Out of Sight, Out of Mind

KEDM Public Radio | By Kelby Ouchley

Published October 29, 2020 at 9:00 AM EDT

There is obviously some truth in the old adage "out of sight, out of mind." Humans are a visual species with large areas of our brain dedicated to processive visual stimuli. Most of our knowledge concerning our surroundings is acquired through our eyes.

We tend to deem matters that can't be clearly seen as low priority, and for a great many people, if a concern can't be observed directly or unambiguously, it apparently does not exist in their mind. Herein lies a problem as it relates to addressing some of our most serious environmental issues, because they first must be acknowledged.

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Kelby Ouchley

Kelby was a biologist and manager of National Wildlife Refuges for the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service for more than 30 years. He has worked with alligators in gulf coast marshes and Canada geese on Hudson Bay tundra. His most recent project was working with his brother Keith of the Louisiana Nature Conservancy on the largest floodplain restoration project in the Mississippi River Basin at the Mollicy Unit of the Upper Ouachita National Wildlife Refuge, reconnecting twenty-five square miles of former floodplain forest back to the Ouachita River.

See stories by Kelby Ouchley