A WALK IN THE WOODS WITH RICHARD HENDRICKSEN


I am often asked questions about the woods, the land, what part timber companies play and environmental issues related to the land, etc. This letter is a way for me to answer some of these questions, let you get to know me a little better and at the same time; give you information about the Upper Peninsula. It is a laid-back place and different from city life.

While snowshoeing on a cold, blustery winter day in 1991, with temperatures hovering around the 0º mark and the snow about four feet deep, I rekindled an old leg injury due to overuse. I made a sling out of my shirt, and by using my upper body I was able to lift and drag my leg, one step at a time, to get out of the forest. It was dark when I got to my beat up old Ford truck four miles away, my jacket totally wet with sweat, but I was thankful to be alive and that truck never looked so good. By the way, that truck was the closest form of any help from any direction.

One spring day my motorcycle and I were nearly swallowed up by a mud hole. Getting the cycle out called for brute strength and ingenuity as creeks bordered each side of the mud hole road, so there was no leverage to be had. By breaking and stacking together tag alders, I was able to provide some traction, enabling me to drag my bike out. Unfortunately, the chain had come off in the process and I had no tools to repair it. This time I was nine miles out, very mad and quite exhausted. Darkness was around the corner and I was not up for a long dark walk. If I could push the bike forward, such action could force the chain back on. A shot of adrenaline came from somewhere and I was able to do just that. I carefully scooted out of there.

While showing property to some people from Ann Arbor, we saw a bull moose with his majestic rack appear from the woods and trot down the trail, as naturally as you or I would walk from the kitchen to the living room.

One day while looking at land with three hunters. There, nearly under my feet, was a newborn fawn lying as still as a possum, big wide eyelashes, and eyes wide open. Yet, lying perfectly still, chin across its tiny hooves, curled up in a tiny ball about the size of a small poodle. I could not believe how small it was, and it lay so still. All four of us now saw it and were amazed. Huddling over it, one guy went to pet its back, but another quickly said, 'don't touch it, the mother will be back.' We all now backed off and oh how I wish I had my camera. It was so beautiful and perfect. I wanted to savor the moment, but we knew not to stay. We came back a half hour later to check on it, but the mother had returned and it was gone.

This is how I can spend my days, and sometimes my nights. It is not for everyone, but I find it much more rewarding than watching TV and/or driving in dense heavy traffic. I feel much more centered and serene with myself, and the world, in the woods. These are the kind of experiences you may have, if you buy land in the Huron mountain range.

Back long ago, as a teenager walking in the woods, my brother's friend killed a robin with a BB gun. It feII dead at my feet. I scolded him and threatened to tell his parents. This should have been an immediate clue that I was different than a majority of teenage boys, but to me it was just something that was wrong and not a matter of being different.

Last year while driving near Black River Falls, I saw two women and a young child in a car throw out a fast food restaurant bag with all its Styrofoam pollutants. I caught up with the car and while writing down I car license plate number, I asked her if she intended to leave the trash, with a sneer on my face. She must have realized how angry and serious I was because she went back and picked it up, My friends tell me that proves I am still a bit different!

At a tourism show in Detroit, a customer complained how U.P. real estate people do not respond to his letters. He asked, “how do they expect business if they don't write letters?” I thought to myself (I'm an example), does he know how many people call, make an appointment, and do not show up? How many want a book written about zoning, survey, distances, and you name it, then I never hear from them again. They want to block off the roads and claim territory they do not own, taking their possessiveness to the land, and their problems too.

I have been engrossed in real estate for fifteen years and today I manage and broker the sale of about 13,000 acres of 'wild land' and find myself in the thick of issues. I seem to interact with all kinds of people, from investors to trash throwers, escape artists to people lovers, hunters to preservationists. Then on April 22, 1990 I was recognized by the Detroit Free Press as an “Earthcheiver” due to my environmental accomplishments. I am proud of this, yet real estate is not always considered an honorable profession, and certainly is not generally accepted as appropriate to be used in the same sentence as environmentalist or conservationists. However, it does not have to be that way. My thinking is if you don't like something, it is not to bitch at it from outside but to join it and make changes from within.

So, here I am, fifteen years later speaking for the forest and creeks, (attempting it anyway), compromises and all. I'll show you the land in a day or so if you make an appointment. Trying to hear your dreams for the land, listening to you, explaining to you, telling you the customs, seeing if this is what you really want to do. Last year I talked a family out of buying land; it was not the thing for them. Sometimes I amaze myself.



Each Property Is Unique

Talking on timber, clear cuts versus select cuts versus no cuts; poor soil sites, good soil sites. Basically, all groups need to communicate on a more open and honest level. They must be willing to respect the other's point of view and try to come up with some shared goals and be willing to compromise to achieve them. So, Friction!

Friction A
Hostilities between these factions can be intense sometimes. Issues are: the timber industry has produced many jobs in the U.P. which in turn has provided for many families. Also this paper was printed on a by-product of the timber industry. Likewise, each year we realize how precious and delicate the trees/environment are in our eco- system. Our very survival as a human race may rest on our preservation and wise management of our environment. Changing ways come from Germany, Switzerland and another European country (I forgot) who has outlawed clear cuts. Remember, roads put into remote areas were constructed by timber companies, where environmentalists now use those roads. On and on the debate goes.

Friction B
Of course, the state doesn't pay property taxes, the timber companies have the advantage of tremendous volume, and the individuals continue to drift with the wind and be blamed for many problems. Whereas I think it's really the State that is the snaky culprit. Think about it, all the land the state owns, but not one single mill. No responsibility for the success of a multi-million dollar mi", because the State owns none. No pressure on the agency to do something with its land, because there is no tax on it. Employees with little incentive to solve problems and review policy because their paycheck is not based upon such.

Considering all these conflicts, is not there still a choice by those who want to escape such a world? That escape would be the purchase of property. If you are that someone, I will take you into the backcountry, where the roads are rough, the bugs are friendly, the forest is quiet and the message is basic, honest and restful. It's for you, not me, to see such. It is in this environment that I watch, listen, and learn about you. What you are looking for in property, how you think, what is important to you, your dreams for the future of the land and how you fit in with the wilderness. From this information I try and match you with a choice of properties available, or maybe you know already.

In conclusion: John is a friend of mine, born in Houghton, and a registered forester who now works for a major land owner/developer. John and I have worked together on many occasions and have a good working relationship where I have learned and appreciate his thinking. John is basically a logger at heart and someone who is trained to look at a forest for its products and profits. He frequently complains about what is commonly known here as 'tree huggers' or the environmental type. He knows this is what I am at heart, but he also knows I am no hypocrite. I believe in the purchase of the land, not stealing it. I believe in putting your pocketbook where your mouth is. John knows this, and it is one of the foundations for our friendship.

One last comment! I wonder where a feeling of satisfaction and worth could be in this job of finding others to preserve and steward land. “Trying” to educate humans as to the value of stewardship of the forest, sometimes failing, and wondering what is the compromise between preservation and use (development).

By the way, that same spring when I saw the baby fawn, later I saw a mother partridge with her eleven baby chicks. She was clucking, they were chirping, and she fluttered at me to keep me away. Those chicks could barely climb over a one-inch stick and were like puff balls in the palm of your hand. They did not sit still like that fawn. It was like a crowd in the woods.