1859 Spring 2010

editor’s letter
COLLEGE
Kevin Max
Editor, 1859 Oregon's Magazine
YOU CAN GET THERE
WE CAN HELP
OregonCollegeSavings.com
At some point,
you realize you’re
in over your head.
Too often that is the case with me.
The latest example took the form
of the 1859 Man vs. Wild Extreme
Challenge on the Oregon coast in
January. Survivalist guru and Man
vs. Wild reality show consultant,
Mark Wienert, graciously took in
our group of five and taught us
what we’d need to know to stay
alive in fairly extreme conditions
in the Siuslaw National Forest and
beyond. We survived.
In “Lesser Man vs. Wild” (page 48), you’ll read
the adventures of a civilized man’s foray into
unfamiliar wilderness, both geographically
and psychologically.
I came away from the Siuslaw with a
mind full of lessons that can be equally
applied to situational survival and mental
stress. More important for me was that my
respect for the wild areas of Oregon was
rekindled. Despite wilderness areas being
under constant threat of developmental and
political flux, they are an enormous asset
for the state. Groups such as Freshwater
Trust, Oregon Wild, Oregon Natural Desert
Association and the Governor’s Office have
been working to repeal outdated mining
laws and reclaim wilderness for generations
to come. Long before these groups, the
Lower Umpqua Tribe, in the Siuslaw Forest.
practiced a sustainable creed in which all
of its environmental actions were held to
the standard of what effect they would have
photo by Joni Kabana