suddenly vanish. 

I hope if the column accomplished anything at all, it stimulated not only an interest in the natural world around us, but also an appreciation of nature, and how important it is to our very survival as a human race. So many of us just don’t get that.  We cannot continue treating the natural world as an annoyance that gets in the way of development. We must learn to treat it as a dynamic part of us that needs to be preserved and conserved. If we are to survive on this planet at all, we need to embrace the natural world and treat it with the respect that it deserves.

In my 50 years as a columnist, I have seen so many changes. I have seen populations of tree swallows, barn swallows, bobolinks, plants, animals, plummet to a fraction of the population they were when I started out. I have seen invasive species like zebra mussels, buckthorn, dog strangling vine and numerous others destroy our native species. We did all this, with our meddling, and without batting an eyelash. Surely we can do much better, before it is really too late.

I have met so many naturalists through the years, many of whom I considered friends and mentors. There was Peterborough examiner columnist, Doug Sadler; Trentonian columnist from the 1960s, Orval Kelly; author Fred Bodsworth, the list goes on. Regrettably, I never got a chance to meet my most respected author, Farley Mowat, although I was a close friend of his father, Angus, when he lived at Northport, which gives you some idea of my vintage.

Today marks the very last column encompassing an amazing career, all due to Phil Dodds, 50 years ago, insisting that I have a column on his desk Monday morning for Wednesday’s paper. The success and longevity of the column I owe to you, the readers. Thank you so much for supporting it all these years! A merry Christmas to everyone and the very best to all of you in 2015.

For more information on today’s topic, please e-mail tsprague@xplornet.com  or  phone 613‑848-4549. For more information on nature in the Quinte area, be sure to check out www.naturestuff.net .