Lyrical Expressions in Forest Pathogens… Under a Covid-19 Cloud

I write these words March 18, 2020, sheltered in-place in the midst of uncertainty as we face the Corvid-19 pandemic. As a forester (1973 BS) and applied ecologist (1987 PhD), my passion in semi-retirement is Nature, especially trees and forests. With all of my speaking, teaching, and consulting gigs on Covid-hold, I allocate my time among writing, reading, and venturing into Nature’s nearby wildness, camera in-hand and mind alive with thoughts of my place in this world.

Covid-induced house-fever (not of the body temperature kind) provoked me to contemplate the role of all organisms in the great circle and cycle of life and death. I loved undergraduate and graduate courses on forest pathology; I am still fascinated by tree pathogens. Because I have just finished taking a course on writing poetry, I offer you another Great Blue Heron Blog Post in verse… combining tree diseases (pandemics of a different sort) and Covid-19 considerations, thoughts, and reflections.

Trees, too, suffer pandemics

All in the cycle of life and death

 

Da Vinci, master of simplicity, said,

In her (nature’s) inventions

Nothing is lacking

And nothing is superfluous

 

And below is my verse. Again, don’t expect rhyme and standard rhythm, nor a scientist’s pure explanation of the respective diseases. View it as more freelance, the musings of a naturalist… fueled by passion and philosophy… and a zeal for words.

The Lyrical Intonations: The Grand Circle of Life and Death

 

All life strives to persevere

Whether human or Covid-19,

Securing the essentials

And seeding the next generation

 

Trees, too, suffer pandemics

All in the cycle of life and death,

Their Latin monikers, harsh

Yet lyrical… even elegant

 

Chestnut blight, an Asian import

Eliminating America’s Tree,

A Cryphonectria parasitica pandemic

All in the cycle of life and death

 

Dutch elm disease, a fungal immigrant

Swept shade from New England streets,

Ophiostoma ulmi, guilty as charged

All in the cycle of life and death

 

White pine blister rust, another import

Threatening the pine of my youth,

Cronartium ribicola, a fungal nasty

All in the cycle of life and death

 

No doubt, I am in love with oaks,

Facing oak wilt’s death threat

Ceratocystis fagacearum,

All in the cycle of life and death

 

Colluding with beech scale insect

Beech bark disease of European origin,

Cryptococcus fagisuga, deadly force

All in the cycle of life and death

 

Courier of spring’s glory

Blunted by dogwood anthracnose,

 Discula destructiva, foe of beauty

All in the cycle of life and death

 

Loblolly pine of my industry days

Cursed by fusiform rust infection,

Cronartium quercuum, dealing woe

All in the cycle of life and death

 

All life strives to persevere

Whether plant pathogen or Covid-19,

Seeding the next generation

All in the cycle of life and death

 

Sobering reality of lesser organisms

Impacting human life and economy,

We learn their ways to reduce consequences

All in the cycle of life and death

 

Da Vinci, master of simplicity, said,

In her (nature’s) inventions

Nothing is lacking

And nothing is superfluous

 

Whether human dreams, or

Covid’s brute determination

To live, flourish, and reproduce,

All in the grand circle of life and death

 

Stating the obvious, death is the final chapter of life; death leads to renewal. All cells furnish nutrients to some consumer organism. Fungal hyphae feeding on dead wood in the two photos below are arranging their next meal, extending mushrooms to the trunk surface to distribute spores to tomorrow’s host.

 

Virginia pine at Buck’s Pocket State Park, dead of unknown causes… perhaps daring to select a precarious perch on the rim rock.

 

Spotted this twin sweetgum March 18, 2020 on one of my Covid-house-arrest escapes to Bradford Creek Greenway. Buttressed base evidences deep heart rot, a fungal infection established decades ago. The stems have now split; the hollow right fork shattering eight feet above ground.

Da Vinci, master of simplicity, said,

In her (nature’s) inventions

Nothing is lacking

And nothing is superfluous

A massive bur oak, dead of unknown causes, at the edge of gallery forest cover in Kansas’ Konza Prairie Biological Station… perhaps succumbing to more than two centuries of harsh life. To every thing there is a season, and a time to every purpose under heaven.

 

All individuals of every species across 3.5 billion years of life on Earth have succumbed, or will die. Understanding that death is integral to life does not diminish the import of our Covid-19 pandemic. I offer these remarks only to acknowledge that like every living organism, we humans are host to many infectious agents, some ancient and some still emerging and evolving. Unlike the American chestnut (America’s Tree) and the introduced Cryphonectria parasitica, we humans possess the means to combat Covid-19 through the science of modern medicine, just as we did with typhoid fever, smallpox, bubonic plague (black death), and polio. I take comfort that science will prevail.

All life strives to persevere

Whether plant pathogen or Covid-19,

Seeding the next generation

All in the cycle of life and death

Meantime, I shall continue Corvid house-arrest, occasionally venturing into local Nature for doses of Vitamin-N. All of us want to avoid the sorry condition I feigned below:

Thoughts and Reflections

 

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. All three are available on Amazon and other online sources.

Here are the three succinct truths I draw from this Blog Post:

1. All living cells are subject to infectious agents, some harmless, others deadly
   
2. We have always been, along with every form of life on Earth, part of the endless circle of life and death
   
3. Nature’s power to inspire and lift us is unfathomable — jettison the potential mental, physical, social, and spiritual anguish of Covid-19 by escaping to nearby Nature

Inhale and absorb Nature’s elixir. May Nature Inspire and Reward you… and keep you healthy!

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:

Mission: Employ writing and speaking to educate, inspire, and enable readers and listeners to understand, appreciate, and enjoy Nature… and accept and practice Earth Stewardship.

Vision:

• People of all ages will pay greater attention to and engage more regularly with Nature… and will accept and practice informed and responsible Earth Stewardship.
• They will see their relationship to our natural world with new eyes… and will understand more clearly their Earth home.

Tagline/Motto: Steve (Great Blue Heron) encourages and seeks a better tomorrow through Nature-Inspired Living!

 

Steve’s Three Books

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 others 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.