Entries by Steve Jones

Late September Wanderings and Ramblings on my Ohio Land Legacy Project Site

November 25, 2020 in , /by

I spent two days in late September 2020 completing field work for my Land Legacy Story on 1,100-acre Dutton Farms in Belmont County, Ohio near Flushing. I issued two previous Posts chronicling this compelling tale of Earth stewardship: http://stevejonesgbh.com/2018/05/29/idyllic-pastoral-earth-stewardship-surprise-exemplar/ http://stevejonesgbh.com/2019/04/19/mid-march-revelations-on-worn-out-land-2/ Here is the very essence of the Dutton Land Legacy Story: abusive agricultural practices from […]

A Few Fungal Highlights from an Early Fall Trek through a River Terrace Forest

November 12, 2020 in , , /by

As a forestry undergraduate I took courses with titles like Plant Pathology and Eastern US Forest Diseases, studying economically important tree diseases like chestnut blight, Dutch elm disease, beech-scale-nectria, white pine blister rust, fusiform rust, and oak wilt. I learned fungi as disease agents and causes of decay and wood deterioration reducing the commercial value […]

A Suburban Trail within Sight of an Interstate Highway North of Pittsburgh, PA

November 5, 2020 in , , /by

Wildness is wherever you seek it, whether deep in the Appalachian forests… or hidden in plain sight within a suburban park. Steve Jones   September 24, 2020, I hiked Brush Creek Trail in southern Butler County Pennsylvania, 20-miles north of Pittsburgh and within two miles of our son’s home in Cranberry Township. The linear Graham […]

The Intersection of Human and Natural History: A 1766 Survey Marker above Rocky Gap State Park

October 28, 2020 in , , /by

I’ve already published two Posts from my September 2020 hike at Maryland’s Rocky Gap State Park, one offering photos and reflections on the trees and woody plants I encountered en route to the summit of Evitts Mountain, and the second on early fall flowers, fungi, and ferns: A Tough Hike and Deep Reward at Rocky […]

September 2020 Rocky Gap State Park: Central Appalachian Fall Flowers, Ferns, and Fungi

October 21, 2020 in , /by

September 26, 2020, I hiked the Rocky Gap State Park (ten miles east of my boyhood home in Cumberland, Maryland) Summit Trail, trekking from Lake Habeeb (1,150 feet elevation) to the summit of Evitts Mountain (2,296 feet) and return. See my earlier Post highlighting the forests and tree species I encountered and reflecting upon the […]

A Tough Hike and Deep Reward at Rocky Gap State Park in Western Maryland

October 15, 2020 in , , /by

I grew up in Cumberland, MD, nearly 150 miles west of the Baltimore/DC area. Located along the Potomac River deep in the Central Appalachians, Cumberland served as a transportation hub (roads; rails, and canal) and industrial center for many decades.   I issued a Post in November 2019 after returning to Cumberland for my 50th […]

Mid-Summer Life-Flourish along a Wheeler NWR Gravel Road

October 7, 2020 in , /by

August 18, 2020, Alabama State Parks Naturalist Emeritus Mike Ezell and I focused our Wheeler National Wildlife Refuge explorations interior to the Blackwell Swamp loop road on the Refuge’s eastern extension. See two previous Posts from our wanderings in both a pine terrace forest (http://stevejonesgbh.com/2020/09/09/pine-forest-on-a-rich-terrace-above-lake-wheeler-on-the-wnw-refuge/) and through a bottomland hardwood ecosystem (http://stevejonesgbh.com/2020/09/16/hardwood-forest-on-seasonally-flooded-lowlands-along-lake-wheeler-on-the-wnw-refuge/). Even as our […]

Four-Year Tornado Forest Recovery at Monte Sano State Park

September 23, 2020 in , , /by

November 29, 2016, a weak tornado (EF-0; winds 40-72 mph or EF-1; 73-112 mph) touched down briefly at the northern bluff-edge of Monte Sano State Park’s North Plateau Trail. I hiked the trail circuit August 27, 2020 to assess forest healing and recovery after nearly four full growing seasons since the November storm. I include […]