Paul C. Huth Tribute….

On the occasion of Mohonk Consultations 25th Anniversary Program Honoring Ruth & Keith Smiley June 2005

Acting on his family’s Quaker principles, A. Keith Smiley founded Mohonk Consultations in 1980. His goal was to bring together different people to find practical ways to understand the connectedness of all life, sustain life on earth, and make peace in the world. Keith believed we must find specific, practical solutions rather than general ones, involve decision-makers in carrying out solutions, and practice reconciliation and consensus building in order to save the Earth.

When I was asked to be a part of this special program recognizing Mohonk Consultations’ Quarter Century, and offering a few remarks about my experiences with good friends Ruth and Keith, I thought of all the literally hundreds of people who had special personal experiences and relationships with them, and who could be much more eloquent than me. I spent a lot of time pondering this.

Then, around the Vernal Equinox in March, with a hint of spring coming in the changeable air, I remembered Keith’s and Ruth’s enthusiasm in seeing and reporting the arrival of the first Hermit Thrush

Thrush. MP-DSRC  (Mohonk Preserve Daniel Smiley Research Center).

at West Pines and the first flowers of Hepatica and Bloodroot  at Duck Pond.

Bloodroot found at the Duck Pond at Mohonk. Photo courtesy of MP-DSRC
(Mohonk Preserve Daniel Smiley Research Center).

Hepatica. Photo courtesy of MP-DSRC  (Mohonk Preserve Daniel Smiley Research Center).

For them, Nature was their life’s continuum. It was the fundamental medium of renewal, of regular refreshment, was a refuge when needed, and above all, was a life-long teacher. Nature imparted to them life’s fundamental principles and inner connectedness. Keith and Ruth did not wear their values on their sleeves for all to see, but demonstrated their values by their actions, where they devoted their time, and by the way they lived their lives.

In my day to day activities, I often stop to revisit the clarity of Keith’s writings. Listen to his vivid literary artistry:

“Starting from the House at about seven forty-five in the evening, supplied with three flashlights and various tempting morsels… we soon were on the summit of Sky Top. Here Mr. Cleaves, Dan and I paused to look back at the sun setting behind the Catskills and at the lights sparkling from the House, and sparkling again, in reflection, from the surface of the Lake. We wished to arrive before dark at the ledge on the east face of the cliff, below which the Duck Hawk nest (Peregrine) had been located the year before…. At that time we had noted the feces and other traces of Neotoma Pennsylvanica (Woodrat) and now were bent upon seeing one in his native rocks.

Upon reaching the ….ledge, a part of the newspaper was spread out flat in a well-worn rat runway and a small amount of food was sprinkled on the surface, while larger pieces were wrapped up as “favors” in pieces of newspaper so that considerable noise would be caused by the rat attempting to unwrap the parcel. We then retired to the ledge nearby and sat silently watching the fading shadows on the slopes and in the valley of the Walkill beyond.

We did not have long to wait. Upon hearing the rustling of the newspaper, we stole quickly forward with our flashlights in readiness. The cave rat …. was at first frightened by our movements and sought the shelter of a deep horizontal crack in the rocks which formed a natural shelter from all enemies. As we waited, he soon returned for more food and carried a large piece along one of his runways up the rocky ledges, seeming at times to scale the vertical rock faces with extreme agility…. While waiting for him to reappear, we heard a faint squeaking sound. He was apparently communicating with the other rat which had taken refuge there….” Keith concludes, “we were very probably the first of the genus Homo he had ever seen and did not realize how dangerous such awkward looking creatures could be when equipped with the proper implements. Whatever his feelings, we felt highly rewarded and pleased at having been given the opportunity to witness this nocturnal cave rat banquet.”

This was on June 26, 1931. Keith was just 21 years old.

Keith’s ability to see clearly was demonstrated in our conversations over the years. We shared the breadth and depth of his interests and our mutual concerns They ranged from water quality, pollution, and potable water availability, to acid rain, population size and sustainability, social responsibility, increasing energy use and production, and an underlying concern for the holistic management of this special place.

A. Keith Smiley overlooking the valley toward the Trapps, Near Trapps and Millbrook Mountain. Courtesy of MMH Archives.

Answering my questions, I knew he drew on the wisdom of his nearly life-long experience here on the mountain, from his copious readings, from his and Ruth’s international travels, and from his service on the Quaker United Nations Committee.

With Ruth, our close connection was botany. As a result of my working with “brother Dan”, as Keith referred to him, on a flora of the Northern Shawangunks, I had found many notes authored by Ruth in Dan’s files and lists she made of ferns, her particular botanical love. When we had a herbarium specimen of a plant like Blue Star, or Amsonia, which was a plant not native to this part of the U.S., and collected by Dan on Sky Top on the very warm morning of June 6, 1968, we would send Ruth a note as we did one February to see if she could find any record of the plant in Mohonk garden purchase orders. She would usually request for us to give her a little time to fit it in her already full schedule, but usually shortly thereafter would come a note to the Elms: “Blue Star – noted in Mohonk Garden purchase order list for March 15, 1926, to Ellwanger and Barry Nursery in Rochester, 35 cents each.” This was a regular pleasant sideline from us that Ruth enjoyed.

Above all, Ruth was an exceptional teacher. Over the decades she captivated, inspired and entertained thousands of people of all ages with her beautifully illustrated talks and nature walks. All were drawn in by her elegance and poise. Those of us who could, would regularly join her on her night-sounds forays, and birding and plant walks, even if we thought we knew our subjects well, to reinforce our knowledge from a master, and invariably to learn something new from Ruth which we took away with us. Many of us also developed our nature walk leadership style copying Ruth’s successful pattern honed over the decades of practice at Mohonk. When our daily paths frequently crossed, many times in the hall, she would ask me, “….have you taken a walk today?” I would usually mumble weakly something about being busy with this or that, and she would gently and gracefully add, “….go up Eagle Cliff, the Laurel is at its peak.”

Those like Keith and Dan, born in the early 20th century, were strongly influenced by the contemporary writings of a leading figure in the formative years of the modern conservation movement—Aldo Leopold. In a 1947 address, Leopold said,

“Practice of conservation must spring from a conviction of what is ethically and esthetically right, as well as what is economically expedient. A thing is right only when it tends to preserve the integrity, stability, and beauty of the community. The community includes the soil, waters, fauna, and flora, as well as the people.”

We can trace the concepts of the present Mohonk Consultations to a time shortly before The Mohonk Trust agreement was made on the 26 February 1963, just over 42 years ago. (The Mohonk Trust is now renamed the Mohonk Preserve.)In the Research Center files are considerable correspondence, especially notes between Keith and Dan, regarding the contents of the Agreement and The Trust’s purposes.

Daniel Smiley and his brother A. Keith Smiley ca 1978. Courtesy MMH Archives.

Leopold’s concepts of a land ethic and people as part of community and his books A Sand County Almanac (1952) and Round River (1953) clearly influenced the result. On 7 February, Keith sent Dan a note regarding descriptive phrases, as he called them, for The Trust’s “Statement of Principles”—

“For the promotion of movements toward world order including projects preserving the natural beauty and recreational value of the local area, as well as consultations on the improvement of international understanding through education, world law, and diplomatic relations, and the search for better means of assisting less developed areas of the world to learn to improve their own way of life”; and “to assist those needing enrichment of their life experience to learn the full values of re-creation, through the inspiration of nature and other cultural values.”

I know that if Keith was physically with us today, he would acknowledge the accomplishment of Mohonk Consultations over the past quarter century and recognize the people who collectively have been involved. Given the global situation as it is today he would also observe that there is more to do and a great sense of urgency in the outcome.

My Congratulations to Mohonk Consultations!

Paul C. Huth

June 2005