Red's Legend

During the Depression, times were tough. People in the town of Eden survived, but not without struggle. They hunted, they fished, they grew produce. They lived humbly. Most homes in this region were electricity-free; rooms were lit by kerosene. Some homes went without plumbing. Eden's community well serviced the people, so in the mornings the women sent children to retrieve enough for their per diem needs, the number of buckets per house being determined by the number of people in the home. It got even more difficult to get by in the winter. The cold, the snow, the storms. People needed to be strong, tough, resilient. Some needed to think outside the box, to come up with solutions to problems you or I could not even envision. It took very bold, wise, heroic people to survive. Some were so much so, we now tell stories of them. The story I'm telling you now is from one such fellow: Red Thompson. 
 
Picture it: December, mid-1930's 
  
Snow fell softly in the countryside. Due to weeks of record lows, this winter got the dubious honor of being the coldest the people of Eden could ever remember. People were going through firewood like lightning, trying to keep their houses from freezing over. Red went out to collect more firewood. Despite his home being cozy, despite his firewood supply being enough to stretch into June, he ventured out into the cold to chop every morning. He'd told the townspeople he would volunteer to chop everyone's firewood, for the entire winter. His logic, he spelled out in the town meeting, being if he were the only one to cut the wood down, he could control which trees were cut, when they were cut, WHY they were cut. Red felt too often trees were cut down for no good purpose. With tough winters on the horizon, Red thought it seriously prudent to protect the towns supply of winter firewod. 
 
Every time he went out into the woods in the summer, he noticed there were spots where trees once stood, but did no more. Undoubtedly, the trees were cut to provide fire or structure. Red understood the need for people to cut wood, but he didn't think their responsibility ended there. He worried if the trees kept being cut down, but nobody put more in, soon enough there would be no more firewood for the people of his town. No more lumber to build with. No more homes for the wild critters who lent so much joy to him on his stroll.

Red loved every soul he encountered on his life journey. The screech owls, high up in the trees, looking down on him with curiosity. The furry little gophers who burrow in the nest of roots in the bottom of the trees. The bunnies, hopping from tree to tree, seeking bits of food. Frogs jumping from pond to pond, birds chirping, he loved them. Even the fierce grizzlies who would show up every now or then. Red felt like he owed it to the forest, too, not just his townsfolk.

He knew the first step would be to stop the senseless culling of perfectly good trees. He knew there were times when people cut the younger. They were thinner, cutting through them took much less effort. Red knew it would be better in the long run if people cut older trees but if they just kept coming in here on their own, he knew he couldn't control them. 
 
Red, quite the respected elder in his community, decided to bring the issue up during Eden's next town meeting. People listened intently while he voiced his concerns, knowing the old-timer only wished for the best for the town. In the beginning, people were concerned. Why would Red tell us we shouldn't cut firewood? We'll freeze!  But they listened to his wise words nonetheless, mostly out of respect in the beginning, until the logic of it set in. Then they listened intently, seemingly the intensity of Red's interest spilled over onto them.  

Red never told them they couldn't use firewood, he just told them he thought there should be controls or rules to preserve the forest supply. To ensure the forest got cut responsibly, he'd come here offering to oversee it himself. The townsfolk couldn't help but go with it, Red would never steer them wrong. 

Red primed for this moment, first by sketching out the forest, then highlighting the spots where older growth trees were. These would be the first spots to cut down, then chop for the town. Next, he drew on the spots where he knew there were open fields. These spots held conditions just right to seed in new trees. Red figured for every tree he cut down, he'd seed two new trees in. This method would let the forest continue to thrive, even while we kept cutting it down.  
 
Throughout the winter, Red would tend to the forest. He'd chop trees down in spots he'd pre-determined, utilizing the felled trees the most efficiently he could. Throughout the summer, you could find Red in the forest too. Sometimes he'd be cutting wood to get his jump on the winter rush, but mostly, he'd be in the open spots, living up to his promise. He'd seed new trees, or tend to the young ones sprouting up. 
 
Over time, the townsfolk would come by rumors of other towns. Towns where the forests were depleted, where the critters people hunted for food were now gone. There were no trees for them to shelter in. Towns where the creeks dried up, where wells went dry. It seems the sun dried up the creek beds where the trees no longer shielded them from the suns hot light. Towns where the people were forced to move from their homes, to look for better conditions. 

It's such luck for the townsfolk of Eden, then, to know Red. Red thought things through long term, Red never shied from responsibility, Red didn't think it so terrible to question why or how things get done. Or if things could be done better. It is due to this spirit, the town of Eden survived. People were never short on firewood. Furry little beings kept living in the forest. Life went on, without disruption, for the people of Eden. Despite the struggles other cities or towns endured. 
 
 The people of Eden loved Red. They loved him for everything he'd done for them. They loved him for his undying commitment to the betterment of his community. They loved him so much, so completely, they decided the forest should be tied to his legend. This spring, while everyone in town drew close, Red's neighbors unveiled the new sign by the edge of the woods. The simple sign, red in color of course, would forever dub this forest "Red's Wood”.