Two Eagles Above a Canyon: Gratitude For America and Its Public Lands and Waters

Happy 4th of July and 250th Independence Day!

Exactly a week ago, I stood on the rim of a near-vertical canyon carved by the Lower Crooked Wild and Scenic River.

Far below, the river’s crystal-clear water roared through rapids, sending a rumbling sound up the cliffs and into my ears. Overhead, both a bald eagle and a golden eagle made slow, sweeping circles in the sky, scanning the river for trout and the talus slopes for rodents and reptiles.

As I took in this amazing American scenery, situated on a small sliver of BLM lands in central Oregon’s High Desert, I was overcome by a profound sense of gratitude for living in this country.

Despite its challenges, contradictions, faults, and flaws—or perhaps because of them—the United States is a country I’m extremely proud and excited to call home.

For those of you who don’t know, I don’t live in America because I was born here. I live in America because I chose to move here. The USA is my home not because my parents already lived here—it’s home because I wanted to come and live here many, many years ago.

While I spent my childhood and teenage years elsewhere, I’ve spent most of my adult life in the United States. That means I got to know and appreciate the country not through spoon-fed patriotism but through actual immersion and integration—literally through immigration, legally obviously.

I’ll write more about my personal background in a later piece, which I feel is long overdue at this point.

My love for America, the American people (which I’ve been part of for a long time now), the American landscapes, the American culture, and American traditions runs deep, and that’s very much thanks to the outside perspective my upbringing has given me. I know the enormous potential the United States has—maybe more so than even “homegrown” Americans realize.

Even after 250 years of independence, the United States is a country that’s very much unfinished, a country that keeps on evolving, a country that still has incredible promise, perhaps now even more so than ever.

And it excites me greatly—it motivates me tremendously—to have the opportunity to help shape the country’s future; help protect public lands, waters, and wildlife; and ensure that future folks who call America home, whether through birth or through immigration, live in a country that’s better, healthier, and freer than the one we live in now.

So, as we all celebrate the nation’s 250th birthday today—which involves all kinds of historic exhibits, compilations of historic events, and speeches boasting about past accomplishments—this is my call to look toward the future instead.

If the United States is to make it another 250 years, we’ll need two things more than anything else.

We’ll need a robust and fair democracy that continues to keep giving the people the power they constitutionally have, so the government keeps serving the American public.

And we’ll need a sprawling system of public lands and waters that continues providing clean water, clean air, a buffer against climate change, and places for physical recreation and mental relaxation.

While I’ll let better-positioned folks, groups, and organizations tackle the fight for democracy, I’ll continue to use my Our Public Lands & Waters platform to keep pushing for more protections for our rivers, grasslands, shorelines, lakes, mountains, deserts, wildlife, and the environment as a whole.

I keep thinking about those two eagles circling above the Crooked River Canyon last week. It’s an image that was unexpectedly powerful—a personal reminder of how important it is to actually get outside and enjoy your public lands.

I hope all of you have/had an opportunity this weekend to do exactly that: go stand on some public land.

I, for one, am spending a few days on the remote banks of the Columbia River in southeast Washington, near the unique Hanford Reach National Monument and far away from the whistles and bangs of the fireworks tonight—which is something my cat and dog will definitely appreciate.

Happy 4th of July and 250th Independence Day,

Bram