Part One — Huntsville’s Goldsmith-Schiffman Wildlife Sanctuary: Tenth Anniversary of Southern Sanctuary!

I visited Huntsville, Alabama’s Goldsmith-Schiffman Wildlife Sanctuary on May 17, 2025, with Marian Moore Lewis, author of Southern Sanctuary: A Naturalist’s Walk through the Seasons (2015), Bill Heslip, director of A Tale of Two Extraordinary Women (2022; a 14-minute video telling the tale of the Sanctuary), and Chris Stuhlinger, a fellow retired forester. We wanted to keep our friendship and love for the Sanctuary vibrant, and once more discover the delights we would find hidden in plain sight. Objective accomplished; we pledged to do it again in October!

Marian’s book occupies a special place on my office bookshelf; I may be its biggest champion, wherever I speak or teach in our region.

 

I don’t see the need for a lot of narrative text for this post, the 30th of my weekly photo essays dedicated to the Sanctuary. I visited first on June 6, 2020 (https://stevejonesgbh.com/2020/06/23/visiting-a-southern-sanctuary-my-orientation-visit/). I reflected on the first GSWS post that the Sanctuary is a special place…and I plan to return again and again:

Robert Service, a British poet who wrote about the Far North during his turn-of-the-prior-century wanderings in the Gold Rush Yukon, beautifully corralled the magic of place in his Spell of the Yukon:

There’s a land–oh, it beckons and beckons,

And I want to go back–and I will

It’s the great, big, broad land ‘way up yonder,

It’s the forest where silence has lease;

It’s the beauty that thrills me with wonder,

It’s the stillness that fills me with peace.

 

I recorded this 50-second video offering my reflections on Southern Sanctuary.

 

I published a photo essay about our YouTube video in October 2022: https://stevejonesgbh.com/2022/10/11/goldsmith-schiffman-wildlife-sanctuary-a-tale-of-two-extraordinary-women/. Here’s the video if you care to take time to watch it now:

 

The three of us, Director (Bill), Talent (Marian), and Producer (Steve) posed on May 17 by the information marquee.

 

As we crossed the grassy area heading into the Sanctuary, we encountered a cooter, covered with aquatic micro-plants, laying eggs. She did not object to the five of us gawking and snapping photos.

 

We appreciated seeing a climbing prairie rose, a stunning native growing along the Hidden Spring edge of the road.

 

This species grows throughout most of the eastern US.

Hidden Spring Marsh

 

Hidden Spring broadens into an extensive marsh as it approaches Jobala Pond. Vibrant arrow-leaf alum and cattail prevail, each among my favorite freshwater aquatic species.

 

View my 51-second video of the marsh with no narrative; I chose instead to allow an indigo bunting and a tufted titmouse to hold forth!

 

Marian captured this image of a midland water snake that slithered atop the marsh water before pausing. Marian relies upon a real camera (a high quality Canon with all the bells and whistles). I feel deep envy with my iPhone. Is it time for me to take the dive?!

 

We saw three snakes on our three-hour saunter. I share John Muir’s sentiment about encountering all sorts of animals in Nature (Even, and perhaps especially, snakes!):

Any glimpse into the life of an animal quickens our own and makes it so much the larger and better in every way.

The marsh thrust another gift in our face — Canada goose parents and nine goslings among the arum. Marian pulled the camera from her side and auto-snapped the convoy before I could extract my iPhone from my shirt pocket. Discovering Nature treasures hiding in plain sight is one thing; capturing their image is another.

 

Insects are impossible for me to photograph. The blue dragon defied me; I tried to focus on the insect and all my iPhone saw was the much larger view beyond. Neither the dragonfly nor the six-spotted tiger beetle felt a need to hold still enough for me to get close. Marian performed ably and simply…her images are great!

 

 

Here is my 57-second video of the marsh with narrative:

 

A bit further along, I recorded this 58-second video where Hidden Springs Brook approaches Jobala Pond. Margaret Ann Goldsmith donated the original 300 acres of the Sanctuary to the city of Huntsville. I stumbled on the video narrative introducing Marian as Margaret Moore Lewis. Isn’t my first such error; won’t be my last!

 

Three small beaver dams funneled and terraced Hidden Spring Brook to Jobala Pond. Each one dropped the brook about a foot.

 

I recorded this 60-second video of a third beaver dam right before Jobala Pond.

 

Who can resist the music of falling water, made all the sweeter by knowing beaver designed the instrument?

I leave you here with a simple To Be Continued!

 

And my standard closing boilerplate:

 

If only more of us viewed our precious environment through the filters I employ. If only my mission and vision could be multiplied by 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 understand their Earth home more clearly.

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

 

Steve’s Four Books

 

I wrote my books Nature Based Leadership (2016), Nature-Inspired Learning and Leading (2017), Weaned Seals and Snowy Summits: Stories of Passion for Place and Everyday Nature (2019; co-authored with Dr. Jennifer Wilhoit), and Dutton Land & Cattle: A Land Legacy Story (2025) 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 four of my books present compilations of personal experiences expressing my deep passion for Nature. All four books offer observations and reflections on my relationship with the natural world… and the broader implications for society. Order any from your local indie bookstore, or find them on IndieBound or other online sources such as Amazon and LifeRich.

I began writing books and Posts for several reasons:

• I love hiking and exploring 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 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