April 19, 2023 I arrived about noon at Alabama’s Lake Lurleen State Park, then departed April 20 after a morning meeting of the Alabama State Parks Foundation Board. I focus this Post on the splendor of the lake the first afternoon and snippets I captured at sunrise the next morning during a quick encounter lakeside before my departure.

The lake did not disappoint, a seamless drape of sky and water.

My hollow words sometimes add little incremental value to my photographs and videos. Such is clearly the case with the cerulean sky, rippled water, and scenic shoreline. My two-minute noon video speaks volumes.

The chattering barn swallows surging from their nests under the dock add a celebratory touch to the scene.

Every view along the lakeside trail is framed by shoreline trees.

The water and sky offer a perfect complementary match!

My 1:48 video captures the lakeside beauty, magic, wonder, awe, and inspiration of Lake Lurleen State Park.

Never one to miss a dawn in Nature, I found another day of joy at 7:15 AM. One lovely day simply transitioned to another. No, perfect weather is not the rule at any of our parks, yet one should never be surprised when perfection make a repeat performance. John Muir expressed the day’s radiance:

The sun shines not on us but in us.

My 1:36 sunrise video simply amplified the ambience.

Wisps of morning mist rose from the still-spring-cool water (below right). A single swallow, among the many greeting the morning, is silhouetted against the sky (below right).

Edward Abbey likewise appreciated the magic of brilliant sunshine:

There is beauty, heartbreaking beauty, everywhere.

I suppose the domestic grey geese, cavorting noisily near the park headquarters, likewise saw value in the new day.

My 30-second video captured their new day welcome.

My Lake Lurleen Post offers little ecological insight, explores no wildland mystery, nor reveals any deep forest secrets. Instead, it highlights the special delights of a brief late spring amble lakeside at Lake Lurleen State Park, a west-central Alabama gem.

Alabama State Parks Foundation

Thoughts and Reflections

I offer these observations:

• There is beauty, heartbreaking beauty, everywhere. (Edward Abbey)
• The sun shines not on us but in us. (John Muir)
• Nothing exceeds the magic, inspiration, and sacred spirit of a placid lake surrounded by forest.

Inhale and absorb Nature’s elixir. May Nature Inspire, Inform, and Reward you!

If only more of us viewed our precious environment through the filters I employ. If only my mission and vision could be multiplied untold orders of magnitude:

Steve’s Three Books

I wrote my books Nature Based Leadership (2016), Nature-Inspired Learning and Leading (2017), and Weaned Seals and Snowy Summits: Stories of Passion for Place and Everyday Nature (2019; co-authored with Dr. Jennifer Wilhoit) to encourage all citizens to recognize and appreciate that every lesson for living, learning, serving, and leading is either written indelibly in or is powerfully inspired by Nature.

I began writing books and Posts for several reasons:

• I love hiking and exploring in Nature
• I see images I want to (and do) capture with my trusty iPhone camera
• I enjoy explaining those images — an educator at heart
• I don’t play golf!
• I actually do love writing — it’s the hobby I never needed when my career consumed me
• Judy suggested my writing is in large measure my legacy to our two kids, our five grand kids, and all the unborn generations beyond
• And finally, perhaps my books and Blogs could reach beyond family and touch a few other lives… sow some seeds for the future

All three of my books (Nature Based Leadership; Nature-Inspired Learning and Leading; Weaned Seals and Snowy Summits) present compilations of personal experiences expressing my (and co-author Dr. Wilhoit for Weaned Seals and Snowy Summits) deep passion for Nature. All three books offer observations and reflections on my relationship to the natural world… and the broader implications for society. Order any and all from your local indie bookstore, or find them on IndieBound or other online sources such as Amazon and LifeRich.

March 16, 2023 I co-led (with Mike Ezell, AL State Parks Naturalist Emeritus) a Nature walk at Joe Wheeler State Park for members of the Huntsville LearningQuest class that had just completed a seven-week course on the State Parks of North Alabama. I sauntered the woods for an additional two hours after the formal field excursion. This Post presents my observations and reflections from the bluff-top trails near the lodge.

I grew up in the central Appalachians. Every hike traced the rough terrain. Only infrequently were trails flat. I welcomed the perspective of trekking along the bluffs, 50-100 feet above Lake Wheeler on a breezy spring day.

A Mid-March Bluff Trail Morning

The distant horizon is actually Wheeler dam, indistinct at this distance with the naked eye. I often wonder how less that 100 feet above the water, I feel as though the bluff is high above, yet were I in a boat below, the bluff would appear unimpressive. Always, elevation expresses an exaggerated visual perspective from above. I mis the days when, as a younger man with better knees, I could scale most peaks effortlessly.

Mike held forth with ease and intimate familiarity. He grew up along Lake Wheeler. He knows the area deeply…and has an unbridled passion for it. His love for the land and knowledge of the Nature of it is inexhaustible. I’ve often heard the old saw, “People don’t care how much you know…until they know how much you care.” Mike cares!

Some photos require no narrative. I’ll say only that our group found itself blissfully, spiritually (not spatially) lost in the spring forest.

These views epitomize the beauty, magic, wonder, awe, and inspiration of a bluff-side stroll in Joe Wheeler State Park on a splendid spring morning!

Again, there’s little need for my observations and reflections!

Even better than still photographs, I offer my 2:27 video from the bluff.

As I complete my narrative in early May I know that the forest canopy will soon block most views to the lake. Nothing in Nature is static, not even the view from the bluff.

Likewise, this 35-second video of a barge passing, is season-limited. By June only the distant powerful engine chugging would reveal the barge passing…unseen.

Special Features

Former pastures, dating back to abandonment when TVA acquired these lakeside buffers along with the soon-to-be-flooded lands, are often heavily populated with large grape vines that grew up with the new forests. I enjoy the jungle-like appearance of these mature hardwood trees draped with Tarzan-worthy vines. And beware the sign-eating trail-marker trees. Nothing in Nature is permanent, not even a metal trail sign!

Our OLLI hikers voted with their feet, sharing my endorsement and fascination with the hanging grape vine gardens of these former pastures. All of wondered what tales the large yellow poplar could have shared.

Wild comfrey issued its fresh spring leaves as we walked the trail. Hickory buds nearly burst this time of year. Massive foliar tissue ejects from the jettisoned bud scales. I’d like to see that action in time lapse video.

I don’t like to miss forest treasures and delights during my woodland saunters. Allow me to repeat my five essential verbs for meaningful woodland exploration:

1. Believe — know that delights lie within plain sight
2. Look — search your viewscape with intent…to find the magic that you know is there
3. See — peel away layers of distraction, both visual and mental
4. Feel — infuse what your eyes detect through all of your portals: mind, body, heart, soul, and spirit
5. Act — allow the feeling to direct you to informed and responsible stewardship of Nature

Henry David Thoreau said it well: It’s not what you look at that matters; it’s what you see!

So few who pass through the woods reach beyond looking. I urge readers to see what truly matters!

Alabama State Parks Foundation

Thoughts and Reflections

I offer these observations:

• Look deep into nature, and then you will understand everything better. (Albert Einstein)
• And into the forest I go, to lose my mind and find my soul. (John Muir)
• It’s not what you look at that matters; it’s what you see!.

Inhale and absorb Nature’s elixir. May Nature Inspire, Inform, and Reward you!

If only more of us viewed our precious environment through the filters I employ. If only my mission and vision could be multiplied untold orders of magnitude:

Steve’s Three Books

I wrote my books Nature Based Leadership (2016), Nature-Inspired Learning and Leading (2017), and Weaned Seals and Snowy Summits: Stories of Passion for Place and Everyday Nature (2019; co-authored with Dr. Jennifer Wilhoit) to encourage all citizens to recognize and appreciate that every lesson for living, learning, serving, and leading is either written indelibly in or is powerfully inspired by Nature.

I began writing books and Posts for several reasons:

• I love hiking and exploring in Nature
• I see images I want to (and do) capture with my trusty iPhone camera
• I enjoy explaining those images — an educator at heart
• I don’t play golf!
• I actually do love writing — it’s the hobby I never needed when my career consumed me
• Judy suggested my writing is in large measure my legacy to our two kids, our five grand kids, and all the unborn generations beyond
• And finally, perhaps my books and Blogs could reach beyond family and touch a few other lives… sow some seeds for the future

All three of my books (Nature Based Leadership; Nature-Inspired Learning and Leading; Weaned Seals and Snowy Summits) present compilations of personal experiences expressing my (and co-author Dr. Wilhoit for Weaned Seals and Snowy Summits) deep passion for Nature. All three books offer observations and reflections on my relationship to the natural world… and the broader implications for society. Order any and all from your local indie bookstore, or find them on IndieBound or other online sources such as Amazon and LifeRich.

I am pleased to post the 12th of my new GBH Brief Form Posts to my website (Less than three-minutes to read! Not including the brief videos). I tend to get a bit long-winded with my routine Posts. I don’t want my enthusiasm for thoroughness and detail to discourage readers. So I will publish the brief Posts regularly.

The Intersection of Human Engineering and Nature’s Inspiration

I attended the 2023 TN Air Show at Smyrna (Nashville area) Saturday June 10. I did not anticipate finding a Nature connection, yet one emerged with great clarity: The Marvels of Human Engineering Meet Nature’s Splendid Inspiration!

Rather than pontificate with weighty narrative, allow me to present three brief YouTube videos (and two photos) that I posted this week and a few words about each.

My 20-second video captured three Blue Angels as they rose into the sun-aura of a cumulus.

I’m reminded of the stirring words of WWII pilot John Magee’s poem High Flight:

Oh, I have slipped the surly bonds of earth

And danced the skies on laughter-silvered wings;

Sunward I’ve climbed and joined the tumbling mirth Of sun-split clouds —

and done a hundred things You have not dreamed of;

wheeled and soared and swung high in the sun-lit silence.

Hovering there I’ve chased the shouting wind along,

and flung My eager craft through footless halls of air;

Up, up the long, delirious, burning blue

I’ve topped the wind-swept heights with easy grace,

Where never lark nor even eagle flew;

And while, with silent lifting mind I’ve trod

The high untrespassed sanctity of space,

Put out my hand, and touched the face of God.

I included the poem in my Dad’s eulogy. A Pacific theatre WWII Army Air Corps veteran, Dad carried the poem in his wallet until the day he passed. I watched the Blue Angels with tear-filled eyes. Twenty-seven years deceased, Dad stood with me.

This 40-second video from Saturday afternoon recorded a Lockheed Martin F-35 Lightning II racing across the flight line, then lifting vertically among the cumulus before appearing to float softly against the backdrop of the cerulean blue and white of an early summer afternoon.

Again I felt Dad’s spirit soaring both within and beyond me, tears remaining.

Finally, this 22-second video captured a Lockheed Martin F-35 Lightning II, capable of Mach 1.6 at altitude. This high performance aircraft appears to hang in the air as it passes among the cumulus under the cerulean blue of an early summer afternoon, once again combining the marvels of human engineering with the beauty, magic, wonder, awe, and inspiration of Nature.

I accept the challenge of distilling these Brief-Form Posts to a single distinct reflection, a task far more elusive than assembling a dozen pithy statements. Through the presence of Dad’s spirit, the power of flight that he loved, and Nature’s abiding beauty, magic, wonder and awe, I:

• Put out my hand, and touched the face of God!

Inhale and absorb Nature’s elixir. May Nature Inspire, Inform, and Reward you!

NOTE: I place 3-5 short videos (15-seconds to three minutes), like the one in this Post, on my Steve Jones Great Blue Heron YouTube channel weekly. All relate to Nature-Inspired Life and Living. I encourage you to SUBSCRIBE! It’s FREE. Having more subscribers helps me spread my message of Informed and Responsible Earth Stewardship…locally and globally!

Because I had been teaching a seven-week Huntsville LearningQuest course at the Residences at WellPoint in Hampton Cove, Alabama, I visited the nearby Goldsmith-Schiffman Wildlife Sanctuary four times from late-January through March (1/31; 2/14; 2/21; 3/24), focusing the latter three visits on the ongoing wetlands restoration project underway by the City of Huntsville, the proprietor and caretaker of the 400-acre Sanctuary.

I have previously published eight Posts on the Sanctuary, the most recent presenting the 14-minute video story of the Sanctuary: https://stevejonesgbh.com/2022/10/11/goldsmith-schiffman-wildlife-sanctuary-a-tale-of-two-extraordinary-women/

My third book, Weaned Seals and Snowy Summits (co-authored by Dr. Jennifer Wilhoit), carries a subtitle relevant to my dedication to (obsession with) the Sanctuary: Stories of Passion for Place and Everyday Nature. (See below this Post for how to order.) I view the Sanctuary as one of my special places, which you will see reflected in my eight Posts.

The Wetland Restoration Project

Importantly, nearly the entire Sanctuary is a jurisdictional wetland, composed of active flood plain (Flint River), ponds, creeks, sloughs, riparian forests, and meadows and abandoned agricultural lands…all with hydric soils. Prior owners employed minor drainage practices to enhance operability for planting, cultivating, and harvesting crops. All of the land had supported forests prior to agricultural conversion.

Niki Sothers, Manager Landscape Management City of Huntsville, describes the wetland conversion project, “The Sanctuary which was once a wetland before being turned into farmland many generations ago, is now being restored back into a wetland. The process of this is stop farming, remove drainage tiles that were used for farming, start digging pits to hold water, dam up major swales and ditches to slow down the runoff, and plant both native vegetation and trees that will withstand wetter conditions. The soil over the years will become more hydric, being able to sustain this plant material. We think the total process will take anywhere from three to five years to complete.”

The project site lies on the first fields within a quarter-mile of the property’s Taylor Road entrance on the west side.

Trees would eventually capture any neglected farm fields in our region, as meadow annuals and perennials would yield to shrubs and then trees. Wind- and water-borne seeds would fill the voids and vacuums that Nature abhors. Already elsewhere in the non-mitigated meadows I’m seeing blackberry and sweetgum colonizing the meadow. Within the project site crews have planted selected facultative and obligate wetland tree species (certain oaks and below left a willow). Facultative species frequently grow in wetlands…but occasionally populate uplands. Obligate wetland species are exclusive to wetter sites.

Tree shelters, held securely with wooden stakes, protect the seedlings from browsing (deer and rabbits) and brace the plantings when the Flint sends flood waters across the fields. Note below right that there is no evidence as of my February 14 visit of flooding since crews placed the shelters.

The project established two shallow waterfowl impoundments intended to attract seasonal migrants, provide desired habitat, diversify food sources (amphibians, crustaceans, reptile, and insects), and establish greater edges and ecotones.

Rather than leave it to your imagination, here is an excerpt and two photographs from my March 20, 2013 Brief-Form Post on a similar wetland conversion project in the greater Huntsville area:

Here are photos from my March 8, 2023 visit to the Webb Pond Preserve (Land Trust of North ALabama), where similar wetland restoration efforts converted wet farmland to wetland. The forest and shallow impoundment below will soon enter their tenth growing season.

I’ll closely watch the GSWS wetland restoration project as it develops from farm to forest. The Webb nine-year farm-to-forest success offers a glimpse of what to expect at the Sanctuary.

Now, employ your imagination to envision the project ten years hence. The big sky will diminish; the canopy will close. The meadow will sustain beyond the conversion forest, but only if managers actively mow to hold the broadscale forest conversion at bay. Mowing and even fire may be necessary to retard succession to brush and forest. Few people realize that Nature is anything but static. Maintaining a given condition (e.g., meadow) requires purposeful action (mowing or fire). Do nothing…things change.

The Flint River is likewise anything but static. My late February visit revealed that winter rains had prompted the Flint to rise beyond its banks, sending a half-foot of water across the site.

Change is constant, continuing, and guaranteed across Nature.

Videos from this First Winter of Conversion

I recorded this 3:04 video February 21, 2023. I don’t often include back-to-back videos. I felt that the five weeks (and heavy rains between) justified including this one and the two minute video that follows it.

I measured just shy of four inches of rain the first two days of March. The widespread storm system likely dropped a similar deluge on the Flint River basin. The Flint flashes rapidly. My 2:52 March 24, 2023 video evidences that the conversion site carried nearly two feet of flow associated with the storm.

Recommendations to the City of Huntsville

The Sanctuary is unquestionably one of my Special Places. I plan to return again…and again…and again. I will follow the restoration project and will collect photographs, record short videos, and offer observations and reflections via these Great Blue Heron Posts. I offer for the moment these recommendations to the City of Huntsville:

• Take advantage of this old forester, four-time former university president, forest scientist, lifelong Nature enthusiast, and published author. I offer to assist in whatever way you can use my passion and expertise. My price is reasonable — I would volunteer!
• Establish permanent photo points to systematically chronicle the project response over time. The nearby Webb Pond project would only weakly tell its tale without the photo journal.
• Catalog and archive all related writing, formal planning documents, reports, publicity, my Posts and videos, educational offerings and programs.
• Create an advisory panel of interested experts, citizens, educators and stakeholders.

Closing Philosophical Ruminations

Nothing in Nature is static! I return often to the Sanctuary. Nature rewards me each time with its ever-changing face, whether periodic floods, the shifting seasons, greening vegetation, or fair weather cumulus on a warm spring day.

The patterned alto cumulus on an otherwise drab February day lifted my spirits.

I hold deep feelings toward my Nature pursuits. I occasionally offer what I feel is an original sentiment, reflection, or observation. However, I learn later that others have offered similar perceptions years ago…sometimes centuries. Often, great thinkers, scientists, naturalists, and conservationists have stated my feeble thoughts far more succinctly, clearly, and compellingly than my own revelations. In fact, I wonder, have I ever had an original thought!?

Consider my deeply held sky-passion, which I thought might be uniquely my private joy and obsession. However, Leonardo da Vinci half-a-millennium ago recognized the infinite beauty and wisdom in the firmament:

Once you have tasted the essence of sky, you will forever look up.

I’ve been fixated and mesmerized by sky and clouds since I left my Mom’s apron. How could I possibly contemplate the field of tree shelters and the restoration project without seeing and appreciating the universe of sky and clouds above!?

And John Muir tied the package tightly…and perfectly:

When we try to pick out anything by itself, we find it hitched to everything else in the Universe.

The wetland project; the Flint River; the wet farmland; the fledgling Sanctuary; its agricultural past; the near and distant future — all of it hitched and stitched.

Finally, Albert Einstein inspires me to view the project, the natural laws that guide it, and the endlessly changing sky above with eyes peering from my very soul:

Look deep into nature, and then you will understand everything better.

He who can no longer pause to wonder and stand rapt in awe, is as good as dead; his eyes are closed.

Thoughts and Reflections

I offer these observations:

• A functioning natural ecosystem is a work of supreme art, in this case aided by the hands of man.
• Meaningful conservation often requires deliberate, informed, and responsible action.
• Look deep into nature, and then you will understand everything better. (Einstein)

Inhale and absorb Nature’s elixir. May Nature Inspire, Inform, and Reward you!

If only more of us viewed our precious environment through the filters I employ. If only my mission and vision could be multiplied untold orders of magnitude:

Steve’s Three Books

I wrote my books Nature Based Leadership (2016), Nature-Inspired Learning and Leading (2017), and Weaned Seals and Snowy Summits: Stories of Passion for Place and Everyday Nature (2019; co-authored with Dr. Jennifer Wilhoit) to encourage all citizens to recognize and appreciate that every lesson for living, learning, serving, and leading is either written indelibly in or is powerfully inspired by Nature.

I began writing books and Posts for several reasons:

• I love hiking and exploring in Nature
• I see images I want to (and do) capture with my trusty iPhone camera
• I enjoy explaining those images — an educator at heart
• I don’t play golf!
• I actually do love writing — it’s the hobby I never needed when my career consumed me
• Judy suggested my writing is in large measure my legacy to our two kids, our five grandkids, and all the unborn generations beyond
• And finally, perhaps my books and Blogs could reach beyond family and touch a few other lives… sow some seeds for the future

All three of my books (Nature Based Leadership; Nature-Inspired Learning and Leading; Weaned Seals and Snowy Summits) present compilations of personal experiences expressing my (and co-author Dr. Wilhoit for Weaned Seals and Snowy Summits) deep passion for Nature. All three books offer observations and reflections on my relationship to the natural world… and the broader implications for society. Order any and all from your local indie bookstore, or find them on IndieBound or other online sources such as Amazon and LifeRich.