Preparing for my July 15, 2025, presentation to the Madison Historical Association on the pre-European settlement forests of our Huntsville, Alabama region, I visited two regional Native American historical sites on June 10, 2025: Florence Indian Mound and Museum; Oakville Indian Mounds and Education Center. My working title for July 15 — Thirteen Millennia of […]
Part Two I initially developed this Tenth-Anniversary photo essay as a single post. However, its length exceeded even my generous tolerance for content and length. Here is the link to Part One: https://stevejonesgbh.com/2025/07/18/part-one-huntsvilles-goldsmith-schiffman-wildlife-sanctuary-tenth-anniversary-of-southern-sanctuary/ I repeat the opening paragraph of Part One: I visited Huntsville, Alabama’s Goldsmith-Schiffman Wildlife Sanctuary on May 17, 2025, with Marian […]
On Saturday, July 12, 2025, I assisted with the Alabama State Parks Outdoor Alabama Adventures Education Workshop at DeSoto State Park, attended by 25 teachers and educators. Funded by BlueCross BlueShield of Alabama, the program team will present the full-day program at five state parks from June 17 to August 9. I am privileged to […]
34 photos and 6 videos My two Alabama grandsons (Jack Disher, 17, and Sam Disher, 11) accompanied me on June 24, 2025, to the North Alabama Land Trust’s Green Mountain Nature Preserve. We explored the Alum Hollow Trail, where I was scheduled to lead a Land Trust Nature Hike on June 28, 2025. I wanted […]
Invited by Renee Raney, Alabama State Parks Director of Interpretation and Education, I assisted in conducting a daylong (June 13, 2025) Legacy Environmental Education workshop for 25 educators at Monte Sano State Park. As a founding Alabama State Parks Foundation Board member, I tirelessly support park Nature education endeavors. I snapped photos, recorded brief videos, […]
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 […]
Note: I am flagging this photo essay as one of a sub-series that introduces the emerging Singing River Trail (SRT): A 200+ mile greenway system that strengthens regional bonds and creates new health and wellness, educational, economic, tourism, and entrepreneurial opportunities for the people and communities of North Alabama. Historic Mooresville, Alabama, is the […]
Fellow retired foresters Chris Stuhlinger, Brian Bradley, and I co-led a University of Alabama in Huntsville, OLLI (Osher Lifelong Learning Institute) Nature Hike on April 13, 2025. Our group of 25 covered a little over two miles on what I’ve dubbed the Halloween Forest Trail on the North Alabama Land Trust’s Green Mountain Nature Preserve […]
I intended this to be one of my brief-form posts, but I recorded too many short videos to meet my less-than-five-minutes-to-read criterion! A colleague interested in our northern Alabama human and natural history recently observed that the forests on Madison, Alabama’s Rainbow Mountain Nature Preserve have not changed over the 55 years he has visited […]
Alabama grandsons Jack (17 years) and Sam (11) accompanied me on April 19, 2025, as we traversed the Sinks and Wells Memorial Trails at Alabama’s Monte Sano State Park near Huntsville. Seven months beyond my second total knee replacement surgery and 21 months since my triple bypass, there’s little I will not attempt on local […]