Exemplars in Applying Nature's Wisdom and Inspiration Archives

Exploring the Spiral Nature of Northern Alabama’s Tree Vines

March 19, 2022 I hiked the Fire Tower and South Plateau Trails at Monte Sano State Park near Huntsville, Alabama. I issued a Post about the general wonders of Nature we encountered along the way: https://stevejonesgbh.com/2022/05/12/march-19-2022-on-the-fire-tower-trail-at-monte-sano-state-park/

That Post included several photos and observations about some tree form curiosities. Here are two without comment:

I’m fascinated with tree form oddities. I have also chronicled the nature of grape vines in our north Alabama hardwood forests in my Great Blue Heron Posts. This photo shows a large grape vine (genus Vitis) along the Multi-use Trail at Joe Wheeler State Park from the summer of 2020. Most casual hikers consider such vines, common in our maturing second-growth forests, as climbing vines.

People have the mistaken impression that muscadine, scuppernong, poison ivy, Virginia creeper, wisteria, and supplejack vines actually ascend the tree trunk to access the upper canopy. That is, these vines climb into the trees. Such is not the case. Our common forest vines are the same age as the trees in the forest. The vine seedlings germinated or vegetatively sprouted with the new forest. Picture a yellow poplar or oak sapling growing rapidly in an area where the prior forest has been blown flat by a wind storm. A grape vine, like the oak or poplar, is responding to the now-available full sunlight and fresh nutrients. The vines cannot stand on their own. They depend on trees to achieve verticality. They keep pace with the tree, securing their elongating shoots interlaced with the oak and poplar crowns. In this fashion, over the course of the 80-90-year span of the forest we hiked March 19, the vines achieve and maintain access to sunlight in the maturing main canopy. Their roots stay firmly planted in the forest soil 70-80 feet below.

I address the viny forest component because the tree-climbing pattern of Japanese wisteria caught my eye as we hiked recently at Monte Sano, leading me to muse with you on the spiral nature of some species of our north Alabama tree climbing vines. While in the forest I knew these were wisteria. Only upon further investigation did I confirm their identity as Japanese wisteria, an invasive. As we hiked, I heard various speculations as to why all that we encountered spiraled upward clockwise. Some offered the Coriolis effect, suggesting that vines spiral counterclockwise south of the equator. Others mentioned latitude as a controlling variable. I did not speculate.

Upon returning home, I learned that a diagnostic character of Japanese wisteria (Wisteria floribunda) is its counterclockwise spiraling. American wisteria spirals clockwise.

Alan S. Weakley, North Carolina based expert on southern flora, wrote this about the direction of spiral: Twining direction can be determined by looking at (or imagining) the vine twining around a branch or pole. Look at the pole or branch from the base (from the direction from which the vine is growing). If the vine is circling the branch or pole in a clockwise direction, that is dextrorse; if counterclockwise, that is sinistrorse.

So, the direction of spiral is not owing to an environmental factor; it’s genetically determined. Now the question is why the direction is hard-wired. Is there some evolutionary advantage in one way or the other deep in the genetic footprint? If so, why do Wisteria americana and frutescens twine in the opposite direction from their Asian cousin? I suppose that deeper mystery will remain for another day.

I concluded long ago that woods wanderings will continue to generate more questions than I will ever answer — more mysteries than I will ever solve. My quest to learn more will exceed this lifetime. That is part of my pleasure in venturing into the forest and writing these Posts.

The important thing is not to stop questioning. Curiosity has its own reason for existing. One cannot help but be in awe when he contemplates the mysteries of eternity, of life, of the marvelous structure of reality. It is enough if one tries merely to comprehend a little of this mystery every day. Einstein

I have no special talent. I am only passionately curious. Einstein

Spiraling Forest Vines

I’ll continue our vine photo-journey without a lot of narrative. The wisteria below left chose a tree species that fell short of giving the vine access to full sunlight in the upper canopy. Its dogwood elevator delivered it only to lower levels. Dogwood is shade tolerant and can function quite well in dappled sunlight over the life of the stand. It has no need to rise into the main canopy. The wisteria below right is the only specimen we found growing on a pine (loblolly). That’s a bracket mushroom on the pine, signaling decay within. The wisteria does not concern itself with the decay that lies hidden within the trunk, even though the decay, if it proves fatal to the pine, will topple the pine and the vine to the forest floor. The vine will have produced many seed crops by then. It will have done its work toward succeeding itself.

Also on the Monte Sano hike, I photographed this wisteria vine twining with a grape vine dangling from above.

Spiraling Vines from Previous Woodland Hikes

Noticing woody vines reaching into the main forest canopy is not new to me. I’ve been snapping photos since the onset of these Posts. This is grandson Sam posing a couple of years ago (2/23/20) on the Wheeler National Wildlife Refuge, hanging onto a supplejack vine, which in turn is spiraling counterclockwise on a sweetgum sapling.

Also on the Refuge, I captured the image (below left) February 6, 2022. This one requires a bit of forest forensics. The sapling, I believe sweetgum, engaged previously in fierce struggle with a counterclockwise-spiraling supplejack. The sweetgum prevailed, still displaying the permanent scar of its choking engagement with the now deceased and decomposed vine. Below right on the same day I found a spiral-scarred stem, evidencing a struggle with neither stem or vine surviving. Our woods are filled with tales of wins, draws, and losses. Forests may appear to be places of peace, tranquility, as well as community cooperation and synergism. Contrary to those appearances, it’s a dog-eat-dog sylvan world. Only the forest itself survives. It’s every tree, vine, insect, fungus, and critter for itself.

May 12, 2019, along the Chesapeake and Ohio Canal National Historical Park in Maryland, ever on the lookout for curiosities, I photographed this massive oak branch, likely vine-spiraled over decades, once again counterclockwise.

I discovered this oddy-spiralled white oak June 8, 2020 along the Awesome Trail in Joe Wheeler State Park. The oak is currently engaged with a living supplejack vine. The grasp is tight enough that the oak is growing around the two visible vine segments and has encased the middle spiral. I can’t imagine how the vine will survive the ever tightening strangle of the oak wood closing around the vine.

December 4, 2021, I found this supplejack tangle at Joe Wheeler State Park. Even within this scrum of vines, the central individual demonstrates the species’ distinctive counterclockwise spiral. The supplejack has fidelity to its genetic roadmap, a vine maelstrom be darned!

Here’s a December 15, 2019 supplejack clinging to a sugar maple on the Wheeler National Wildlife Refuge.

Supplejack does not discriminate when it comes to selecting a stanchion to ascend. Along Bradford Creek as it passes Liberty School March 21, 2022, grandson Sam and I discovered a double supplejack spiral (below left). Another, not quite as tightly wound, is on the right.

A wider view of the left image shows that double twine dangling beside a sweetgum with two non-spiraling poison ivy vines.

Therefore, we have another question to ponder beyond why some vines spiral clockwise and some not. That is, why do some species catch a ride to the main canopy without spiraling at all? I admit to not having the answer. I’ll simply offer a few photographic examples of non-spiraling forest vines.

Non-Spiraling Forest Vines

I don’t recall seeing any grape (Vitis sp.) or poison ivy vines spiraling. I conclude that neither has the genetic wiring that includes spiraling as a climbing alternative. While Sam and I explored the riparian forest at Liberty we found this yellow poplar with multiple poison ivy vines. Poison ivy’s mat of air roots cling tenaciously to the trunk. Remember, the lower vine’s sole purpose is to maintain its position while the forward elongating crown keeps pace above in the poplar’s crown. It’s all about access, courtesy of the poplar, to full sunlight.

And we’re talking about reaching full sunlight more than ten stories above in this riparian forest within the Wheeler National Wildlife Refuge, high in this red oak. These Vitis vines don’t bother with producing leaves trunk-side. The light below the canopy doesn’t meet the vine’s minimum requirement for leaf investment. It needs the light available in the shared crown.

Early July 2020, Alabama State Parks Naturalist Emeritus Mike Ezell and I stopped to admire these old Vitis vines along the Awesome Trail. They still extend into the main canopy. We puzzled why their bases are now contorted and slumped to the ground. Several are five or more inches in diameter. Some, like one where Mike is posing as The Thinker, stretch and loop for tens of feet, eventually reaching toward the crown heavens. Why do they twist and loop near the ground? I will continue to seek answers in the evidence within other forests.

I recall regenerating southern pines on Union Camp company lands through the 70’s. We planted genetically improved nursery stock on land we had clearcut and site prepared. Occasionally we would fall short of subduing Vitis prior to planting. If too vigorous, the vines would smother the newly planted stand. The pine below in a mixed loblolly pine and hardwood stand carried vine companions into its crown. The phenomenon is not unique to hardwood forests. Note how the vines have long ago detached from the pine’s main stem, and now hang loosely from the trunk. Perhaps I have from photo to photo discerned at least a partial answer to my query about the loops of mature vines several paragraphs prior.

I’ll close this Post with a poison ivy vine growing snugly to a 15-inch diameter red oak. It’s nestled in the tree’s moss skirt, appearing to be part of the tree. I’ve found such trees toppled by wind, the vine still alive, struggling to find sufficient light far below the canopy above. Limited sunlight from the windfall opening will continue to bless the fallen vine…until adjacent trees above fill the void. The toppled vine will survive only so long as the light persists. So, the vine and tree grow up (in time and space) together…and they die more or less as one.

I offer a final element of puzzle. I can clearly ascertain an evolutionary advantage to vines that can grow into the main canopy, where they can capture sufficient light to thrive, live safely above the browsing reach of ground-dwelling herbivores (like deer), and can more assuredly disperse seeds by birds and squirrels. I suppose the viny species compromised over the sweep of evolution. They could no longer, as canopy occupants, insist upon full, rich, heavy-crowned tops. That is, they could not both occupy the main canopy and compete so aggressively with the tree that its physical host succumbed. How did the tree benefit from agreeing to share the heights? I can imagine that a viny crown serves as more favorable habitat for birds and squirrels. How is that an advantage to the oak. Birds are voracious insect-consumers. Insects that can consume leaves, oviposit into buds, and create infection ports for decay fung. And while squirrels eat acorns, during years of heavy acorn production, the aerial rodents (and blue jays) cache more seed than they can possibly find and consume. So, I view the vine/tree relationship as symbiotic generally.

I have not mentioned kudzu, an invasive vine that can, in fact, literally climb and suffocate existing forests. Forests and kudzu are not compatible. I’ll leave it at that.

Alabama State Parks Foundation

I’ll remind you that I serve on the Alabama State Parks Foundation Board, in part because of my love of Nature and in recognition for my writing many prior Posts about visiting and experiencing the Parks. I urge you to take a look at the Foundation website and consider ways you might help steward these magical places: https://asparksfoundation.org/ Perhaps you might think about supporting the Parks System education and interpretation imperative: https://asparksfoundation.org/give-today#a444d6c6-371b-47a2-97da-dd15a5b9da76

The Foundation exists for the sole purpose of providing incremental operating and capital support for enhancing our State parks… and your enjoyment of them.

We are blessed in Alabama to have our Park System. Watch for future Great Blue Heron Posts as I continue to explore and enjoy these treasures that belong to us. I urge you to discover the Alabama State Parks near you. Follow the advice of John Muir:

And into the forest I go, to lose my mind and find my soul.

In every walk with Nature one receives far more than he seeks.

I only went out for a walk and finally concluded to stay out till sundown, for going out, I found, was really going in.

Between every two pines is a doorway to a new world.

Thoughts and Reflections

I offer these observations:

Lessons are written along every forest trail.
Curiosity opens many doors to discovery in Nature; I implore you to be passionately curious.
So much in Nature is hidden in plain sight.

Inhale and absorb Nature’s elixir. May Nature Inspire, Inform, and Reward you!

Note: All blog post images created & photographed by Stephen B. Jones unless otherwise noted. Please circulate images with photo credit: “©2022 Steve Jones, Great Blue Heron LLC. All Rights Reserved.”

Another Note: If you came to this post via a Facebook posting or by an another route, please sign up now (no cost… no obligation) to receive my Blog Post email alerts: http://eepurl.com/cKLJdL

And a Third: I am available for Nature-Inspired Speaking, Writing, and Consulting — contact me at steve.jones.0524@gmail.com

Reminder of my Personal and Professional Purpose, Passion, and Cause

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 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

Steve's Books Joe Wheeler

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.

Mid-Winter Treks at Goldsmith-Schiffman Wildlife Sanctuary

February 9, 2022/in Exemplars in Applying Nature's Wisdom and Inspiration, Fungi Kingdom, Nature's Inspiration, Preserves /by Steve Jones

I returned to Huntsville, Alabama’s Goldsmith-Schiffman Wildlife Sanctuary January 13 and 15, 2022, the first day to dry-run the interpretive hike I co-led on the 15th for 23 participants from the University of Alabama at Huntsville’s Osher Lifelong Learning Institute (OLLI). I focus this Post on the rich diversity of the Sanctuary, especially its multiple habitats, ecosystems, and ecotones.

I’ve written often about the Sanctuary, most recently: https://stevejonesgbh.com/2022/01/18/early-november-2021-b-roll-at-the-goldsmith-schiffman-wildlife-sanctuary/

Water Dominance

December 28, 2021 through January 8, 2022, I recorded 6.96 inches of rain with my industrial grade-home rain gauge. The Flint River, which borders the Sanctuary, overflowed its banks and inundated the Sanctuary during that drenching. We were fortunate that the intervening week allowed the river to retreat to within its banks. However, Sanctuary lowland soils remained saturated. We had alerted hikers in advance to wear shoes/boots to handle conditions. Cloudy skies prevailed during our 1.5-mile hike. The threatened rain arrived later in the afternoon. That evening and overnight I measured another 1.90 inches.

Hidden Spring emerges at the Taylor Road entrance to the Sanctuary, fed from the ridge (visible to the west below left) that stands 800 feet above the Flint River flood plain. The two photos are of Jobala Pond (left) and its outlet stream with a pair of mallard drakes. I’ve pointed out in previous posts that Jobala is a naturalized pond created 80 years ago when highway engineers mined sand and gravel for nearby road construction. The periodic Flint River flooding overtops the pond’s embankment, introducing plant seed and the fish, reptiles, amphibians, and other life that naturalized the borrow pit. Jobala’s waters are clear, evidencing its spring-fed source.

A second borrow pit pond lies just 300 feet from Jobala. The January 13, 2022 photo (below left) shows its muddy water, which in all my visits has never been anything but cloudy. Unlike Jobala, this second pond does not have through-flow constantly refreshing its water. Its turbidity appears to be permanent. Some sediments such as clay particles and organic matter can be chemically suspended, never settling and permitting the water to clear. Other causes of permanent turbidity include bottom-feeding fish, mammals like beavers and muscrats, or cattle. Regardless, the second pond does not offer the aesthetic appeal as Jobala, yet we brought the 1 January 15 hike participants to this pond to draw the contrast and explore possible causes. As I’ve often said, every element of Nature has a story to tell, and every story has lessons for life and living.

Back in its banks, the Flint Rifer continued to run high. This an arm of the Flint flowing around an island, the far shore. The main channel lies just 200 yards downstream. The island, now isolated by the branch’s full flow, is easily accessible by ankle deep wading during most of the summer. The entire Sanctuary is a dynamic ecosystem, ranging from full flood to quiet calm.

The Flint River had rushed across these meadows within the past ten days. Waterlogged soils will persist through the remainer of the winter and well into the spring. The dynamic interaction of water and land through the seasons is part of the Sanctuary’s appeal and richness.

Meadow

Forest, meadow, distant ridge, and the ebb and flow of seasonal water define the Sanctuary. Ecotones (the boundary zones separating habitat types) enrich the Sanctuary. The forest edge below right supports more species diversity than either the interior forest or the open meadow. The ecotones, from my own appreciation perspective, likewise multiply the landscape aesthetic value. Weave in the seasonal changes, from what some would consider the drab winter view, to the fresh greens of spring, to the deep summer verdancy, to the colors of fall, and the aesthetic mosaic is unsurpassed. Even without knowing the shifting landscape complexion, I love the dormant season, when forest and meadows rest and recover as the river occasionally runs wild.

Hikers slip from meadow into forest. The ecotone is less distinct in summer when the separation can be lost in an overwhelming explosion of green. Leonardo da Vinci spoke of edges within paintings:

When you represent in your work shadows which you can only discern with difficulty, and of which you cannot distinguish the edges so that you apprehend them confusedly, you must not make them sharp or definite lest your work should have a wooden effect.

I know little about art, yet I see da Vinci’s wisdom in contrasting the discernable winter boundaries to the softened edges of summer.

I made that winter/summer distinction comment above, anticipating that I could demonstrate the difference with a simple photo from summer (June 26, 2021) at the Sanctuary. Having the winter/summer images, one above the other, does depict the winter edges as more distinct. The winter details of meadow elements and tree branching within the hardwood canopies are far more interesting. The summer characteristics are blurred greens with little detail within either the forest or meadow vegetation.

I offer two more sweeping vistas of meadow, edge, forst, and distant hills. Leaving more northern climes to retire to north Alabama, I admit to having dreaded the predominance of summer heat and absent winters that awaited me. However, I have grown to cherish the extended season of fall giving way to spring, with a few winter days thrown in for good measure. Our dormant season is complete, and for that I am grateful. I enjoy days like January 13 and 15, when temperatures made for pleasant hiking. Although soils may be saturated, we seldom have to contend with slushy snow. While nothing beats the marvel of a fresh and pristine snowy landscape, driving on slippery roads at this latitude with motorists unaccustomed to the treachery of frozen surfaces would have kept me at home. Perhaps someday I will hike the Sanctuary under snow cover.

Firmament

To this point, I have not mentioned the sky in this Post. However, a quick look back at the preceding 14 photos will confirm that the sky (January 13 mostly clear; January 15 dull stratus overcast) complements every image. Terra firma and the firmament, two very similar terms for the land and the sky, complete almost every landscape image I have captured. The January 13, 2022, images below placed in my mind that the firmament is an ocean above. I imagined that had this been a warmer day with drier soils, I could have reclined on my back to observe the ocean-sky as though I were on an airliner cruising at 32,000 feet above the Atlantic!

Albert Einstein believed passionately in the power of such imaginings:

Imagination is more important than knowledge. Knowledge is limited. Imagination encircles the world.

I shall never lose my imagination…my curiosity about Nature…shaped in my youth and sharpened by my practice of the craft across 70 years. It is the youngster in me that I shall strive to nourish until my final glance into the wild.

Other Life features

A 24-inch diameter elm snag stood along an abandoned side-channel of the Flint River. A Dryad’s saddle mushroom cluster sprouts from near the snag’s top, 12 feet from its base, out of my reach.

When fresh, Dryad’s saddle is edible. This cluster evidences that the snag serves as a perfect substrate for the mushroom’s decomposing mycelia. Eventually, gravity or a flooding Flint River will dislodge the snag, returning its remaining mass to the continuing cycle of forest organic matter.

Trametes lactinea (I found no common names) sprouted profusely from a red oak log along the trail.

The mushrooms felt fresh and rubbery, with distinct pores on the underside (right image).

A dead sugarberry snag is frequented by pileated woodpeckers, as evidenced by the pile of punky chips at its base and the large rectangular trunkside excavations.

Another nearby sugarberry snag likewise carried pileated woodpecker cavities.

The dead sugarberry below still hoists its crown, albeit much diminished subsequent to death and decomposition, into the main canopy. Within three years I believe the trunk will yield to decay and gravity, falling to the ground to decay in-place or head downstream with the next flooding.

Two streambank sweetgum trees appear to be holding on to each other, resisting the undercutting flood waters that are eroding the bank and shifting the channel. These Flint River active riparian zones are constantly reshaped with each flood, some areas aggrading while others erode. The landscape is in dynamic flux. The sweetgums germinated and grew on a natural streamside levee; a migrating channel has now discovered the levee, cutting into and through it. The two trees will ultimately pay the price, no longer able to find adequate purchase to keep them erect.

The Sanctuary is a dynamic, varied ecosystem, blessed with shifting ecotones and rich life.

Thoughts and Reflections

I offer these observations:

Every element of Nature has a story to tell, and every story has lessons for life and living.
I shall never lose my imagination…my curiosity about Nature.
Albert Einstein: Imagination is more important than knowledge. Knowledge is limited. Imagination encircles the world.

Inhale and absorb Nature’s elixir. May Nature Inspire, Inform, and Reward you!

Note: All blog post images created & photographed by Stephen B. Jones unless otherwise noted. Please circulate images with photo credit: “©2022 Steve Jones, Great Blue Heron LLC. All Rights Reserved.”

Another Note: If you came to this post via a Facebook posting or by an another route, please sign up now (no cost… no obligation) to receive my Blog Post email alerts: http://eepurl.com/cKLJdL

And a Third: I am available for Nature-Inspired Speaking, Writing, and Consulting — contact me at steve.jones.0524@gmail.com

Reminder of my Personal and Professional Purpose, Passion, and Cause

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 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.

Continued Progress on Monte Sano State Park Wells Memorial Trail Video

January 25, 2022/in Alabama State Parks Series, Exemplars in Applying Nature's Wisdom and Inspiration, Five Verbs Essential to Harnessing Nature's Wisdom, Memorials, Nature's Inspiration, Spirituality in Nature /by Steve Jones

November 7, 2021, retired videographer Bill Heslip and I recorded B-roll video for our summer 2022 17-20-minute video project to present the Land Legacy Tale of the Wells Memorial Trail at Monte Sano State Park near Huntsville, Alabama. I’ve published prior Posts on this remarkable story of 40 acres gifted and memorialized for William Arthur Wells, a local boy, a former Civilian Conservation Corps worker on what is now the Park, and a Navy Sailor who perished in the October 1944 Battle of Leyte Gulf: https://stevejonesgbh.com/2021/10/05/contemplating-a-video-tale-of-the-william-arthur-wells-memorial-trail-monte-sano-state-park/

Don’t look for a lot of detail with this current Post. My purpose is to capture the autumnal beauty and diversity of this special place. Bill and I timed our visit perfectly (fortuity and serendipity prevailed) for fall glory.

Low angle sunlight, a yellowing forest canopy, and thinning foliage allowed forest floor illumination and depth of field.

Everywhere I looked revealed a Kodak-moment! As Bill recorded, I relished having the time to look around as well as up and down.

I never tire of putting my five essential verbs of forest enjoyment to practice: Believe, Look, See, Feel, and Act.

I find Nature’s Lessons because I know they lie hidden within view — belief enables me to look and see
Really look, with eyes open to my surroundings, external to electronic devices and the distractions of meaningless noise and data
Be alert to see deeply, beyond the superficial
See clearly, with comprehension, to find meaning and evoke feelings
Feel emphatically enough to spur action

Too infrequently woods-walkers hurry through the forest intent only upon reaching a destination. I prefer walking in the forest to experience the beauty, magic, wonder, and awe that lie hidden in plain sight.

The special conditions, and the luxury of time to immerse completely, opened all five of my portals: body, heart, mind, soul, and spirit. I floated through the canopy!

Bill sought images both ordinary and unusual. This 18-inch diameter hickory had nearly blown over perhaps a decade ago. I say “nearly” because some neighbor tree held fast, halting the hickory before its roots had completely broken free. The tree still lives, and each year it better secures its 40-degree-lean anchorage. Will it survive this winter; the next summer thunderstorm; the next decade; longer?

Bill captured the B-roll video, not knowing whether or how he might employ the footage.

Shagbark hickory offers deep texture among the world of tall straight trunks of species with smooth-barked boles.

Life and Death in the Forest

Vibrant forces within this dead standing hickory are at work to return its mass to the soil. Bill is filming the diverse mushrooms that align its vertical trunk. Mushrooms are the spore-producing structures of the decay fungi breaking down the wood, eventually weakening the structure that has held the tree erect for decades. The dead hickory lifts into the canopy from the upper right corner of the image below right. Note its spindly top, the reult of death already bringing its upper branches to the ground.

I’ve preached incessantly to Bill and others who will listen, that life and death engage without end in our forests. We want the video to honestly represent that all is not peace, tranquility, and blissful life in the forest…that competition among trees is fierce…that essential resources of light, moisture, and nutrients are finite. What one tree acquires is unavailable to another. The winner evidences no remorse; to the victor go the spoils. Individual trees have no need to consider diversity, equity, and inclusion as they go about the business of thriving, surviving, and sustaining their lineage. Below Bill is documenting the continuing cycle of life, death, renewal, and recycling.

Fungi act as ubiquitous decomposers, their mushrooms sprouting from the end of a dead trunk cut to clear the trail (below left) and from a downed branch (right).

Moss occupies the surface of woody debris across the forest floor.

Other Features of Interest

Grape vine foliage gathers light high in the forest canopy, having grown the 100+ feet in height as the tree developed vertically, year by year. The tree and vine are the same age.

I completed my doctoral field research in southwest New York and northwest Pennsylvania in 1986, evaluating soil-site factors in second growth Allegheny hardwood forests. Four decades ago the literature acknowledged that total tree height in even-aged stands expressed site quality better by far than any other factor such as diameter, stocking, merchantable height, or basal area. Recent literature collaborates the wisdom upon which I designed my research and the findings I published:

Tree height is relatively independent of tree density for most forest tree species. Simply put, trees grow taller on good sites, and they grow shorter on poor sites. Therefore, tree height is a more reliable measure of the site’s inherent productivity than most other measures. Forest Measurements: An Applied Approach (2016, Joan DeYoung)

Over the three-and-one-half decades since, tall trees strike a chord with me. The yellow poplar and associated species along the Wells and Sinks trails are among the tallest hardwoods I have encountered anywhere in my travels. I measured one poplar in this stand last summer at 174 feet. My measurement, while the best I could do with my instrument from the ground, is by no means official. Nevertheless, how does it compare to official, verified heights of trees in the eastern US? National Parks Traveler (October 24, 2012, Jim Burnett) reported on the two tallest estern tree individuals, both in Great Smoky Mountains National Park: white pine at 188.9′ and yellow poplar at 191.9′. The Great Smoky Mountains poplar is the tallest broadleaf tree in all of temperate North America, surpassing a documented black cottonwood (Populus trichocarpa) in Olympic National Park.

Already in late afternoon shadow, Bill is capturing some handheld footage as we depart for the trailhead.

My heart soars when I wander through these hardwood coves. My spirit correlates directly with site quality. I have long been a champion of excellence, whether in athletics, business, or ecological performance. The towering poplars have competed effectively for rich, yet still finite moisture, nutrients, and sunlight. I hike the Wells and Sinks trails in awe of these cove hardwoods and the intense competition and evolutionary prowess that produce what I consider a magnificent southern Appalachian cathedral forest. I feel un unapologetic sacred connection to this very special place. Bill and I will do all we can to capture the beauty, magic, wonder, and awe that characterize the spirituality permeating this wonderful living memorial to a young man who gave his last full measure in service to our Great Nation.

Alabama State Parks Foundation

I’ll remind you that I serve on the Alabama State Parks Foundation Board, in part because of my love of Nature and in recognition for my writing many prior Posts about visiting and experiencing the Parks. I urge you to take a look at the Foundation website and consider ways you might help steward these magical places: https://asparksfoundation.org/ Perhaps you might think about supporting the Parks System education and interpretation imperative: https://asparksfoundation.org/give-today#a444d6c6-371b-47a2-97da-dd15a5b9da76

The Foundation exists for the sole purpose of providing incremental operating and capital support for enhancing our State parks… and your enjoyment of them.

We are blessed in Alabama to have our Park System. Watch for future Great Blue Heron Posts as I continue to explore and enjoy these treasures that belong to us. I urge you to discover the Alabama State Parks near you. Follow the advice of John Muir:

And into the forest I go, to lose my mind and find my soul.

In every walk with Nature one receives far more than he seeks.

I only went out for a walk and finally concluded to stay out till sundown, for going out, I found, was really going in.

Between every two pines is a doorway to a new world.

Thoughts and Reflections

I offer these observations:

Every tree and every parcel of land has a story to tell.
Oftentimes, the intersection of human and natural history brings the power of passion to the tale.
This land came to us out of eternity — when the youngest of us associated with it dies, it will still be here, preserved forevermore in tribute to William Arthur Wells.

Inhale and absorb Nature’s elixir. May Nature Inspire, Inform, and Reward you!

Note: All blog post images created & photographed by Stephen B. Jones unless otherwise noted. Please circulate images with photo credit: “©2022 Steve Jones, Great Blue Heron LLC. All Rights Reserved.”

Another Note: If you came to this post via a Facebook posting or by an another route, please sign up now (no cost… no obligation) to receive my Blog Post email alerts: http://eepurl.com/cKLJdL

And a Third: I am available for Nature-Inspired Speaking, Writing, and Consulting — contact me at steve.jones.0524@gmail.com

Reminder of my Personal and Professional Purpose, Passion, and Cause

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 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.

Reading the Fragility of Forest Permanence!

October 26, 2021/in Exemplars in Applying Nature's Wisdom and Inspiration, Lessons from Nature, National Wildlife Refuges, Nature's Inspiration, Spirituality in Nature /by Steve Jones

Standing Tall is Never Permanent

September 25, 2021, I bushwhacked through a rich bottomland hardwood stand on the eastern end of the Wheeler National Wildlife Refuge near Huntsville, Alabama. The photos of the magnificent cherrybark oak immediately below came from a visit to the same riparian forest last winter. I present this cherrybark oak as emblematic of a forest monarch in preface to the images of three other large oaks, not now standing so tall and permanent in the same bottomland forest.

I want to share with you the three treefall discoveries that I made September 25, prompting me to develop this Post to demonstrate and reflect upon the forces of physics, the ravages of time, the implications of place, and the consequences of chance and fate for life in our forests.

A Tree Hits the Mark

I’ll set the stage for the first discovery by presenting this winter season yellow poplar in a nearby stand, forked at some 25-30 feet above ground.

Now let’s switch to this 30-inch-diameter red oak from my recent wanderings on the Refuge. The toppled oak’s root and lifted soil mass lie about 35 feet from where I am standing. The tree, down 2-3 years, appears to have been healthy, its wood solid, its trunk unblemished, and its top (behind me) full. I stood at a position where the bucket sits in the next photo.

Just beyond the bucket, the then falling oak, with a fork much like the poplar pictured above, encountered a neighboring 24-inch-diameter oak, the point of impact being the fork, dead-center. The falling tree had tremendous, likely maximum, momentum (definition: the quantity of motion of a moving body, measured as a product of its mass and velocity) when it slammed into the stalwart neighbor. Like a sledge hammer pounding an iron wedge into a round of firewood, the falling tree split neatly apart, the split extending at least fifteen feet down the bole. The bucket rests in the split.

These two images show the standing tree and the split it forced.

The two trees stood 35 feet apart. Were we to swing a 35-foot arc from the base of the fallen tree, the perimeter would be 220 feet. What are the chances that a 30-inch-diameter mighty oak, standing tall, somewhat isolated from other domiant canopy trees, and seeming permanent, would fall… and, in exactly the one direction at precisely the right distance to have the fork impact at the intersection of peak momentum and maximum fork-vulnerability?

Across my retirement wanderings I have seen many examples of two alternative results from the one above. So often, the falling giant compels the standing neighbor to absorb the full impact and momentum, bringing it, too, crashing to the ground. I could not find a good photo depicting such a tree-domino outcome in my archive. In the other common outcome, the falling tree, because of distance or relative mass, remains leaning against the neighbor for a day, a week, a year, or many years. Physics rule the forest. I ventured upon this 24-inch red oak at Wheeler national Wildlife Refuge October 22, 2021.

The oak’s crown still carries its green foliage, kept alive by that portion of the root mass not wrenched from the ground. Who knows how long the tree will live…or remain leaning.

I draw two lessons to this point: No one person or thing remains forever. Nature operates by her own laws (applied physics) within a context of random occurences and chaotic pulses of time, place, and force. I ponder, why these two trees and these results? Right place right time; wrong place wrong time? Why any of us, whenever…and wherever?

Weakness Yields to Force

Other results seem less random…more predictable, within limits. Nearby I came across yet another 30-inch oak, this one snapped at 10-feet above its base. Hollow to the core, this oak felt the ravages of inexorable internal decay for decades, until the thinning rind of solid wood could no longer withstand the forces (physics) of crown and bole mass acting in response to wind, surpassing an inevitable threshold.

The tree’s time had come. And so, the time comes for all of us. The fallen mass of the tree extends 100 feet beyond the standing ten-foot trunk snag. Although one could say with certainty that eventually the rind would fail, who could say when, under what force combination, or in what direction?

As Leonadro da Vinci said 500 years ago, Nature never breaks her own laws.

Strength Yields to Force

And another nearby example of a mighty oak falling. This one fought mightily, clinging with all of its strength to the soil that nourished it and provided anchorage to its roos. Its trunk did not break at some point of weakness; its roots did not sever, releasing the oak’s incredible mass in a thundering instant. Instead, every root maintained its strength as the tree’s bulk pulled all roots through the wet and shallow surface soil, slowing losing purchase, allowing the tree to slip to the ground. I envision this tree falling in slow motion, contray to the earth-shattering force of the first and second oaks.

We will all reach a conclusion, as will every tree in the forest. When and under what circustances? In a crushing crescendo, or a gentle transition? I suppose that none of us can know…or should know.

Dylan Thomas, in Do Not Go Gentle Into That Good Night:

Do not go gentle into that good night,
Old age should burn and rave at close of day;
Rage, rage against the dying of the light.

Thoughts and Reflections

I offer these observations:

Nature operates by her own laws within a context of random occurrences and chaotic pulses of time, place, and force.
Nothing in Nature is static or permanent; life is fragile and fleeting.
Wherever I roam, Nature inspires and rewards my heart, mind, body, soul, and spirit.

Inhale and absorb Nature’s elixir. May Nature Inspire, Inform, and Reward you!

Note: All blog post images created & photographed by Stephen B. Jones unless otherwise noted. Please circulate images with photo credit: “©2021 Steve Jones, Great Blue Heron LLC. All Rights Reserved.”

Another Note: If you came to this post via a Facebook posting or by an another route, please sign up now (no cost… no obligation) to receive my Blog Post email alerts: http://eepurl.com/cKLJdL

And a Third: I am available for Nature-Inspired Speaking, Writing, and Consulting — contact me at steve.jones.0524@gmail.com

Reminder of my Personal and Professional Purpose, Passion, and Cause

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 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.

Tribute to a Forestry Legend: Jim Finley

October 13, 2021/in Exemplars in Applying Nature's Wisdom and Inspiration, Memorials, Nature's Inspiration /by Steve Jones

A Tribute to a Friend and Colleague

Sunday morning, October 3, 2021, I learned that long time friend Dr. James (Jim) Finley lost his life Saturday morning while working in his woodlot in central Pennsylvania. Jim, a fellow forestry faculty member at Penn State University, and I collaborated on many projects during my nine years at that university (1987-96). We partnered in developing and delivering Cooperative Extension programs for the state’s 750,000 (as of 2020) individual family forestland owners, who today collectively own 12 million forested acres (70 percent of the state’s forestland). Our goal was to encourage, enable, and inspire those owners to embrace and apply the tenets and practice of informed and responsible forest stewardship.

Over my now one-half century of forestry-oriented professional life, I have never known anyone more dedicated to the applied science of forestry and better able to translate his knowledge, whether in the classroom and or on the ground, to lay forest landowners. Jim epitomized one of my own axioms: People don’t care how much you know until they know how much you care. Jim cared!

In these Posts I often mention that Nature’s many truths and tales lie hidden in plain sight. I don’t recall Jim saying that in so many words, yet, I learned by working with him over countless hours, that he operated by that fundamental truth. Time after time, I saw Jim systematically, casually, and expertly lift the curtain to reveal a forest’s deepest secrets.

Excerpted from the Penn State Center for Private Forests website (https://ecosystems.psu.edu/research/centers/private-forests/news/remembering-jim-finley):

The Center for Private Forests at Penn State is deeply saddened to share the sudden and tragic loss of our co-founder and Council Chair Dr. Jim Finley, Ibberson Chair and Professor Emeritus of Private Forest Management and Human Dimensions and Natural Resources, on October 2, 2021. Jim’s decades of work informed our understanding of forests, private forest landowners, and all the people who care for the woods.

So, I dedicate this Post to my friend, one of my professional and life heroes, and already sorely missed colleague, Jim Finley:

Photo from the Pennsylvania Forestry Association Facebook page.

A Moment in Time

Regardless of how the end might come, within the forest or among people, Jim’s passing has once more reminded me that living within the moment and with (and for) the ones we love will never be more important than here and now. The forest…and life…are rich with moments of peace, tranquility, love, and beauty. Be aware that moments are flying by at 60-minutes-per-hour. Don’t let them rush past with you unaware of how precious each one is. I try to remind myself that each hike could be my last. That every embrace of a loved one may not be followed by another.

In early September 2021, I visited the 400-year-old forest at Heart’s Content Scenic Area in northwest Pennsylvania’s Allegheny Natuinal Forest. I photographed a pair of four-foot diameter forest denizens, reminding me that nothing is permanent. The massive foreground white pine is recently dead (its bark still clinging to the trunk); the hemlock behind it still thrives. Such is the continuing cycle of life and death within the forest…and among people.

I saw Jim as a figurative mighty oak (or a majestic white pine or hemlock like those at Heart’s Content) in his field of forest stewardship education, standing tall, seeming permanent, always steadfast, deeply rooted, and dedicated to his overlapping professional and personal missions. However, like all trees in the forest, including the white pine above, none of us is permanent…we are all fragile and our lives are fleeting.

I can’t recall the last time that Jim and I shared a woodland hike. I had no thought about it being our last. Had we known, perhaps we would have gone a mile further. Life is fleeting and fragile…each moment precious and worth cherishing. Jim and Linda visited Judy and me in Fairbanks, Alaska in 2007, eleven years after we had departed Penn State — we’re standing below on six-feet-thick overflow ice on June 11, when we made another set of memories.

Who could have imagined that Jim, a consumate woodsman, would walk into his own woodlot that early October morning for the last time? Fate; pre-destiny for this man of deep faith? John Muir fittingly offers an exclamation point to all I have attempted to communicate with my tribute to Jim:

Savor the moments in life that make your heart glow. Chase after and find the moments that will take your breath away. In the end, it is only those milestones on life’s journey that matter.

Oh, if only I could spend one more day wandering a forest…any forest…discovering with Jim what lies hidden within.

Closing Thoughts and Reflections

Three conclusions and lessons:

My own connections to Nature and special people are sacred…and intertwined.
We should live life aware that every hug and every walk in the woods may be our last.
Muir: Savor the moments in life that make your heart glow. Chase after and find the moments that will take your breath away. In the end, it is only those milestones on life’s journey that matter.

I draw comfort knowing that Jim took his last breath in a place he loved, doing what he enjoyed, where he already had a lifelong spiritual connection to God.

Dutton Farm Land Legacy Project Expansion: Warm Season Grass Trial with Ohio State University

September 8, 2021/in Exemplars in Applying Nature's Wisdom and Inspiration, Forestland Legacy Stories, Nature's Inspiration /by Steve Jones

May 27 and 28, 2021, I met on-site with a research team from Ohio State’s College of Food and Agricultural Sciences to plan a native warm season grass trial on reclaimed strip-mine soils on Dutton Farms, site of my Ohio Land Legacy Project. I’ve previously posted updates on the Project — here’s one from September 2020: https://stevejonesgbh.com/2020/11/25/late-september-wanderings-and-ramblings-on-my-ohio-land-legacy-project-site/ The richness of these reclaimed strip mine lands buoys my view of Nature’s ultimate resilience when aided by informed and responsible stewardship practice. Every square foot of this view saw full-scale strip mining. The pastures are productive. However, none are populated with native warm season grasses, which perform reliably mid-summer owing to greater drought and heat tolerance. The Dutton family and the Ohio State University (OSU) team are intent upon exploring warm season mixtures for pasture enhancement and resilience.

Allow me a brief side trip from May 2021. I remind you that Dutton Land and Cattle (DL&C) is focusing on Akaushi Cattle, a prime quality breed from Japan. These photos depict a bull from this rather docile breed. Rest assured, otherwise I would not be so bold with this big boy (below left).

Ohio State University is Ohio’s Land Grant University (LGU), authorized by the 1862 Morrill Act establishing one such institution in each state to bring modern agricultural knowledge and practices to farmers and producers. The LGUs have broadened and deepened their service over the intervening 159 years. I’ve served five LGUs over my career: Penn State, Auburn, Alabama A&M, NC State, and the University of Alaska Fairbanks. I consider partnering now with OSU a positive addition to my retirement portfolio. The main campus lies just two hours west of Dutton Farms.

Photo credit: OSU College of Food and Agricultural Sciences web site

John Dutton (with folder in his left arm) greeted the OSU team under threatening skies May 28, orienting them to DL&C at the equipment shed.

I toured the OSU team May 27, highlighting the strip mining history at the unreclaimed high wall, a stark reminder of the brutal treatment and deep scaring associated with surface mining.

After our early start May 28 orientation we visited the proposed native warm season grass trial site, now supporting a nearly mature cover crop of triticale (a hybrid of wheat and rye). DL&C cares for its soil resources as evidenced by the vibrant triticale.

The team quickly dug in (literally), examining the soil. No hesitancy about getting their hands dirty! I enjoyed pleasant memories of my own doctoral research on soil-site relationships for Allegheny Hardwood Forests in southwest NY and northwest PA. I also led tree nutrition and forest fertilization research for Union Camp Corporation company-wide across VA, NC, SC, GA, FL, and AL for four years. I watched the OSU team through a delighted and admittedly rapturous haze of pleasant professional memories. Those were simpler days…before senior administrative positions and four university presidencies led me too far afield of my disciplinary passion. I stood in retirement bliss, once more back to field studies vicariously through this capable and enthusiastic team of young researchers.

Dutton Farms soils are compacted, relatively young, and showing clear signs of horizonation. This profile shows a darkening upper several inches owing to organic matter beginning to incorporate by root action and soil micro- and macro-organism recycling. Lots of roots are exploiting that upper layer. The soil at this location looks very much like the soils I have excavated across the DL&C’s core 1,100 acres.

We are fortunate that John Dutton is enthusiastic with the warm season grass project. He is eager to learn and put to practice ways to improve DL&C operations, and better steward the land.

The equation for meaningful life and living, productive research, and successful business operations includes an essential variable — enthusiasm! John, his family, and the OSU team bring it by the barrelful. I am fortunate to be affiliated with the effort to make DL&C a global exemplar for informed and responsible Earth stewardship, reclaiming abused land from the trash heap, transforming it through wisdom, knowledge, and hard work to productive operation, environmental vibrancy, and aesthetic richness.

As the native warm season grass trial progresses I will say more in subsequent Posts. For now, I will mention only that the trial will test two seed combinations:

big bluestem and indiangrass blend
switchgrass and eastern gamagrass

The design will overlay cover crop alternatives.

I’ve concluded over the years that application adds value to knowledge. The foundation of the Land Grant University concept is the application of knowledge to enterprise and life. The native warm season grass trial is applied research to advance life, living, and enterprise. I am fortunate to be engaged with the continuing stewardship saga of Dutton Land and Cattle!

Thoughts and Reflections

I offer these reflections:

The process of learning how best to practice informed and responsible land stewardship is unending.
Few actions match the satisfaction and return on applied research and discovery.
Nothing beats watching younger professionals enthusiastically learning and advancing science.

Inhale and absorb Nature’s elixir. May Nature Inspire, Inform, and Reward you!

Note: All blog post images created & photographed by Stephen B. Jones unless otherwise noted. Please circulate images with photo credit: “©2021 Steve Jones, Great Blue Heron LLC. All Rights Reserved.”

Another Note: If you came to this post via a Facebook posting or by an another route, please sign up now (no cost… no obligation) to receive my Blog Post email alerts: http://eepurl.com/cKLJdL

And a Third: I am available for Nature-Inspired Speaking, Writing, and Consulting — contact me at steve.jones.0524@gmail.com

Reminder of my Personal and Professional Purpose, Passion, and Cause

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 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.

Dutton Farm May Skies and Viewscapes

August 5, 2021/in Exemplars in Applying Nature's Wisdom and Inspiration, Forestland Legacy Stories, Nature's Inspiration /by Steve Jones

I returned to my Land Legacy Story project site, Dutton Farms near Flushing in east central Ohio, May 26-28, 2021. We scheduled the visit to correspond with the first annual Farm Day for the Dutton Land and Cattle enterprise. I had last been to the project site in September 2020: https://stevejonesgbh.com/2020/11/25/late-september-wanderings-and-ramblings-on-my-ohio-land-legacy-project-site/

I will not cover the intent and Nature of the project in this Post. Watch for a subsequent Post reflecting on a Warm Season Grass trial we will establish on the property with faculty and graduate students from The Ohio State University College of Food and Agricultural Sciences.

Farm Day

May 27, 2021, I helped (a tertiary role at best) host the first Annual Farm Day by taking the mic (no, that’s not me below left) to brief attendees on the land’s tale of 1850-1925 abusive agriculture; mid-20th century strip mining; current period of land reclamation to health and vitality through informed and responsible stewardship practices. A story of recovery and rehabilitation…a metamorphosis from wasteland to viable agricultural enterprise. The family (below right) is committed to stewardship across the three generations represented. I am pleased to be playing some small part in telling their Land Legacy Story for posterity and as a means of encouraging others to do same.

Three-day Skies and Vistas

My purpose with this Post is to highlight some elements of the Nature-Inspired Life and Living I experienced across those three days on-site. I arrived at the Dutton’s May 26 mid-day. I introduced a fellow retired forester (a former senior player with the Pennsylvania Bureau of Forestry who lives within an hour to the north) to the Land Legacy Story on-site. Understanding the past treatment (85 percent of the 1,100 acres were stripped for coal at least once) is best accomplished, I’ve found, by first visiting the remaining high wall on the northeast side of the property. The old scar reminds us of the harsh past in ways that the reclaimed acreage belies. Even the high wall, however, expresses an aesthetic that we both appreciated that day. Nature has remarkable healing powers.

Later that afternoon we stopped by the Dutton’s recreational retreat, with everything in sight having been stripped and rehabilitated. To the uninitiated, few would imagine the blasting, scooping, dust, noise, and earth movers, followed by reshaping, seeding, and recovery.

These photos, too, present a landscape entirely stripped. It’s impossible to deny the pastoral beauty and appeal of the recovered land.

By late evening many of the invited guests, stakeholders, and international experts tracking the success and future of this unique enterprise had arrived. The gentlemen among our small group at the Cabin came from New Hampshire, Pennsylvania, and Texas. I snapped the two photos in waning light at 8:58 and 9:01 PM.

By 9:30 AM May 27, the sky had cleared. I have never experienced a morning at the cabin that was not photo-worthy. I heard no echoes of the explosives and massive equipment that shaped this place of present-day peace, tranquility, and beauty.

Following a full day of demonstration, planning, and dreaming, dusk once again settled over the property. I snapped my final photo of the day at 9:02 PM May 27.

Dutton sunrises seldom disappoint. This 6:33 AM May 28 view is roughly aligned with the prior evening’s gloaming perspective. I grew up just 150 miles east of here in western Maryland. Because the westerlies assured that most of our weather came generally from west to east, I often heard, “Pink in the morning; sailors take warning. Pink at night; sailors delight.” A pinkish sunrise greeted me.

Less than three hours later, at 9:12 and 9:13 AM, the old weather wisdom had brought darkening and thickening clouds. I watched the weather radar as the bulk of the associated precipitation skirted to our south. A lifelong weather enthusiast, I welcomed the fearsome-looking (but toothless for us) clouds.

We gathered at the warm season grass trial site (watch for a subsequent Post) amid periods of light rain. I snapped this photo at 10:31 AM over the maturing cover crop of Triticale (hybrid of wheat and rye). I like the pale green under the wavy stratus.

Nitrogen-fixing Pasture Plants

Pasture clovers are nutritious and fix nitrogen. The forage specialists among us (others, not me) found pleasant satisfaction in seeing both birdsfoot trefoil (left) and black medick (right).

And purple crown vetch.

Happy and Healthy Animal Residents

The first day we interrupted a female painted turtle depositing eggs just above the cabin. We also spotted over the course of our visit a pair of great blue herons along the shoreline. The 1,100-acre site is ecologically diverse and rich.

I draw a sense of hope from the Dutton Farms story of Nature’s resilience and recovery when directed by the wisdom, knowledge, and hard work of dedicated, informed, and responsible Earth stewardship.

I stand in awe as I reflect upon the wonder and magic of three rather ordinary early summer days on an east-central Ohio farm recovering from a century-and-half of harsh treatment and degradation. I’m reminded of one of Albert Einstein’s Nature observations:

I have never imputed to Nature a purpose or a goal, or anything that could be understood as anthropomorphic. What I see in Nature is a magnificent structure that we can comprehend only very imperfectly, and that must fill a thinking person with a feeling of humility. This is a genuinely religious feeling that has nothing to do with mysticism.

Every time I visit Dutton Farms I feel the dual senses of humility and inspiration. I am grateful for the chance to chronicle the tale of land resurrection.

Thoughts and Reflections

I offer three observations from my late May visit:

Even the mundane among Nature’s days fills me with wonder.
Nothing lifts me more than seeing Nature recover from harsh treatment!
Earth stewardship is a transcendent (and necessary) action.

Inhale and absorb Nature’s elixir. May Nature Inspire, Inform, and Reward you!

Note: All blog post images created & photographed by Stephen B. Jones unless otherwise noted. Please circulate images with photo credit: “©2021 Steve Jones, Great Blue Heron LLC. All Rights Reserved.”

Another Note: If you came to this post via a Facebook posting or by an another route, please sign up now (no cost… no obligation) to receive my Blog Post email alerts: http://eepurl.com/cKLJdL

And a Third: I am available for Nature-Inspired Speaking, Writing, and Consulting — contact me at steve.jones.0524@gmail.com

Reminder of my Personal and Professional Purpose, Passion, and Cause

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 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.

Back to Camp McDowell

February 6, 2020/in Exemplars in Applying Nature's Wisdom and Inspiration, Forestland Legacy Stories, Spirituality in Nature /by Steve Jones

I returned to Camp McDowell and Conference Center December 19-20, 2019 following a year’s absence and two prior Posts:

https://stevejonesgbh.com/2018/11/27/mid-november-camp-mcdowell-land-legacy-orientation/
https://stevejonesgbh.com/2019/01/08/mid-november-skies-at-camp-mcdowell/

On the recent December trip I focused on completing plans for conducting a comprehensive Land Legacy Story for McDowell. Published books and internal documents already chronicle the Human History of the Camp since its 1946 establishment. My volunteer project will develop and publish the corresponding Natural History for the Camp’s 1,138 acres. My purpose with this Post, in large part and in full disclosure, is to help me gather my thoughts for the full-blown data-gathering and story-drafting that I will undertake beginning in mid-January.

The McDowell Environmental Education Center Mission guides and informs this project: To connect people to their environment, teach respect for the Earth and its beings, and to promote a commitment to lifelong learning. I will prepare the Land Legacy Story to meet the objectives of and beyond the Environmental Education Center… for the Camp, Farm School, Folk School, and Conference Center. Environmental education and our relationship to our Earth home is critical to all Earth citizens and their obligation to be informed and responsible Earth stewards.

McDowell sits within the southern third of the 181,230-acre (283 square mile) Bankhead National Forest. The Forest Service focuses on longleaf pine (Pinus palustris) in that southern third. The Camp has longleaf (below), along with loblolly (Pinus taeda), Virginia (Pinus virginiana), and shortleaf pine (Pinus echinata) across the property. Among the pines, loblolly predominates. I’ll describe the species composition and forest types across the property, and discuss the relevant land use history for each parcel assembled to constitute the current mosaic.

All water bodies at McDowell, excepting the free-flowing springs, creeks, and stream, are man made, including Sloan Lake (below).

I can’t help but include some human reflections in the Land Legacy tale. I photographed this metal sign looking out through a window somewhere at McDowell. Judy and I adopted our comparable Bloom Where You Are Planted philosophy years ago, taking it along as we made 13 interstate moves over our nearly 48 years sharing our lives. The Camp is clearly growing where the Episcopalian Diocese planted it in 1946. Did it work because the founders selected the right spot… or are McDowell’s mission and purpose so powerful and timeless that the Camp would have flourished in almost any location in Alabama? I’ll explore that question with the Land Legacy Story.

Relic hardwoods link the human and natural histories at McDowell. I’ll attempt to discover and explain how these old specimens made their start and survived the decades, and speculate on their fate. I often observed, wouldn’t it have been nice if we had a series of photos showing every ten years since property acquisition how these special individuals have grown and changed? We cannot reach back in time to establish such permanent photo points, yet we can do it now.

Whether we are examining those stalwart hardwood sentinels or the young pine stand (below left), we can and should chronicle what lies ahead. Everything will change over time; nothing in Nature (or in human life) is static. The same holds true for the pond and its life.

The Camp began in 1946 when the Diocese acquired the first 160 acres from the Summers family. The total Camp now comprises some 25 individual parcels, the most recent 40 acres purchased in 2009. The sign below denotes an internal line separating parcels within the Camp. I intend to examine the individual units for evidence of differential land use history and how that might be expressed by the present forest.

Tree Form Oddities

And then there are the curiosities of tree form oddities. Some have their own stories to tell. This one one bears closer inspection! They are all part of the tale.

This oddity on a big leaf magnolia (Magnolia grandiflora) resembles an elephant seal. I view tree form oddities as opportunities for explanation, story telling, and fun in environmental education. I want to identify all that I can; mark their location; and include them as permanent photo points. I will implore Camp staff to continue adding to the inventory of on-site oddities and curiosities.

I never tire of seeing sourwood (Oxydendrum arboreum) with its propensity to defy gravity… to grow any way but vertically. They twist and turn, navigating their chosen course to find sufficient light to thrive in the canopy mid-story. Let the oak, pine, and poplars battle for for the upper canopy. Sourwood is content doing things its own way, getting what sunlight it needs, a sylvan minimalist if you will. Sourwood epitomizes the Rolling Stones philosophy: You Can’t Always Get What You Want… But You Just Might Get What You Need! Mid-story oaks, pines, and poplars suffer a shortened life; sourwood thrives.

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:

Every wildland property has a story to tell… rich elements at the intersection of human and natural history
Memorializing the story amplifies the strength of the property’s lessons for Nature-Inspired Life and Living
Camp McDowell, and other such institutions, can change the world by effectively promoting informed and responsible Earth stewardship

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

Note: All blog post images created & photographed by Stephen B. Jones unless otherwise noted. Please circulate images with photo credit: “©2020 Steve Jones, Great Blue Heron LLC. All Rights Reserved.”

Another Note: If you came to this post via a Facebook posting or by an another route, please sign up now (no cost… no obligation) to receive my Blog Post email alerts: https://stevejonesgbh.com/contact/

And a Third: I am available for Nature-Inspired Speaking, Writing, and Consulting — contact me at steve.jones.0524@gmail.com

Reminder of my Personal and Professional Purpose, Passion, and Cause

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

I like to imagine that representative samples of my books appreciate accompanying me into the woods. So far, none has complained nor groaned!

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.

A Sacred Natural Setting at Cullman, Alabama’s Ave Maria Grotto

January 29, 2020/in Exemplars in Applying Nature's Wisdom and Inspiration, Memorials, Spirituality in Nature /by Steve Jones

December 27, 2019 Judy and I visited Ave Maria Grotto, St. Bernard Abbey, Cullman, Alabama, just 55 miles from where we live. The self-guided tour brochure describes this attraction: The Ave Maria Grotto is located on the grounds of St. Bernard Abbey, the only Benedictine monastery of men in the State of Alabama. The Abbey was founded in 1891. The Grotto consists of a landscaped hillside of 125 small stone and cement structures, the handiwork of the creative genius, Brother Joseph Zoetle, O.S.B., a monk of the Abbey for almost 70 years.

My purpose is not to describe the Grotto, cover its history, or walk you through the exhibits. All of that is available online at: http://www.avemariagrotto.com/

Instead, I will focus on the interplay of Spirit and Nature. As we toured the Grotto, I pondered the extent to which the magnificent natural setting enhanced the spiritual essence of the place. I will address that intersection of Nature and Spirit… the sacred connection I felt with Nature as I enjoyed, contemplated, and felt lift from the Grotto. The Grotto monument below welcomes visitors. Imagine the monument without its forest backdrop of loblolly pines (Pinus taeda) reaching 80+ feet toward the heavens. They would have been seedlings at best when Brother Joseph began his labors in 1912, more than a century ago.

Below are two views of the actual Grotto, the created cave-like structure that is the central element of Brother Joseph’s remarkable work. Magnificent in and of itself, the Grotto becomes part of something larger when the photo point recedes, allowing the forest setting to emerge, which through my personal and professional lens magnifies the spiritual essence. Another powerful element of context is that Brother Joseph chose the Abbey’s abandoned quarry as the site for his life’s work. The Grotto and its forest grew in the ruins of a depleted stone quarry. So much about the Grotto and its story serves to inspire and humble.

The forest setting enriches every built feature. I wondered whether Brother Joseph even imagined the future forest when he placed his first miniature replica, a replica of some internationally significant religious building. How fully had the forest developed when Brother Joseph died in 1961, nearly 60 years ago? Like so many places I’ve visited in Alabama, regionally, nationally, and even internationally, the Grotto tells a story of intimately interconnected Human and Natural History.

Resonance with Victoria’s Butchart Gardens

One of my favorite Earth-places I’ve had the pleasure to visit is The Butchart Gardens in Victoria, British Columbia. Butchart, too, is a former quarry, transformed through the wisdom, knowledge, dream, and hard work by a truly visionary soul. From the Butchart website: With a former quarry as a canvas, Jennie Butchart envisioned transforming this space into a beautiful garden haven, overflowing with lush greens and colourful blooms. The result of her vision is The Gardens, which are still family run to this day. Ironically, the quarry ceased operations in 1912. Jennie, like Brother Joseph, began her work that same year. Was there some resonance in their work? Both places today are spiritual to me — The Grotto strongly religious; Butchart secularly magnificent. Both inspire and humble! I felt a scared connection to both.

The yellow poplar (Liriodendron tulipifera, below left) towers over the replicas, amplifying the sense of forest grandeur. Brother Joseph worked in full sunlight — no forest shade to shelter him from summer’s swelter. Hard to see the gentle forest scene (below right) as an abandoned quarry.

Sacred Connections

Large loblolly pines accent the displays (below). The one below right may actually touch the lower levels of heaven!

Judy and I found magic in this loblolly’s algae-encrusted bark furrows. Life abounds throughout the Grotto. I would have enjoyed the short hike even without the replicas! The Grotto celebrates many centuries of spiritual life and human history. Those stories, through my own forestry and applied ecology filters, are powerfully elevated by the forest setting. I remind you, as does the Grotto, that we are not separate from Nature but are inextricably linked with the natural world. If the power of Brother Joseph’s creation is 100 and the natural setting power is 100, the combination is 1,000, an order of magnitude greater than either one alone.

The Abbey cemetery and its chapel sit adjacent to the Grotto. Again, the surrounding forest adds incalculably to the sacred impact. I suppose the forest inescapably shapes my perception. I am addicted to Nature as a sacred force. I cannot (or will not) see the cemetery in isolation, separate from its forest. The chapel is a place of simple beauty, as is the view south toward the Grotto (below right).

This ancient oak stands along the eastern edge of the cemetery. It likely watched Brother Joseph as he labored within and beside the quarry… not from its present grand stature but as a smaller and younger version of itself.

I’ll close with another look at the lofty loblolly giants. I gaze skyward with an absolute sense of humility and inspiration. Nature, accented by the special works of man, reminds me of my own fallibility and insignificance. And deepens my gratitude for this pale blue orb on which we are blessed to live. And such perspective strengthens my resolve to spread the message and encourage informed and responsible Earth stewardship.

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; with co-author 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 three succinct truths I draw from this Blog Post:

Nature invites (perhaps implores) sacred connections… human to Land and Life
Add the dimension of secular or religious spirituality… and the bond is unbreakable, permanent, and irrevocable
The bond begins with special places and extends to our essential relationship with Earth, from us as individuals to all of humanity

Inhale and absorb Nature’s elixir. May Nature Humble, Inspire and Reward you!

Note: All blog post images created & photographed by Stephen B. Jones unless otherwise noted. Please circulate images with photo credit: “©2020 Steve Jones, Great Blue Heron LLC. All Rights Reserved.”

Another Note: If you came to this post via a Facebook posting or by an another route, please sign up now (no cost… no obligation) to receive my Blog Post email alerts: https://stevejonesgbh.com/contact/

And a Third: I am available for Nature-Inspired Speaking, Writing, and Consulting — contact me at steve.jones.0524@gmail.com

Reminder of my Personal and Professional Purpose, Passion, and Cause

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 other lives… sow some seeds for the future
I find my own sacred connections to Nature
My Earth-Bond is unbreakable, permanent, and irrevocable

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.

Revisiting Alabama’s 4-H Center After 20 Years

January 7, 2020/in AL 4-H Center, Exemplars in Applying Nature's Wisdom and Inspiration /by Steve Jones

An AL Youth Development and Environmental Education Treasure

As ACES (Alabama Cooperative Extension System) Director (1996-2001) I held broad responsibility for Cooperative Extension statewide across all 67 Alabama counties and at both Alabama A&M and Auburn universities. We also conducted education and outreach operations at several regional Extension Centers and the C. Beatty Hannah Horticultural Center at the Birmingham Botanical Gardens. I believe my favorite (I can admit it now after leaving ACES 19 years ago) of all locations and facilities was the Alabama 4-H Center near Columbiana, along the Coosa River’s Lay Lake. Since it began operations, more than 400,000 Alabama youth have spent time there. Few forget it; everyone is changed by the experience.

I returned to the Center in November for the first time since departing for NC State University (and then serving as CEO at four subsequent universities in Alaska, Ohio, New Hampshire, and West Virginia). Over my five ACES years I visited the Center scores of times. Centrally located statewide, the Center served as an ideal meeting location for staff, supporters, and stakeholders. Many nights found me staying at the lodge. What a thrill to return. No longer able to enjoy a morning three-mile run to the state highway (knees frown on the high-impact running notion (and motion)), I awoke before dawn to walk the property and breathe the fall air deeply as the sky slowly brightened.

I’ve found across the years that I exchange some vital essence with the special places in Nature I’ve come to know. Perhaps it’s a sacred connection. I felt the elixir warming my soul as I drove to the entrance and entered the property upon arrival the first afternoon. I suppose the welcome signage had been replaced or at least refreshed over the Earth’s 19 subsequent solar orbits… and the six interstate moves I had made since 2001.

Terrell Guthrie had retired from his Center Director post during my tenure. Nice to see the Lodge now bearing his name!

The sun sets early in mid-November, casting its glow on the Center core. Light is a principal section in Nature’s symphony of beauty, magic, wonder, and awe. Her music swells and flows with the interplay of unceasing flux… dawn to dusk, season to season, sun to storm, calm to fury.

Dr. Gaines Smith served as ACES Assistant Director during my tenure… and replaced me when I left for North Carolina. A double pleasure for me to see the new Environmental Science Education Building… and that it bears Gaines’ name! The facility is first-class, a wonderful addition to the Center. The back deck (below right) reaches to the forest, a perfect setting. That’s Seth Tuttle, 4-H Foundation Development Officer (far right), Katelyn Diercks, Outreach Program Coordinator (center), and Jon Harrison, Onsite Program Coordinator (left). I believe I can discern a lot about the quality of a field-based education program by its staff. I had met Seth previously — the Foundation is in good hands. Katelyn and Jon evidence the high quality, deep passion, and total commitment to environmental education at the Center. I intend to visit again when they are in action with youth on-site.

Even if I had not seen the Center first-hand, the informational materials would have seduced me.

I’m a sucker for boardwalks, decks, and elevated walkways. Watch my delight as you lift me into the forest canopy! This walkway and deck reach into the forest behind the Gaines Smith Building. I wanted a bench and a glass of nice Scotch, and perhaps an hour or two to contemplate my semi-retirement mission dedicated to writing and speaking to educate, inspire, and enable readers and listeners to understand, appreciate, and enjoy Nature… and accept and practice Earth Stewardship. When I visited the Center 20 years ago, I carried the burden (and blessing) of leading a $50 million informal education network (ACES) with staff at more than 70 locations across Alabama. It is only now that I have the luxury of dedicated thinking, contemplation, philosophizing, relaxing, and drifting in the mists of Nature-Inspired Life and Living at a place like the 4-H Center. I see engaging in some manner with enterprises such as this as one vehicle for furthering my mission.

Without so much dreamy reflecting, I will note the Center’s raptor program, an essential complement to environmental education programming at the Center. I liked the “What is your wingspan?” board (below right). I’ve written often in these Posts about the great blue heron’s symbolic role in my life and its sacred connection to my deceased Dad. My wingspan overlaps to the inch with the great blue heron’s, hidden behind my own spread wings. Over the years I’ve embraced that little occurs in life that owes to coincidence. Instead, I’ve seen so much that is too perfect to attribute to blind coincidence. As a consequence, I believe that many critical junctures of my life…decisions, timing, occurrences, alignments…are best described as correspondence…divine providence. Divine providence that my wingspan is the same as a great blue heron? Well, perhaps it’s something more subtle. A good sign… a favorable harmony of dimension. I did get a thrill to see the exact overlap.

I draw great pleasure from my Nature musings. The 4-H Center seems to have evolved these past 19 years in a manner that had I stayed as ACES Director I would have embraced, encouraged, and in some small part enabled. Did I leave behind some essence…a seed…that germinated and rooted with my departure? Or was I drawn to the Center then because that is the future and the elixir I sensed was already there? The result, however one terms its derivation, does in fact appear to be an act of divine providence.

Lay Lake on Coosa River

No, the image below left is not a framed painting. It is instead the view from the Lodge across the meadow to the bordering forest and Lay Lake. Katelyn and John offer foreground for the Lake view at the Center boat landing (below right).

I really see no necessity for words describing the two photos below. Well, I can’t resist! The sky, water, trees, and curvilinear shoreline combine to mesmerize (below left). And imagine turning a busload of fifth-graders loose on the canoes in early autumn.

I could offer some melancholy reflections on how wonderful to be eleven years old again, discharging with classmates from the bus. Nostalgia does somewhat fuel these musings, yet perhaps far more powerful and cogent is my hope that long after my final visit to the Center, sixth-graders from many generations hence will be paddling, hiking, and learning along the shores of Lay Lake!

You can help assure that future. Seth is leading a fundraising campaign to modernize and expand kitchen and dining facilities at the Center. To see for yourself the plans for the 4-H Center visit: www.thecenterofitall.org

Video of the 4-H Center and Campaign: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KgNXb2FxhhU&feature=youtu.be

Online donation: https://app.mobilecause.com/form/EWoMHA?vid=3szqy

Text donation: Text AL4H to 41444

If you’d like to visit or tour the 4-H Center or if you have any questions about the campaign itself, feel free to reach out to Seth Tuttle, sethtuttle@auburn.edu or cell/text 334-750-7087

The Center’s Forests

The Center’s original forests long ago fell to timber producers or perhaps land-clearing for agriculture. The present second- or third-growth cover suggests deep forest to the unacquainted. One can almost imagine that this forest has persisted for the ages. I snapped both photographs below from the elevated walkway. I liked the persistent maroon sweet gum (Liquidambar styraciflua) leaf.

One more photo from the sky walk (below left). In the forest below, I pondered tree spacing across these mixed forests. Why did the loblolly pine (Pinus taeda, the larger tree to the right) and sourwood (Oxydendrum arboreum) take root within a foot of each other? How did one not shade-out the other over their 50 years of adjacent growth? The answer may be quite simple as I’ll explain with the following two photos.

Why did they germinate side by side? My very simple answer — chance. The seeds fell and found purchase. And why didn’t one overpower (competing for available light) the other? Loblolly demands full sun to thrive, grow vertically, and rise into the upper canopy. Sourwood (see the two examples below) is not nearly so demanding. It seldom finds the upper canopy, thriving mostly as an intermediate in the shade of dominant and co-dominant trees. And, as I’ve noted often, it defies gravity… bending and searching to secure a place in the canopy that satisfies whatever demands only it seems to know. So, no big deal to germinate beside a sun-demanding loblolly. Rather than try to muscle (and lose to the faster growing loblolly) vertically for sunlight, the sourwood comfortably takes an alternative course, twisting to find a suitable mid-canopy space above. A loblolly exercises a growth pattern termed negative geotropism — at 180 degrees to the pull of gravity. Sourwood snubs gravity, following a pattern termed positive phototropism, securing light that it can find within the intermediate canopy. I admire sourwood’s independence and free form.

Loblolly is not the only pine at the Center. This longleaf pine (Pinus palustris) fiercely strives for verticality!

Exciting Possibilities!

As I drove east, in-bound toward the Center entrance, I noted a For Sale sign for some 300+ acres of forestland adjoining the Center along its western flank. The land is owned by an Alabama company dedicated to “sustainable management, conservation and protection of our natural resources. We are committed to our core values of ensuring the safety and well-being of our employees, providing the highest quality products and services for our customers, and developing long-lasting relationships in the communities where we live and work.” What if that company were willing to reserve that adjoining acreage to create an Earth Stewardship and Forest Sustainability Exploration and Demonstration Trail System at the Alabama 4-H Center. Okay, that’s a dream spurred from a single return visit to the Center. I no longer have a professional stake in the Center’s future. However, I feel a powerful force compelling me to do all I can to assure that both my mission and the Center’s surge into the future. I can’t resist at least contemplating how the Center and this company might partner to forge a centuries-lasting legacy.

Much of the acreage supports cut-over forestland planted with longleaf. In my professional forestry vernacular, cut-over is not pejorative. The vast bulk of New England, Lakes States, mid-Atlantic, and southeastern US forests are previously cut-over! This company is an exemplar of informed and responsible forest stewardship. I see significant advantage in the 4-H life of the property, were it to be dedicated to such application, beginning at a new forest condition. Imagine this forest 30 years hence, with its network of forest roads providing educational access to nearly a one-half square mile parcel of rolling forest. My enthusiasm for this visionary possibility is hard to suppress! Well, after five decades of practicing forestry and applied ecology, I cannot resist what I call Mighty Oak Dreams. I can’t help but see the 4-H Center reaching for the stars and strengthening its environmental education mission deep into the future, partnering with a company with an extraordinarily deep land ethic. The taller trees (below left) mark the boundary of the 4-H Center.

An AL Youth Development and Environmental Education Gemstone

The Center is a gemstone… it has been for years. It will be for decades…and longer…ahead. I’m pleased to revisit… and offer ideas for enhancing its future in service to Alabama youth. I’ve had many ideas over my career that never saw the light of day. Yet, I’ve had a few that found traction. And I believe they made a difference. My idea of an Earth Stewardship and Forest Sustainability Exploration and Demonstration Trail System at the Alabama 4-H Center may die a slow death, or even a rapid one. However, they’re not making anymore land here in Alabama. Or, for that matter, anywhere else either. I don’t want to come back to see a Sold sign and then red pin-flags marking lots and subdivision survey stakes. There’s only this one chance to make the 4-H Center future right.

Again, the Alabama 4-H Center is an Alabama youth development and environmental education gemstone. No matter what happens, it will remain a special place. Yet it can be more. Three hundred-plus acres more! Now is not the time to be timid. Mighty Oak Dreams see fruition only with applied wisdom, knowledge, and hard work.

I’ll end with an excerpt from my first book, Nature Based Leadership: Mid-twentieth century Pulitzer Prize winning author and playwright, Louis Bromfield bought an old, worn out farm in the US Midwest in 1938. He devoted his life to rehabilitating the land on Malabar Farm, the name he gave to his property. He said, in 1945: “The adventure at Malabar is by no means finished…The land came to us out of eternity and when the youngest of us associated with it dies, it will still be here. The best we can hope to do is to leave the mark of our fleeting existence upon it, to die knowing that we have changed a small corner of the earth for the better by wisdom, knowledge, and hard work.” What do we want to leave for tomorrow adjacent to the 4-H Center? A housing development or a tremendous legacy for the youth of tomorrow.

As I near the beginning of my eighth decade here on planet Earth, I want to make sure my fleeting existence has changed some small corner of this pale blue orb for the better.

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:

Sometimes our resonance with one of Nature’s special places is amplified by extended absence
Sacred connections strengthen our resolve to change some small corner of our world for the better
We should all strive to fulfill some Nature legacy dream for a future that will certainly outlive us

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

Note: All blog post images created & photographed by Stephen B. Jones unless otherwise noted. Please circulate images with photo credit: “©2020 Steve Jones, Great Blue Heron LLC. All Rights Reserved.”

Another Note: If you came to this post via a Facebook posting or by an another route, please sign up now (no cost… no obligation) to receive my Blog Post email alerts: https://stevejonesgbh.com/contact/

And a Third: I am available for Nature-Inspired Speaking, Writing, and Consulting — contact me at steve.jones.0524@gmail.com

Reminder of my Personal and Professional Purpose, Passion, and Cause

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 write my books, issue my Posts, and speak before various audiences to educate, inspire, and enable readers and listeners to understand, appreciate, and enjoy Nature…and accept and practice Earth Stewardship, and Earth Citizenship!

A Persistent and Tireless Call for Informed and Responsible Earth Stewardship

All three of my books (Nature Based Leadership; Nature-Inspired Learning and Leading; and co-authored with Dr. Jennifer Wilhoit, Weaned Seals and Snowy Summits) present compilations of my own (and Dr. Wilhoit’s) rich experiences in 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.