Winter is racing past. I’m completing this Post narrative February 24, 2023, a full two months beyond the deep winter episode that is the subject of this photo-essay. Yesterday (February 23) Madison recorded a high of 83! I have a backlog of these Posts ready for publishing. I thought it is approaching past-time to issue this one!

A Personal Fascination with Weather

December 22, 2022, our local forecast alerted us in north Alabama to an epic Arctic air mass plunging our way, anticipated to enter from the northwest that evening, ushered by showers before midnight. I’ll focus this Nature-Inspired Life and Living Post on the six-day period from the frontal passage to the return flow of warmer air.

I admit to being a complete weather geek! I still follow the weather at locations where we’ve lived across our 50 years of marriage and career. I normally chronicle my Nature wanderings in forest and field environs. I’ll focus this Post, instead, on the weather right here in my backyard. I’ll preface my observations, reflections, and photographs with a simple declarative statement. I use the term epic because the media, obsessed with the ubiquitous hysteria of climate change as an existential threat to our very existence, adopted the epic characterization from the moment the deep cold air in the Far North began building and threatening to move our way.

As a weather addict, scientist, and passionate observer of Nature, I’ll confess to being an unabashed sceptic of the widely-held belief (yes, belief is the operative word) that human influences are the primary (or even a major) cause of any changes to our climate. I do not buy the existential climate threat scenario painting doom and gloom. I contend that sceptic differs profoundly from the pejorative term denier.  I trust the judgment of those whose intellect ran far deeper than my own, and whose wisdom has stood the test of time:

His insistence that the book of nature was written in the language of  mathematics changed natural philosophy from a verbal, qualitative account to a mathematical one in which experimentation became a recognized method for discovering the facts of nature. Finally, his discoveries with the telescope revolutionized astronomy and paved the way for the acceptance of the Copernican heliocentric system, but his advocacy of that system eventually resulted in an inquisition process against him. (Galileo Galilei By Albert Van Helden)

Approaching Cold Front

The period December 22-27 is emblematic of our changeable weather here in north Alabama at 34.72 degrees North Latitude. One swing of the winter temperature pendulum does not constitute climate change. Instead, it is within the normal fluxes of north Alabama winter. December 22, 2022 offered a southerly breeze and 50 degrees at 4:25 and 4:32 PM (photos below). The view westward, however, portended the approaching front, clouds thickening as they advanced.

Overhead at 4:37, the sky remained broken as the front glowered, darkening.

The 4:33 and 4:39 sky directly above us hinted at little…unless we glanced westward. These two images stand as metaphor for life and living in general. Too often, unless we look deeply and see clearly, the truth lies hidden in plain sight. We miss the obvious when blinded by the superficial.

Informed repeatedly by the media that we were about to experience an air mass portending catastrophic climate change, one might believe that the event would be unprecedented. I do not imply that the coming weather would be benign…only that it’s been cold in northern Alabama before…and will be again.

A Mount Washington (New Hampshire) Side Trip

Over the years of my weather addiction, a fragment of my psyche has taken residence atop Mount Washington in New Hampshire. I’ve visited the summit-located (6,288 feet) Mount Washington Observatory several times, summer and winter. I once failed notably in a winter ascent at 5,000 feet when a hurricane force ground blizzard repeatedly knocked our party to the ground, forcing retreat to the base. So that you are reminded of the relative severity of our north Alabama cold air intrusion, here is the Observatory’s account of the recent Christmas weekend episode:

Drastic Overnight Change

The front did indeed penetrate the South, plunging our prior afternoon’s 50 degrees to two degrees with strong wind by 7:34 AM the next morning!

Don’t be fooled by the bright sunshine, open water, and snow-free ground. At 7:35, this transplanted former Alaskan found the bitter wind formidable. Living on-campus at the University of Alaska Fairbanks, I did not hesitate to walk to my office, wearing appropriate gear, at 30 degrees below zero. My cold tolerance has long since waned.

I believe this 1:15 video captures the morning better than my observations, reflections, and photographs:

December 23 reached an afternoon high of only 16 degrees. I ventured outside only twice: driving to the gym and refilling the backyard bird feeders!

Continuing our southern deep freeze, here’s Christmas Eve at 3:28 PM with the high temperature at 26 degrees, and ice covering this end of our pond.

The Deep Freeze

That evening at 8:26 PM, ice covered nearly the entire pond, the temperature at 17 degrees after the wind had stopped.

Christmas morning dawned at 12 degrees (6:30 AM), the pond icy from shore to shore. The thin covering perhaps would have supported a mallard…but little more.

My 1:20 video shows the third-day extent of our winter blast:

I love the combined impression of Christmas spirit, frozen pond, pristine air, and dawn light!

Only the immediate vicinity of the aerators remained open or slushy. I enjoy the magic of such cold snaps, even as I remind myself that during my Fairbanks, Alaska winters, similar ponds would be frozen at least a foot thick by mid-December, despite a thick blanket of insulating snow.

Third grade grandson Sam stood along the shore at 9:44 AM, the temperature had warmed to 18 degrees Fahrenheit.

Sam requested that I pose with the icy background at 9:45.

Sam and I discovered soil frost pillars in our backyard perennial beds. Nature’s pure magic, generated by simple physics, often lies hidden in plain sight.

I snapped this final pond photograph from the  flower beds at 9:50.

Leaving the Cold Behind

We departed Madison December 26 at 4:57 AM (21 degrees F) for the first leg of the trip to visit our son and his family in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. We photographed sunrise over Nick-a-Jack Lake at 6:32 and 6:36 AM as we passed through northeast Alabama.

Our Madison forecast hinted at snow showers late that afternoon. We learned from our daughter that driving conditions in the Huntsville area deteriorated to impassable with an inch or so of snow late afternoon. Those of us who have lived many years in snow country too often scoff at a little snow bringing travel to a standstill in the South. However, snow removal and deicing are non-existent here…and many residents have, at best, limited experience in slippery-road-driving. I say, get off (or stay off) the roads during periodic winter weather crises in our locale. North Alabama, for patient drivers, has the world’s best snow and ice removal. It’s called solar power. Wait a day or so and the snow and ice disappear!

Epic? Record? Portent of Climate Doom?

December 27 mid-morning a friend, Angie Fedele, snapped this image of the remaining snow and ice cover from my backyard flower beds. The temperature that day rose to 50 degrees, marking the abrupt end to our epic Christmas 2022 deep freeze.

Just how cold was it? Here are the National Weather Service temperature data for Huntsville over the Christmas epic cold front period:

Date                                 High Temp      Low Temp      Record Low

December 22                           51                    21                    -3

December 23                           16                    3                      -3

December 24                           26                    9                      1

December 25                           32                    17                    -1

December 26                           33                    18                    4

December 27                           50                    24                    12

Cold, yes; record cold, no! However, in today’s world of mainstream weather media coverage, we are deluged (pardon the weather pun) with reports of epic this and epic that. Many events are termed unprecedented. So many outlets starved for viewers or hits, The Weather Channel among them, attribute every storm, drought, Arctic outbreak, heat wave, flood, and other events to Climate Change. As I scientist, I don’t buy it. I look to observation, fact, and data. I abhor the vast predominance of perception and sensationalism. Our Christmas 2022 cold spell certainly hit us southerners hard, but it was not an episode that drove me into despair over an imminent climate catastrophe. It’s been cold before (note the record cold low temperatures above)…and it will be cold again. It’s called climate…not climate change! The entire six-day period fell within the range of our climate normal. Below average, yes, yet still within the bounds of normal.

Galileo nailed it: [T]he book of nature was written in the language of  mathematics. 

Facts and data matter. Observation (facts and data) rules the day in the realm of science. Perception, emotion, and speculation persist and control the world of mainstream media, politics, and much of public opinion…who dare with blind ignorance to judge Truth and Knowledge.

Whoever undertakes to set himself up as a judge of Truth and Knowledge is shipwrecked by the laughter of the Gods. Albert Einstein (1879-1955)

I remember with admiration Carl Sagan’s (1934-96) view of our Earth as a pale blue orb in the vast darkness of space. He, too, urged human adherence to science and its experimental basis in objective observations and reasoning. Although he wasn’t speaking of climate change per se, he expressed my own concerns about today’s existential threat adherents demanding immediate and wholesale action to reduce (no, eliminate) our reliance on all fossil fuels:

Finding the occasional straw of truth awash in a great ocean of confusion and bamboozle requires intelligence, vigilance, dedication and courage. But if we don’t practice these tough habits of thought, we cannot hope to solve the truly serious problems that face us — and we risk becoming a nation of suckers, up for grabs by the next charlatan who comes along.

I’ll end with a nearly one-thousand-year-old quote that in this context is relevant:

Now there are four chief obstacles in grasping truth, which hinder every man, however learned, and scarcely allow anyone to win a clear title to learning, namely, submission to faulty and unworthy authority, influence of custom, popular prejudice, and concealment of our own ignorance accompanied by an ostentatious display of our knowledge.
The Opus Majus of Roger Bacon (1220-1292)

Thoughts and Reflections

I offer these observations:

• Weather-addiction is just one facet of my Nature-affliction!
• Shifting weather moods confirm that nothing in nature is static.
• Deep cold spells, like our 2022 Christmas season chill, have occurred before…and will again and again and again.

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 normally write about The Nature of a specific wild place either here in Alabama or wherever travel may take me. View this Post as a compendium of observations, reflections, and photographs (ond one video) assembled from my forest ventures in diverse wildland settings around a contemporary theme. I have devoted my life as a forest scientist to forest systems study and observation. I focus this post on my observations revealing the absence of equity in Nature. Instead, Nature is a tireless meritocracy; Nature is ruthlessly competitive.

Role of Equity in Forests

We hear so much today about a term that seems to overwhelm politics, media, higher education, and even dinnertime conversation: equity. We hear the theme emerge as some reflect that we humans are not separate from Nature…but instead are one with our natural environment. Some stretch that connection to conclude that our human relationships…social, economic, and political…can be modeled after natural interactions (including equity) among life forms, and which define natural ecology and ecosystem function. Some people view equity as a construct derived from Nature and ubiquitous within natural systems. Merriam-Webster defines equity as: justice according to natural law or right; freedom from bias or favoritism. A common simple meaning I’ve heard for equity in human society, business, and organizations is equal outcome.

I see no evidence in Nature that equity (equal outcome) is central to forest systems (or, for that matter, any natural system). I have devoted my life as a forest scientist to forest systems study and observation. I focus this post on my observations revealing the absence of equity in Nature. Instead, Nature is a tireless meritocracy. Nature is ruthlessly competitive. Leonardo da Vinci recognized 500 years ago Nature’s brutal reliance on the strong surviving:

Nature appears to have been the cruel stepmother rather than the mother of many animals.

My September 2021 Post posited Nature as a meritocracy: https://stevejonesgbh.com/2021/09/21/lessons-from-nature-nature-is-a-meritocracy/

I offer a series of examples in this Post drawing primarily from my relevant prior photo-essays. I excerpted this first example from my October 14, 2021 photo-essay: Heart’s Content in NW Pennsylvania (Part One): https://stevejonesgbh.com/2021/10/14/hearts-content-in-nw-pennsylvania-part-one/

Ninety Years of Allegheny Hardwood Forest Renewal: An Absolute Refutation of Equity

Wisely, US Forest Service researchers began a long-term monitoring study on the Tionesta Scenic and Research Natural Area, Allegheny National Forest, in 1928. Note: the entire photo sequence is courtesy of the US Forest Service (Copyright USFS). The forest scientists arranged and oversaw timber harvesting on an old growth forest that year. Cutting was in progress below left. The image below right (1929), taken from the same photo point at exactly the same angle, shows the site at the end of the first growing season post-harvest. Note the proliferation of young seedlings and sprouts.

At ages ten and twenty (1937 and 1947) the tens of thousands of stems per acre is transitioning from a nearly impenetrable thicket to a stand of saplings with spacing sufficient for a forester to walk through and measure individuals. I have said in prior Blog Posts that Nature is a meritocracy. The 1937 and 1947 survivors (I am estimating that less than five percent of the tree seedlings/sprouts in the 1929 stand remain at age 20) are stronger, faster growing individuals that simply outperformed those no longer extant. To the victors go the spoils. The competition occurs both within and between species. Affirmative action does not operate in natural systems. There are no offices of ecosystem equity to set quotas nor monitor diversity, inclusion, and equity. Species by species, Nature simply performs her relentless pursuit of sustainable growth and reproduction, generation to generation, among all living creatures…as she has operated for 3.7 billion years.

By ages 30 and 40 (1958 and 1968), the forest has changed remarkably, reaching a stage allowing us to more easily follow individual trees from one period to the next. Note the man standing to the left in the 1958 image. The large black cherry tree is reigning over its neighbors, capturing more and more site resources. There are those who today claim in pseudo-scientific mainstream publications that the forest is a community of interconnected, caring, and collaborating trees and associated organisms. I encourage readers to carefully study specific stems in this sequence over time. I see no evidence that the survivors give a rip about the stems falling behind, weakening, dying, and tipping to the forest floor.

We are now at ages 56 and 60 (1984 and 1988). Our large black cherry continues to thrive; fewer and fewer stems remain. Our seedling thicket has reached a condition such that most casual hikers might think it an undisturbed forest.

By ages 70 and 80 (1998 and 2008), our dominant cherry is a regal denizen, a magnificent leader of this second growth forest. Dead and down woody debris signals that competition remains fierce. Note that even the distant forest now reveals fewer and fewer stems per acre.

The most recent image (2018) shows a 90-year-old forest, one most observers would term mature. Striking a chord with me, these photos are a reminder that I conducted my doctoral research in 80-90-year-old second growth Allegheny hardwood stands, similar to this one, just 40-50 miles from Tionesta.

I add the following observation as postscript to my October 2021 narrative: Survivors after 90 years are the strong; to the victors go the spoils. Nature is a meritocracy.

Birch Regeneration at Maryland’s New Germany State Park

Excerpted from my November 29, 2021 photo-essay, Maryland’s New Germany State Park: Returning after 51 Years: (https://stevejonesgbh.com/2021/11/29/marylands-new-germany-state-park-returning-after-51-years/):

Below left a cluster of windthrown trees create a crown opening sufficient to allow sunlight to reach the ground, stimulating a thicket of birch regeneration. Below right a more recent windthrow opening will spark another patch of reproduction. The germinated birch seedlings, after just 3-5 years, are evidencing differential height. Only the strong will constitute the stand emerging from the opening. Over time, the forest will shift to a mosaic of small stands growing in scattered openings.

Today’s postscript to the prior photo-essay: Nature abhors a vacuum. In the case of these openings, the species and individuals best able to exploit the sunshine and newly available soil resources will prevail, prosper, and fill the void. Again, to the victors go the spoils.

Regenerating White Pine at Hickory Creek Wilderness

November 17, 2021 photo-essay, Pennsylvania’s Hickory Creek Wilderness: https://stevejonesgbh.com/2021/11/17/pennsylvanias-hickory-creek-wilderness/

I found an occasional white pine overstory tree. This individual stands as a dominant member of the main canopy. Unlike the barren (fern-covered) understory elsewhere, white pine regeneration (10-15-year-old saplings) offer promise within seed-fall radius of the mother tree. The regeneration, like the sweet birch in openings at New Germany, are developing at differential height growth rates. The strong will survive. Each individual has more or less equivalent opportunity. Equal outcomes (equity) are not guaranteed in the forest.

Nearby a small grove of hemlock likewise supports advanced hemlock regeneration. White pine and hemlock are shade tolerant when young, enabling advanced regeneration to patiently await crown openings or major forest disturbance.

Postscript: Once again, only the strong survive in the natural world.

Natural Pine Stand along the Hiking and Biking Trail at WNWR

Here are photos and narrative from a draft photo-essay that I will publish during the first quarter of 2023:

Some former agricultural lands have regenerated to forest. This upland pine stand appears to be 12-15 years old. I saw no evidence of planting (trees in rows), yet all stems seemed to be the same age. Therefore, I believe the stand either regenerated naturally, yet I did not see an evident seed source, or perhaps originated from aerial- or tractor-dispensed seed? Converting some acreage from marginal cropland to native loblolly falls within the Refuge mission to provide diverse habitat for wildlife.

Postscript: The lesson that Darwin revealed operates across the temperate terrestrial plant communities of my familiarity, whether Allegheny Hardwoods or southern pines.

Chapman Mountain Nature Preserve Loblolly Pine

Excerpted from my September 22, 2022 photo-essay, Special Post for October 2022 PLT Training: https://stevejonesgbh.com/2022/09/22/special-post-for-october-2022-plt-training/

Across the parking lot from the trailheads, loblolly pine trees shelter the 18-hole disc golf course. The flat land had been tilled into the 1980s. Consulting forester Brian Bradley told me that a 1985 aerial photo shows the field still in crops. By the mid 1990s the field had seeded naturally to pine from nearby mature, seed-bearing loblolly. The pine captured the abandoned field effectively. There is very little understory of ground vegetation and brush, the effect enhanced by what Brian describes as a very good prescribed fire in 2018. There is no sub-canopy of hardwood saplings and poles. The stand is pure, even-aged loblolly pine. Some day I will extract an increment core to determine the exact year of establishment (i.e. age). Brian revealed that a reliable logger thinned the stand in 2014-15, giving it the current look of a well-tended planted stand with stems evenly distributed. Brian, when pressed to give me his best estimate for stand age, offered his answer of 32+/- years, an estimate I embrace wholeheartedly! We also agree that the main canopy averages 75 feet.

Rather than add a postscript, I revisited the trails nearby and through the old field pine stand January 24, 2023 to bring closure to this photo-essay.

A one-half mile trail passes north of the pine stand through a highway-edge forest, variously disturbed by construction activities. The 12-15 loblolly pine in the two photos below dropped seed to an acre of cleared land under the trees, in effect serving as a seed tree harvest for the disturbed soil. The seedlings appear to be 4-7 years old, the tallest of them exceeding head high. Height is variable, indicating intense competition and differential performance. Stronger individuals are racing ahead to capture an ever-greater share of sunlight and site resources.

Stocking is dense, averaging two stems per square foot. That stocking equates to 86K stems per acre…extremely dense. Attrition through mortality is rapidly reducing stand density. This regenerating acre suggests the adjoining old field condition three decades ago, an agricultural site rapidly progressing from dense seedling cover to the forest now sheltering the disc golf course.

The untrained forestry eye may have difficulty visualizing the conversion and transformation. Remember, the journey has seen two thinning and at least one effective prescribed fire.

Evidence of thinning appears as cut stumps, visibly decaying, in both images. The stem at left shows a trunk charred from the prescribed fire. Loblolly is well adapted to a ground fire intense enough to scorch the bark to 6-8 feet.

Trimmed tops lie adjacent to the tree at left. Below right, the ground near the stump is supporting seedlings sprouting within the thick pine straw.

At the stand’s edge near the parking lot, residual from the prior thinning operation’s gathering yard (for loading logs onto trucks for transport), a small area that had seeded 2-3 years and escaped the most recent fire, is supporting 3-4 seedlings per square foot…perhaps 200,000 seedlings per acre. Nature relies heavily on the power of numbers. The greater the initial density, the more effectively competition enables the best to survive to dominance, ensuring reproductive supremacy and natural selection.

Within the stand I discovered a several-hundred-square-foot zone that the prescribed fire missed completely. Hardwood brush, some ten-feet-plus high, is capturing the area. Black locust a north Alabama pioneer species extraordinaire, is dominant and thriving (below right).

Nature is a master of regenerating our forests, especially when trained and educated foresters guide her direction. Foresters in this case manipulated species composition, stand density, and competing vegetation to achieve the park-like loblolly pine stand, perfectly suited to shelter a disc golf course. Foresters are ever mindful that equity does not operate in nature systems.

I recorded this 3:03 video within the pine stand to supplement the limited power of my words and still photos:

Einstein understood far more than merely quantum mechanics and mass energy equivalence. Of Nature, he observed:

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

Summary: Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion in Natural Systems

Seminal Conclusion

Thoughts and Reflections

I offer these observations:

• Nature is a tireless meritocracy; to the victor go the spoils.
• Nature appears to have been the cruel stepmother rather than the mother of many animals. Leonardo da Vinci
• Performance, perseverance, and persistence matter in natural systems.

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

Below right is the sasquatch disc golf practice target from the Chapman Mountain NP course.

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 visited Joe Wheeler State Park October 19, 2022, touring the Park by pontoon boat the afternoon ahead of our quarterly Alabama State Parks Foundation Board meeting. I offer this Post as a view of the Park from Lake Wheeler. Don’t look for my occasionally heavy narrative explaining the Nature of a trail or a forest venture. Instead, consider this a shoreline photo-essay…light on the essay; heavy to the photos and a single video!

Here’s my earlier Post on an exquisite dawn the following morning: https://stevejonesgbh.com/2022/12/06/a-special-sunrise-at-alabamas-joe-wheeler-state-park/

Lake Wheeler Tour of the Park

We departed the Park marina mid-afternoon on the 19th under cloudless skies with a cool breeze. From this view below and every other perspective the wooded shoreline is state park land. The lake surface stands at roughly 555 feet above sea level, a scant 555-foot vertical drop through the Tennessee River, then into the Ohio, and on to the Mississippi to descend eventually to the Gulf of Mexico.

My words can do little to lift the majesty of the rippled water and cerulean sky.

White pelicans and cormorants cruised the shoreline.

I captured the experience with a 3:03 video:

A great egret fished along a rocky bank.

We cruised to the breast of Lake Wheeler Dam, looking downstream to Wilson Lake, approximately 50 feet lower than Wheeler’s 555-foot level. As is universally true (to me), the view from above, whether from a hill/mountain top or cleaning out my home gutters, always seems much higher than from below looking up.

From the power generation and flood control lake level manipulations, the Wheeler Lake level in mid-October leaves about five feet of shoreline rock exposed. Look closely below left to spot a great blue heron along the shore a little right of center.

The autumn shoreline views speak for themselves, whether our forest’s soft mid-October colors, or the dead snag rising from within the forest.

This view shows the boat landing and parking lot about 3.5 trail miles north of the marina.

Less than a lake mile to the marina, we turned and headed back to pursue the remainder of our evening at the lodge.

The Awesome Trail

The Awesome Trailhead departs from the boat landing parking lot (the photo above). I’ve hiked the trail on previous visits, publishing this photo-essay:

The marina lies 3.5 gentle shoreline trail miles from the boat landing parking lot.

We viewed the trail shoreside from the boat tour, its cut just fifty feet from the lake.

Judy and I hiked the north end of the Awesome Trail after lunch the next day as we departed the park. Although forest colors in north Alabama are seldom spectacular, the interior forest is shaded in deep yellow, the trail covered by fallen leaves, mostly oak. Below right the lake is visible beyond the forest edge.

I’ve observed frequently in these Posts that most of Alabama’s 50,000 acres of State Parks land is at least second growth, cutover forest or abandoned, worn out agricultural fields 60-90 years ago. This forest along the Awesome Trail is no exception. The Corps of Engineers or TVA acquired land adjacent to what would be inundated by the lake. Like the future lake bottom itself, the adjoining upland experienced the saw. All non-flooded adjoining land has since naturally regenerated (with the exception of some planted pine here and there). Cutover forestland quickly (the process begins immediately via sprouting and seeding) regenerates to forest.

As I’ve observed repeatedly, every tree, every acre, every parcel tells a story. So, too, does the park forest bordering Lake Wheeler.

Alabama State Parks Foundation

Thoughts and Reflections

I offer these observations:

• My Nature-Inspired Life and Living photo-essays sometimes rely only my photos and videos to tell the tale.
• Nothing can express Nature’s beauty, magic, wonder, and awe more powerfully than autumn forests, cerulean skies, and shimmering water!
• Every tree, forest, and property tells a story…if only we learn the language!

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 enjoyed my first visit to Lakepoint State Park the afternoon of October 12, 2022 through departure early on the 15th. I focus this Post on special hardwood forest features I encountered along my several hikes.

I’ve grown to increasingly appreciate the intense competition among dominant and co-dominant trees for full sunlight in the canopy high above. Only the canopy top receives the full rich dose of direct sunlight. With each step downward through intermediate canopy, understory, and eventually the forest floor, light quality, intensity, and value diminish. Importantly, the main canopy occupants do not share the full sunlight via overlapping branches. Instead, each tree commands its unique space. Note how the individual tree crowns in this vertical canopy view do not touch. Some have termed this natural phenomenon crown shyness. For those willing to observe the forest’s multiple dimensions, Nature reveals many of her secrets hidden in plain sight.

I’ve written often of the intense competition within our forest ecosystems. Trees compete fiercely for space, water, nutrients, and light. Some romanticize with tales of the forest as a place of harmony, peace, love, and tranquility. Where trees care for each other. Some anthropomorphize trees. I don’t buy it.

Tree Form Oddities and Curiosities

Always on the lookout for tree form oddities and curiosities, I found this bowed white oak. Some physical force (wind or an impact from a falling tree or top) bent this individual as a sapling, resulting in a permanent misshaped form. Above the camera line of sight, the tree regained its vertical imperative, now reaching along with its neighbors into the upper canopy.

This trailside post oak exhibited a tendency to grow thick bark around lower trunk branches that it shed as the live crown extended vertically. The buttressed stubs give the tree a distinct character.

Alabama is home to more native oak species than any of our states. I’ve been saying the we have 39 species; I saw today on the internet that we have “at least 40 oak species.” Perhaps I will round my count to “about 40.” Whether 39, 40, or higher, I will not attempt to distinguish exhaustively among them. Suffice it to say that, with iNaturalist’s assistance, the stub-branched oak (thanks to the leaf I plucked) is a post oak.

I believe this moss-draped oak is Quercus alba (white oak). The delicately-mossed, fist-sized burl caught my eye. So much of interest lies hidden in plain sight. Few people pay enough attention to see such curiosities.

A multi-story wildlife hotel stands within the forest. Because eventually the forces of Nature will prevail, we’ll call this temporary quarters for the birds, mammals, and other critters who seek refuge across the seasons. I wondered what I might see if I sat comfortably within sight, binoculars in hand, patiently viewing the comings and goings. Perhaps such a vigil may lie in my future.

Although there is nothing special about the papery, flaking bark of this particular river birch, I remain a long time fan of our local river birch and the incredible paper birch of my years in the far north.

Spanish Moss and Other Attractions

What could be more emblematic of the deep South than Spanish moss draped from the lower branches of lakeshore oaks! The sun’s rays cutting diagonally through the canopy amplify the effect.

Interestingly, Spanish moss is a vascular plant: Spanish moss (Tillandsia usneoides) is neither Spanish, nor a moss. A relative of the pineapple (Ananas comosus), this less-colorful member of the Bromeliaceae family is often blamed for strangling or sucking the life out of its host tree. The bum rap is undeserved. Spanish moss asks for nothing more than a place to hang out. Like other “air plants” in its classification, it’s a rootless epiphyte that survives on rainfall, dust and random detritus in the atmosphere. (SFGATE website)

A Eufaula National Wildlife Refuge inlet view from where the oak stands likewise paints a vivid image of Lakepoint State Park.

Interpretive signs along the shore also tell the tale of the boundary separating Park from Refuge. I once again find inspiration in the forest at its union with the placid lake and backwaters.

Even a sign-eating-oak adds mystery, intrigue, and wonder to the day.

Alligators are not the only critters we encountered. We saw birds aplenty within the forest. An American toad posed for us in a drainage area leading toward the Refuge. Where the lake backed into the lowland, a cooter did its best to catch some late season afternoon sun.

Forest-Associated Plant Community

Tasha identified Chinese tallow, an invasive described online in a University of Florida bulletin:

Chinese tallow was once a popular landscape tree in the Southeast, and it can still be found in some Florida yards.

The leaves are heart-shaped and turn vibrant red in the fall. The fruit, which also appear in autumn, turn brown at maturity to reveal three dull white seeds which resemble popcorn, giving Chinese tallow another common name, “popcorn tree.”

Like so many other invasives, Chinese tallow seeds attract birds, who consume the fruits and disseminate the seeds spreading the unwanted exotics far beyond their welcome.

I was surprised to see sparkle berry (AKA farkle berry), the only tree form blueberry (genus Vaccinium). This species seemed as vibrant in southeastern Alabama as it does near the Tennessee line, where I reside. I’m partial to its attractive bark and tough stems.

During the seven years I practiced forestry in southeastern Virginia, wax myrtle grew aggressively throughout the coastal plain forestland that I managed.  Seeing this ubiquitous understory shrub from my Virginia days was strangely akin to encountering a long lost friend. The Mississippi Department of Wildlife, Fisheries, and Parks offered this brief insight into wax myrtle: The leaves have a spicy fragrance and are still used today for candle scents. Berries were once boiled and used as wax for candles. The wax myrtle provides excellent cover and food for birds and other wildlife. The VEC finds numerous mockingbird and wren nests in the branches of this shrub. The wax myrtles are highly flammable and flames spread quickly. 

Prior to earning my forestry bachelor’s degree in upstate New York and doing summer field forestry work only in Maryland’s Appalachians, I was not familiar with wax myrtle, nor even with loblolly pine. Both were exotic to my own experience! Life changes us in so many ways. Here I am now, 43 years since those halcyon early career years in southeastern Virginia, viewing wax myrtle as a long lost friend.

We found several specimens of peppervine in the riparian hardwood forest. The Missouri Department of Conservation: Peppervine is a rather slender, upright vine, either high-climbing or bushy, with tendrils present or absent. Its leaves are double-compound. Peppervine, a member of the grape family, is sometimes confused with poison ivy and poison oak. However, those plants have compound leaves in threes and are not double-compound.

Beautyberry (left) and Jack-in-the-pulpit fruit provided some vibrant fall color. Both are native to Alabama. Beauty berry grows in partial shade to full sun. Jack-in-the-pulpit grows best in deep shade under a full forest canopy, performing most of its life functions prior to forest leaf-out, a chilly period when the forest floor basks in full spring sunlight. Birds disperse the seeds of both the woody beautyberry shrub and the herbaceous perennial Jack’.

We also identified camphorweed (Pluchea camphorata), or marsh-fleabane, a small flowering herbaceous annual plant, still in full flower. At this latitude, the deep cold of winter never arrives. Instead, summer wanes gradually into an extended fall…that by early February embraces spring. I challenge anyone to take me into the wild of Alabama at 31.89 degrees North when I cannot spot at least a single native plant in flower. As I type these words (December 14, 2022), the official snow depth where we lived in Fairbanks, Alaska is 16 inches.

Plant life across our fluid Alabama seasons appears kaleidoscopic, a shifting mosaic of colors, shades, and forms. Each seasonal entry into our forests presents different gifts for visual, tactile, audial, and aromatic senses. Any effort or expense to travel to natural places is returned manifoldly in enlightenment, inspiration, and fulfillment, just from the luxuriant vascular plant life alone.

Lichens, Ferns, and Fungi

However, I do not limit my explorations to vascular plants. Bearded and crustose lichens adorn these dead oak twigs on the riparian hardwood forest floor.

Maiden fern and sensitive fern exploited the leaf-littered, rich soils of the riparian forest.

As does this Japanese climbing fern, described by an online Alabama Cooperative Extension System bulletin:

A perennial twining vine, Japanese climbing fern can grow to 90 feet, climbing into and over trees and shrubs or trailing along the ground, creating dense mats (figure 1). Stems (technically a rachis) are thin and wiry but difficult to break; they range from green to tan or reddish to almost black. Japanese climbing fern is a noxious weed that can cause ecological and economic damage. Knowing its characteristics and effective removal methods can prevent the spread of this invasive species. Introduced as an ornamental in the early 1900s, Japanese climbing fern (Lygodium japonicum) escaped cultivation and has become invasive in many habitats across the southern two-thirds of Alabama. The Alabama Department of Agriculture and Industries considers it a Class B noxious weed. As such, the introduction of Japanese climbing fern into or within Alabama is prohibited.

A favorite of mine across Alabama, resurrection fern, green and turgid with the prior night’s rain, clings happily to a riparian forest tree’s trunk.

Had I visited a week later, the frontal passage heavy rains would have triggered a profusion of mushrooms. Instead, we found little activity, limited to the fibrous Stereum (left) and the colorful jelly spot (right). Both are saprophytes feasting on dead woody material.

Clustered on subsurface decaying woody debris (roots), these honey mushrooms splashed their yellow tops in two somewhat adjacent spots. The one on the left is perhaps a day older than the still-opening cluster on the right. Honeys are edible…and delicious!

Nature’s beauty, magic, wonder, awe, and inspiration derive from close examination of the routine…the mundane features of the forest. Some hikers, many of whom are intent on walking through the woods, solely to get from point A to point B, would have found the routes I hiked at Lakepoint to be too short, too gentle, and rather uninspiring. In contrast, I walk in the forest, intent on finding and pondering what lies hidden in plain sight!

Alabama State Parks Foundation

Thoughts and Reflections

I offer these observations:

• For those willing to observe the forest’s multiple dimensions, Nature reveals many of her secrets hidden in plain sight.
• Trees compete fiercely for space, water, nutrients, and light.
• Plant life across our fluid Alabama seasons appears kaleidoscopic, a shifting mosaic of colors, shades, and forms.

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.

The afternoon of October 15, 2022 and the following morning I visited the Solon Dixon Forestry Education Center with old friends Rhett Johnson, retired Center Director, and Emmett Thompson, Dean Emeritus, Auburn University College of Forestry, Wildlife, and Environment. Emmett’s son-in-lay Ken Pylant accompanied us. See my recent post highlighting the science and practice of managing longleaf pine at the Center: https://stevejonesgbh.com/2022/12/20/managing-longleaf-pine-at-auburn-universitys-solon-dixon-forestry-center/

I feel a special thrill in the power and beauty of places that I hold dear, especially when enriched by fond memories. In fact, co-author Jennifer Wilhoit and I write of such sentiments in our book, Weaned Seals and Snowy Summits: Stories of Passion for Place and Everyday Nature. The Solon Dixon Center is one of those special places.

Spectacular Blue Spring

I focus this second Solon Dixon Post on special natural features we encountered on the Center. We hiked to Blue Spring, a special place that I elevated to spectacular! What lifted it to such a celestial level? I’ve always been a soft touch for isolated, dense woodland cover. Second, Blue Spring transported me several hundreds miles north into the Great Smokies. The comfortable deep shade, the sound of rushing water, and even the mix of tree species, in part, obliterated the truth that I stood just 30 miles or so north of the Gulf of Mexico. I admit to retaining an echo of northern forest ecosystem bias…a vestige of having spent my very early, formative forestry years much further north. After all, my subconscious reasoning concluded,  “How could such a delightful place be in subtropical Alabama!?”

I’m self-medicating to jettison that unholy bias by repeated ventures into the forested wilds of Alabama…from Cheaha to Mobile! I ensure you that it’s working — I have become a shameless champion for Alabama’s magnificent forests and wildlands. However, I suppose that northern ecosystem bias is ever-present — resembling the ghost of alcoholism that haunts a former drunk (Am I allowed to phrase it in such a harsh manner?).

Blue Spring gushes some 13,000 gallons per minute of sparkling, pristine water, appearing from the rocks above this derelict foot bridge. The photo below could pass for white sand. Instead, the crystal water is flowing vigorously and transparently across the sandy stream bottom.

The vertical pilings at the left-side streambank hold bank erosion in check. Staff installed the measure to combat the destabilizing impacts of pedestrian wear along the stream to cross the now closed bridge. The sign below offers explanation.

The same spot from above better depicts the volume of water, in this perspective appearing milky owing to the sandy bottom. The view below right shows the spring emerging just upstream of the bridge.

The stream drops once more into the limestone basement rock perhaps just 150 feet below the bridge. The spring’s fleeting surface passage adds an element of deep mystery and fantasy to the special nature of Blue Spring. I wonder how many forestry, wildlife, and environment students carry memories of the Center’s magic, spell-binding Blue Spring. This image hints at the Blue Spring moniker.

Rhett stands mid-way on the stairs ascending from the spring, perhaps reflecting on the countless young professional lives he touched during his 27 years as Solon Dixon Director. At right, he and Emmitt depart, leading the way to the interesting karst topography and forest awaiting our examination just a quarter of a mile downhill toward the Conecuh River. I lagged behind to capture another photo or two, then caught up to my colleagues.

I recorded this 3:11 video at Blue Spring.

In keeping with my belief that a brief video tells a tale more powerfully than a few still photographs, I will endeavor to include at least one short video in all future Posts.

Nearby Karst Topography and Forest

Limestone underlays this section of the Center, the spring itself providing direct evidence of the karst topography. From the online Worldatlas.com:

Karst topography refers to a type of subterranean limestone caverns landscape, as well the mysterious-looking formations like caves, surface sinkholes, and rocky, overhanging cliffs, as a result of a specific natural occurrence.

We saw a few small sinks (not visible in this image) as we strolled toward the river.

Shortly thereafter we entered an area with mysterious-looking formations like caves, surface sinkholes, and rocky, overhanging cliffs. The hole at left dropped 30 feet to the opening at right, rimmed in front by a limestone cliff.

Two additional views of the distinct karst topography depict the sheltered opening and the forest assuring deep shade, hiding the rough landscape from aerial view. Although I could not capture the Conecuh River visible 50 feet below from the nearby high point, I imagined Native Americans fishing along the river, seeking overnight shelter in these overhangs and caves. I often observe that every place in Nature has a story to tell. Some speculate that Native Americans may have lived in these deep-South forests for 13,000 years. If so, how many traveling hunting/foraging parties may have sought refuge here over those 4.745 million nights?

We think of the land and forest as unchanging, a static living ecosystem overlying the permanent land. Such is never the case. Over that geologically brief 13 millennia period, the forest has undergone many generations of change. Wildfire has occasionally ravaged even these hardwood stands. Hurricanes spinning  ferociously from the nearby Gulf made landfall. Wild, tornadic thunderstorms have leveled the forest repeatedly. Yet, to the untrained, unknowing eye, this forest looks as though it perhaps witnessed the beginning of time.

The basement limestone and its signature karst topography likely has changed, perhaps imperceptibly, over those 130 centuries yet, even so, slightly acidic rain and tannin-rich throughfall and litter-leached organic acids dissolve the limestone molecule by molecule. At the present rate of annual rainfall (60 inches), 65,000 feet of rain would have pounded this land over our 13,000 years. That’s 12.31 miles of rain!

Evergreen Ground Vegetation

Yucca beckoned my attention within the upland hardwood forest. Yes, I find it, albeit not common, in my northern Alabama home region. I saw it often during my several day wanderings in south Alabama, from Eufaula along the Chattahoochee to the Dixon Center.

I don’t recall seeing needle palm in north Alabama. Tales of Native Americans crossing the forests barefoot are common. However, an errant bare foot encountering the spiny center of this plant would hobble even the toughest of warriors and foragers. A deer-hide moccasin would have been my preference.

American holly, which extends abundantly into southern New England, ranges naturally throughout all of Alabama and across north Florida.

The dormant season hardwood forests of south Alabama can be rather drab. The evergreen ground and shrub species add an impression of vibrancy to the short winter season.

Feature Trees at this Special Place

Alabama hosts nine native pine species: loblolly; slash; white; pond; Virginia; shortleaf; longleaf; sand; and spruce. Spruce pine (pictured below) grows only in the southern half of Alabama. Its bark resembles black cherry, the primary tree species in the forests where I conducted my doctoral research. From online TreesForMe:

Spruce Pine, Pinus glabra (walter), found in the southeastern United States.  An uncommon tree, it is usually found singly in mixed forests. This native evergreen conifer gets its name because of the way it produces smaller branches between the major branch whorls similar to a spruce.  A medium sized tree, Spruce pines usually grow 80 to 100 feet tall and reach 2 to 2.5 feet in diameter.  The single trunk is straight with horizontal, somewhat drooping branches supporting a spreading, irregular crown. 

The native climate for Spruce pine has long, hot and humid summers followed by a short, mild winter.  Rarely found in pure stands, It is more commonly found as a lone tree with other hardwood species in the coastal plains of the southeast. Pinus glabra prefers moist to wet sites in bottomland woods or along swamps and riverbanks.

I had not encountered spruce pine since leaving Union Camp in 1985. I felt like I was seeing an old friend after a 37 year absence. The bark is so unique among our Alabama pines that I recognized it immediately.

Eastern red cedar ranges over all of Alabama. I see red cedar wherever I roam. Because the species thrives best on limestone derived soils, I view it as a soil indicator species. This individual caught my eye. It is a single stem with multiple columns. I refer to it as an odd columnar red cedar, the likes of which I have not previously encountered. I can offer no explanation other than that the columnar tendency is genotypic. Were I in the ornamental nursery business, I might be inclined to vegetatively propagate a few specimens to test whether the trait repeats in other environments. I wonder whether the stem is as strong as it appears.

I shall remain forever vigilant for tree form curiosities and oddities!

Gopher Tortoise — A Keystone Species in the Longleaf Region

From a University of Florida online source:

Gopher Tortoises (Gopherus polyphemus) are one of five tortoise species native to North America and the only species found east of the Mississippi River. At one time the tortoise could be found as far north as North Carolina and as far West as Eastern Texas, but human activity and associated habitat loss, have shrunk their range considerably. Gopher Tortoises are considered a keystone species in that other animals depend on their burrows for survival. Tortoise burrows are used by over 350 other species, including the Burrowing Owl, and the endangered Eastern Indigo snake.

Gopher Tortoises are long lived, reaching up to 100 years of age in captivity and living 60 or more years in the wild. They weigh 8-15 pounds and measure 10-15 inches end to end when fully grown. 

Named for the burrows they occupy, Gopher Tortoises excel at excavation, using their powerful legs to dig out tunnels that average 15 feet in length but can exceed lengths of 40 feet. These epic burrows offer protection from weather, fire, and predators and are where Gopher Tortoises spend most of their time. Gopher Tortoise burrows are easily identified by the single opening that is approximately the same width as the length of the tortoise, and by the sandy mound, or apron, that surrounds the entry.

We saw several gopher tortoise burrow openings with their distinctive soil apron. Ken provides scale at right.

I find Nature’s beauty, magic, wonder, awe, and inspiration wherever I seek it. The Solon Dixon property proved the point. I enjoyed renewing old friendships and seeing the Center through the wizened eyes and deep, extended familiarity that Rhett possesses. I can only imagine what other treasures of Nature, science, and human interest that a longer visit could reveal.

Thoughts and Reflections

I offer these observations:

• A crystal spring in deep forest has special secrets to share.
• Karst topography accents the interaction of bedrock, climate, and forests.
• Trees can be like old friends, generating special feelings and refreshing deep memories.

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.