Wednesday, July 3, 2002

Chase looking out for the outdoors

By JANET McGREGOR
snippets@bellsouth.net

Dennis Chase's life could be used as an example to support the theory that you are solely a product of your environment. Of course, with the genes of hunters and outdoorsmen from past generations to shape him, there are those who might argue that his avocation and choices in life were already programmed before he was born. In either case, the environment and outdoors have been a part of his life since birth.

Even the name of the town Dennis Chase was born in may have played a part in shaping his future - Waterville, Minnesota. "It was only natural that I would grow up to be a biologist," he said. "I knew from the time I was 7 or 8 that I would do something like that."

The great outdoors has shaped the lives of members of the Chase family for at least 100 years. Chase tells of his three "greats" who hunted ginseng, or "sang," as they called it. When his great-great-great grandfather began hunting sang, it sold for under 50 cents a pound. Today it sells for roughly $350 per pound.

Ginseng helped to get his family through the Depression. He tells of how the family made $5 to $10 a week digging ginseng, a significant amount back then.

Chase didn't join his father in hunting ginseng until he was five when the family moved to Rochester. In addition to searching for the ginseng, he also hunted wild berries, asparagus, wild mushrooms - and a few things not in the plant family, squirrels, deer, grouse and other creatures.

At the same time Chase joined the family in hunting, he started school. He graduated from Rochester High School, and then went to a junior college for a few years. He transferred to the University of Minnesota, graduating in 1968.

Prior to graduation, Chase began working for U.S. Fish & Wildlife Management where he stayed until Uncle Sam sent him an invitation to join many other young persons fighting the Vietnam war. "It was right after the Tet Offensive," he said. "Everyone was scared to death."

Knowing he had a better chance of getting his choice of positions, Chase enlisted. He chose to be a code-breaker, believing that he would probably spend his tour of duty stateside. He spent his tour in Can Tho, 75 miles south of Saigon (now Ho Chi Ming City) right in the thick of things.

After completing his obligation to his country, Chase came home with a different outlook on life. His job with U.S. Fish & Wildlife was waiting for him, so he easily slid back into his old slot. However, after seeing "some of the worst things in the world, especially in such poor country," some problems he faced at work just didn't seem quite as meaningful to him as they did to others. His perspective in life was different.

"I was almost immediately in trouble," he said.

The government reacted to Dennis' new ability to speak his mind when he saw a problem by putting him in a "career development" plan "what they call the 'we don't like what you're doing' plan," he said. "They find you a job somewhere else."

Chase was given the option of the Plains of the Dakotas or Atlanta. The flat, cold Dakota plains didn't rate a second look, so in 1976 Chase moved to Atlanta. He arrived in February, having to shovel snow the day he left Minnesota. It was 80 degrees in Atlanta.

He queried his real estate agent regarding snow, asking if it ever snowed in Atlanta. "Yeah," said the agent, as though it were a horrible occurrence. "Sometimes it stays on the ground until about ten o'clock, too."

He started his Atlanta life in Stone Mountain, fairly close to his Norcross job with U.S. Fish & Wildlife. In the early 1980s local and state government leaders thought it would be a good idea to move federal agencies to downtown Atlanta to help invigorate the city. Chase's commute got longer and he started looking for a new home and a shorter commute. In 1986 he and his wife, Nell, moved to Fayette County.

The couple had decided they were going south of I-20. They started looking in a sweeping arch that got progressively further out. Dennis said they stopped in the Fayette County courthouse for information and met "some of the friendliest people" they had encountered on their search. They decided "if we can find a place here, that's where we were going to be." The found a place with almost nine acres of land in the southern part of the county and put their names on the deed.

Dennis Chase has become fairly well known locally to many for his stands on issues regarding wetlands, waterways and the environment. "Most folks never heard of me before 1994," he said. Referring to his earlier "career development" move, he continued, "I didn't want to get thrown out of Atlanta."

In 1994 he retired with over 26 years experience. His duties had included a wide range of activities under the umbrella of Habitat Conversation or Ecological Services. His primary responsibility had been handling National Environmental Policy Act activities for the Service for the ten Southeastern states.

Since his retirement, his voice has become prominent in issues involving the environment. He has been involved with a number of projects on a volunteer basis. He served as vice-chairman of the Southern Conservation Trust and was appointed to serve on the Flint River Advisory Council, the Storm Water Advisory Committee for Peachtree City and is beginning his appointed position on the Storm Water Advisory Committee for Fayetteville. He also volunteers with Adopt a Stream program in Georgia, monitoring two locations on Line Creek.

He says he will be happy if he can help keep some of our environment intact. He hopes to make sure "some of the pieces of the environment will still be there for our children." He notes he really doesn't get anything out of his involvement except the satisfaction of saving some part of what we have today. He encourages others to do what he has done: "Find something you know and believe in and go to bat for it."

Chase is also a collector. He says he collects almost everything from stamps and coins to antique pens and pencils. He doesn't hunt much anymore, although he still fishes. "I'm not anti-anything," he said. "It's just that other things have come up to occupy my time."

Dennis has recently ventured into a new field, that of a published author. His first book, "White Gold," is a work of fiction revolving around something he is very familiar with: ginseng.

Chase isn't planning to slow down anytime in the future. "I hope to accomplish a lot," he said.

He's looking at new approaches to greenspace and is considering writing another book. And, of course, he plans to continue his involvement in the issues affecting the local environment.

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