October 28, 2022, I visited a Lawrence County woodland property that the owners are donating to Wild Alabama, whose mission is to inspire people to enjoy, value, and protect the wild places in Alabama. Headquartered in Moulton, Wild Alabama (http://www.wildal.org) launched on January 1, 2021 with Maggie Johnston (maggie@wildal.org) as Executive Director. Maggie led our […]
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 […]
Friend and fellow Nature-enthusiast Jim Chamberlain and I visited Huntsville, Alabama’s Dallas Fanning Nature Preserve November 28, 2022. This was the first time either of us had explored the 58-acre preserve. I had no preconceived notions of what to expect. I offer photographs, observations, and initial reactions. Trailhead An ample gravel parking lot (the […]
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 […]
I visited Alabama’s Lakepoint State Park, arriving the afternoon of October 12, 2022 and departing the morning of the 15th. Eufaula National Wildlife Refuge surrounds Lakepoint SP. Thus, by visiting Lakepoint, I also spent time on the 11,184-acre Refuge along Lake Eufaula, the water body created by impounding the Chattahoochee River south of Eufaula, Alabama. […]
October 15, 2022, I spent the afternoon (and the following morning) visiting Auburn University’s Solon Dixon Forestry Education Center, where I had last been in 1984 when I served as Alabama Land Manager for Union Camp Corporation. My visit served as a celebratory reunion. Rhett Johnson, who hosted my 1984 tour and served as Solon […]
I revisited Hays Nature Preserve November 3, 2022, with Joel Donelan, Director of Education for Huntsville, Alabama’s Green Team. We focused our hike from the Flint River picnic area looping along an old slough then circling back to the parking lot. This photo-essay offers observations, reflections, and photo-highlights from a delightful autumn morning in a […]
Nothing beats a sunrise along water. Staying overnight October 19, 2022 at the Joe Wheeler State Park Lodge near Rogersville, Alabama, I walked to lakeside at the next day’s dawn. A chilly fall morning rewarded me with a full dose of lake mist and brightening sky inspiration…the alchemy of fog wisps, first light, bordering trees, […]
October 8, 2022, I co-led an OLLI (Osher Lifelong Learning Institute; University of Alabama at Huntsville) hike along the Flint Creek Trail, Wheeler National Wildlife Refuge near Decatur, Alabama. The day proved picture perfect with brilliant blue sky and unseasonably chilly. I enjoy leading these hikes; our OLLI members are mostly retirees, eager to learn […]
This post offers 44 minutes of sunrise inspiration at Alabama’s Lakepoint State Park and Eufaula National Wildlife Refuge October 15, 2022. An equinox stroke eliminated my planned March 2022 trip to Lakepoint State Park for a quarterly Alabama State Parks Foundation Board meeting. I vowed to visit the Park once I recovered and summer had […]