Key Concepts

“Concourse”

            “An act or action of flocking, moving, or flowing together (as of persons or streams):  an approaching and merging; a meeting produced by voluntary or spontaneous moving and coming together at one place.” (Webster’s Third New International Dictionary)

“The Wild”

“Of animals--free agents, each with its own endowments, living within natural

systems.

Of plants--self-propagating, self-maintaining, flourishing in accord with innate

qualities.

Of land--A place where the original and potential vegetation and fauna are intact

and in full interaction, and the landforms are entirely the result of nonhuman forces.

            Of individuals—unintimidated, self-reliant, independent.

            Of behavior—artless, free, spontaneous, unconditioned.”

            --Gary Snyder, The Practice of the Wild

“Agrestal”

“Dwelling or growing wild in the fields.”  (Webster’s Third New International Dictionary)

“Wild Iowa”

“Humans find it difficult to trust wildness, to appreciate it as a self-reliant, spontaneous, liberated state.  Our species has long engaged in a struggle to subdue or domesticate the world around us, and much has been gained in that process; but some things have also been lost.  We want to sort through those gains and losses and work toward an appropriate balance between the agrestal and the domestic. . . .  [We want] to experience an increasing level of trust for wildness in each of the many forms it may reveal itself, and hopefully to discover a feeling of personal liberation as we allow more freedom for the life surrounding us.  So here we are in Iowa, the most altered of landscapes, talking about letting a few rivers run free; suggesting, if we dare, that a hint of artistic abandon may be just what is needed. . . . learning and teaching, sharing hopes and fears, contemplating what has been lost, confronting the awe-invoking state known as wildness, and by doing so, rediscovering a significant part of ourselves.”  (From the Agrestal Fund purpose statement)