I am pleased to add the 40th of my GBH Brief-Form Posts (Less than five minutes to read!) to my website. I get wordy with my routine Posts. I don’t want my enthusiasm for thoroughness and detail to discourage readers. So, I will publish these brief Posts regularly.
Active Decay and Poofing Puffballs
Alabama State Park Northwest District Naturalist Amber Coger and I hiked the Wells Memorial Trail at Monte Sano State Park on December 4, 2024. We found multiple woodland delights: massive grapevines, active decay (and incredible mature puffball mushrooms), and a landscape of sinks, pits, mounds, hummocks, and hollows. The aggregate would have overwhelmed a single Great Blue Heron photo essay. Instead, I offer three distinct Brief-Form essays, this one focusing on active decay and fanciful poofing puffballs.
I photographed this image several year ago. It’s the best photo representation of the magnificent Wells Memorial Forest.
This massive hickory tree toppled across the Wells Trail during the late summer of 2019, five years before my December 4, 2024 venture. I snapped the photo at left on November 16, 2019, before crews cleared a trunk section to provide passage. The April 22, 2020, view is from the stump side of the downed tree taken at the cleared trail. The tree shows no sign of decay; its wood is solid; the bark is intact; the root ball still holds its soil mass.
By December 2024, the root ball had begun to subside as the roots internal to it are decaying; the process of transforming the root ball to a mound or hummock is underway. The bark is sloughing from the trunk. The cut end of the overturned stump is fraying from decay.
I recorded this 58-video depicting the obvious state of decay:
I’ve watched time mark the decay process season after season. I noticed few indications of decay during the first summer. I witnessed an extraordinary blossom of oyster mushrooms in the second…bushel basketsful if foraging were allowed on our state parks. The oysters were few and far between the third year. Since then non edible leathery Trametes and other decomposers have prevailed. Most of the bark no longer remains. The surface sapwood is punky. Ashes to ashes; dust to dust.
Over the past several years of drafting these photo essays I’ve strived to hone my skills at estimating the passage of time since a live tree fell based on degree of decay. I am surprised by the rapid pace of decomposition for this grand old hickory. Abundant rainfall, mild climate, and favorable understory moisture environment encourage rapid decay.
Poofing Puffballs
We discovered another hickory, this one on the ground for less than a year. Mature biege puffball mushrooms sprouted from bark fissures. I believe their mycelia are growing surficially on the bark, and not penetrating into the wood. Other deeper decay fungi will colonize to begin the greater task of wood consumption.
I am a lifelong sucker for poofing mature puffballs, as the 32-second video attests:
After our puffball volcano venture, I recalled that in 2009, I suffered a severe case of Hispoplasmosis, a fungal infection common to the Miami River Valley where we lived during that period. I believe our common puffballs are innocent!
Who could resist the urge to puff these magic mushroom dragons!
Fungi are indeed fun in our incredible north Alabama woodlands. We covered enough ground that I considered our trek a good test of my August knee replacement recovery. However, we enjoyed a pace that allowed full exploration and discovery.
Closing
I accept the challenge of distilling these Brief-Form Posts into a single distinct reflection, a task far more elusive than assembling a dozen pithy statements. A single trek along a forested trail discloses only a brief moment in time, obscuring the decades prior and the future ahead, isolating us from the scope and scale of the grand forest cycle of life. Henry David Thoreau captured the sentiment I felt as we explored the Wonder of decay and renewal:
Not until we are lost do we begin to understand ourselves.
Nature’s special treats await our discovery, our understanding, and our interpretation!
https://stevejonesgbh.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/12/IMG_5647.jpg-12.4.24-Wells-Mem-Trail-Puffballs-on-Hickory.webp20161512Steve Joneshttp://stevejonesgbh.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/01/gbhweblogo.pngSteve Jones2025-01-15 15:48:552025-01-15 15:48:55Brief-Form Post #40: Active Decay in Monte Sano State Park Wells Memorial Forest
I often wander forest trails alone, content to saunter leisurely absorbing the sights, sounds, and feel of Nature. I relished having friends to share a November 7, 2024 hike with fellow retired forester Chris Stuhlinger, Tom Cosby, fellow former Alabama State Parks Foundation board member, and Dennis McMillian, an old friend from Fairbanks, Alaska now retired to his native Birmingham, AL. We explored the 2.8 mile Lunker Lake Trail at Oak Mountain State Park in Pelham, AL.
Dennis, Chris, and Tom left to right below left. That’s me in the vest below right. I’m ten weeks beyond my August 20, 2024, total right knee replacement. I maintained a pace that kept me within sight of the others! Lunker Lake and the trail stretch to the northeast behind us.
Three years earlier an EF-1 tornado ripped along the lake’s northwest shore.
Dennis and Tom grew up together and shared old stories with Chris and me as we walked. I believe many (some) of them were true! We paused at a tremensous upturned root ball, testament to the ferocity of the storm that spun off the tornado.
I am a student of tree form and bark patterns. Chris and I concluded that this hawthorne sported a particularly unusual and attractive bark, a design reminding both of us of Chinese elm. We wondered whether it is unique enough to propogate vegetatively as ornamental stock.
The old commercial industry forester within me never tires of seeing a fat loblolly pine with three clear 16-foot logs.
The trail leg leading us back to the parking lot ran along an old embedded farm road, entrenched through repeated dragging (scraping) to remove mud to three feet below the original ground level. Microtopography tells the story of past use to the inquiring eye.
Coral tooth fungus mushroom brightened our passage, clinging ornately to a dead branch trailside. This tasty edible enticed the forager in me, but I resisted the temptation given its presence along a well traveled route.
The open hardwood stand welcoed the early afternoon sun and the trekkers passing beneath. It would have been a glorious time and place to lean against a tall oak reflecting on the pleasure delivered by healing knees and a day of retirement releasing me from faculty issues, budget difficulties, enrollemt shortfalls, and miscellaneous nuiscances associated with leading a university. I labored with love over a rewarding career in higher education administration, yet I am enriched by the freedom of time without pressures, restrictions, and deadlines.
Henry David Thoreau captured the essence I felt:
Our life is frittered away by detail… simplify, simplify.
Our path returned us to Lunker Lake, reopening our vista to placid waters and a cerulean sky adorned with scattered cumulus.
When I retired from my fourth university presidency, I worried about how I would handle retirement. Would I find challenge and reward. Would I stay busy in useful pursuits. I admit that shifting gears required adjustment. Yes, I missed the urgency, high-level engagement, and even the sense of imporatance and attention associated with being in charge. However, I adapted…learning in time to relish the freedom and luxury to focus on what is most important to me and the mission I have embraced:
Employ writing and speaking to educate, inspire, and enable readers and listeners to understand, appreciate, and enjoy Nature… and accept and practice Earth Stewardship.
Once again, I turn to Thoreau:
As you simplify your life, the laws of the universe will be simpler; solitude will not be solitude, poverty will not be poverty, nor weakness weakness.
Alabama State Parks Foundation
I’ll remind you that although 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, any positions or opinions expressed in these Posts are mine alone and do not in any manner represent the Foundation or its Board.
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:
As you simplify your life, the laws of the universe will be simpler; solitude will not be solitude, poverty will not be poverty, nor weakness weakness. (Henry David Thoreau)
Our life is frittered away by detail… simplify, simplify. (Thoreau)
In retirement I am enriched by the freedom of time without pressures, restrictions, and deadlines. (Steve Jones)
Inhale and absorb Nature’s elixir. May Nature Inspire, Inform, and Reward you!
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 Four Books
I wrote my books Nature Based Leadership (2016), Nature-Inspired Learning and Leading (2017), Weaned Seals and Snowy Summits: Stories of Passion for Place and Everyday Nature (2019; co-authored with Dr. Jennifer Wilhoit), and Dutton Land & Cattle: A Land Legacy Story (2023) to encourage all citizens to recognize and appreciate that every lesson for living, learning, serving, and leading is either written indelibly in or is powerfully inspired by Nature. All four of my books present compilations of personal experiences expressing my deep passion for Nature. All four books offer observations and reflections on my relationship with the natural world… and the broader implications for society. Order any from your local indie bookstore, or find them on IndieBound or other online sources such as Amazon and LifeRich.
I began writing books and Posts for several reasons:
I love hiking and exploring Nature
I see images I want to (and do) capture with my trusty iPhone camera
I enjoy explaining those images — an educator at heart
I don’t play golf!
I do love writing — it’s the hobby I never needed when my career consumed me
Judy suggested my writing is in large measure my legacy to our two kids, our five grandkids, and all the unborn generations beyond
And finally, perhaps my books and Blogs could reach beyond family and touch a few other lives… sow some seeds for the future
https://stevejonesgbh.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/11/IMG_5312.jpg-11.07.24-Lunker-Trail-OMSP-Dennis-Near-End-of-Clockwise-Loop.jpg20161512Steve Joneshttp://stevejonesgbh.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/01/gbhweblogo.pngSteve Jones2025-01-09 13:13:162025-01-09 17:06:42A First Circuit of the Lunker Lake Trail at Oak Mountain State Park!
On November 1, 2024, 72 days since my total right knee replacement surgery, I sauntered within Huntsville’s Goldsmith-Schiffman Wildlife Sanctuary with dear friends Marian Moore Lewis, Chris Stuhlinger, Bill and Becky Heslip, and Judy (my bride of 52 years)! I felt the lift of a new month, the freshness of an early fall day, and the joy of knowing that both knees (left replacement in January 2024) are far better than in late 2023. My recovery epitomizes the power of Nature-Buoyed Aging and Healing!
Where do I begin with my 26th Great Blue Heron photo essay dedicated to the Goldsmith-Schiffman Wildlife Sanctuary? I skimmed the list of the first 25 topics and foci. I found no reason for concern about repeating prior themes, photos, observations, and reflections. Nothing in Nature is static. Every parcel of the 400-acre sanctuary is unique. Change is constant across the hours of a day, the days of a week, the weeks of a month, the months, the seasons, the years…the decades…the centuries. Were I to live the years of Methuselah, I might publish a thousand GSWS photo essays without repetition.
Let’s start at the westside entrance on Taylor Road. The observation shelter 100 feet from the parking lot looks over Hidden Spring, where mountain water lifts from the ground, fills Hidden Spring Creek, flows into Jobala Pond, and then empties into the Flint River bordering the sanctuary.
Here’s my 60-second video from above Hidden Spring:
The rain-moistened, lichen-coated water oak trunk stands near the shelter. Even an overnight autumn rain transforms a single tree trunk, highlighting its lichen tint, which will once again dry during the day. The light will shift from dull morning stratus to peaks of bright sunshine. I could have stationed myself at the prior evening’s gloaming near this lone oak. I recorded 0.77″ of rain overnight. The stem at dusk was dry and remained unaffected by the rain until stemflow whetted it before dawn. Occasional photographs would have chronicled the process. Daylight came in form of easing rain, lots of canopy dripping, and wispy fog under thick stratus. Nothing in Nature is static; every moment has a story to tell. The world is like that, whether a natural tale or a human narrative.
The deck faces north into the wetland forest canopy 40 feet above the spring surface. Dripping, limited birdsong, lingering overcast and disruptive road noise gave little identity to the time of day (1:00 PM). Had I been beamed into the moment, all signals would have directed me mid-morning.
As we entered the Sanctuary, the persistent stratus lifted, the day brightened, and we accepted the reality that the day had moved beyond noon. Observations and reflections, both literal and philosophical, stimulate musings. Seventy-five years ago, Jobala Pond was a raw borrow pit where road engineers had mined gravel, sand, and clay for nearby road constructiion. Archival photos show a barren shoreline, a scar upon the land. Nature’s healing powers are nearly without limit. During my lifetime, Mount Saint Helens “destroyed” hundreds of square miles of blasted forest; today the acreage is green with vibrant young forest. Savage 2016 wildefires blackened 70,285 acres in Yellowsone National Park. When I toured the park just five years later, burned forests stood as blackened skeletons underlain by green carpets of new growth. John Muir aptly observed:
Earth has no sorrow that earth cannot heal.
Nature knows disturbance, for disturbance is the way of life and the architect of adaptation and evolution. And so it is with Jobala Pond, now a naturalized stream/pond ecosystem.
Here is the brief video I recorded along Hidden Spring Creek as it entered Jobala Pond.
Beavers are primary influencers of stream flow, function, and structure. Their 18-inch-high dam diagonally crosses the stream at left. A bark-stripped beaver-chew stem segment floats streamside at right.
A red swamp crayfish strenguously demanded some kind of passage toll, posing defensively as we approached. The crawdad, like the beaver, has no idea his habitat was once a destroyed landscape, transformed from an ugly worthless borrow pit to a vibrantly functioning natural ecosystem.
In the prime of my outdoor adventure life (say the 1980s), I would have scoffed at the notion of six (four in the photo and two others of us) ancient grandparents wandering and wondering in emerging wildness, once ignominously carved from pre-Columbian wilderness. Our shared vision is the guarantee of re-emergent wilderness in decades hence. My hope is that these photo essays will serve one small step toward ensuring that eventuality. Ninety years ago Louis Bromfield said of his efforts to restore his beloved Ohio Malabar Farm:
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 this earth for the better by wisdom, knowledge and hard work.
As we reached the point where the creek broadens to Jobala Pond, the thick stratus began to break.
The serpentine water oak branch extending over the pond reflects perfectly on the still water.
The old iron gate adds a touch of nostalgia, harkening back to decades of agricultural production combatting seasonally saturated soils, periodic Flint River flooding, and marauding deer, raccoons, and other crop-consuming critters.
Roundleaf greenbrier produced a bumper crop of deep blue berries.
Similar in habit and appearance to greenbrier, Carolina snailseed (also known as Carolina moonseed and corbead) is a deciduous, woody vine that climbs with thin twining stems or scrambles along the ground, and primarily occurs in rocky open woods, wood margins, glades, fence rows, roadsides and stream/pond margin. Attractive features are its foliage and its autumn red berries!
Before departing the sanctuary, we drove to the east entrance.
To The Sanctuary’s East Side as Sunset Nears
The riparian forest comprises diverse species, straight boles, and stems reaching 100 feet. The Flint River floods much of the forest at least several times annually. Once farmed 70-80 years ago, the mixed forest regenerated naturally.
A stemflow-wetted beach trunk presented a parting lichen-painted visual gift.
Wildness is returning to the several hundred acre sanctuary. Preserved in perpetuity, wildness will transition in decades to an old growth forest condition. I won’t see that long-term result, yet I can take satisfaction knowing the process is underway.
Thoughts and Reflections
I offer these observations:
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 this earth for the better by wisdom, knowledge and hard work. (Louis Bromfield)
Nothing in Nature is static; every moment has a story to tell. The world is like that, whether a natural tale or a human narrative.
Nature knows disturbance, for disturbance is the way of life and the architect of adaptation and evolution.
Inhale and absorb Nature’s elixir. May Nature Inspire, Inform, and Reward you!
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 Four Books
I wrote my books Nature Based Leadership (2016), Nature-Inspired Learning and Leading (2017), Weaned Seals and Snowy Summits: Stories of Passion for Place and Everyday Nature (2019; co-authored with Dr. Jennifer Wilhoit), and Dutton Land & Cattle: A Land Legacy Story (2023) to encourage all citizens to recognize and appreciate that every lesson for living, learning, serving, and leading is either written indelibly in or is powerfully inspired by Nature. All four of my books present compilations of personal experiences expressing my deep passion for Nature. All four books offer observations and reflections on my relationship with the natural world… and the broader implications for society. Order any from your local indie bookstore, or find them on IndieBound or other online sources such as Amazon and LifeRich.
I began writing books and Posts for several reasons:
I love hiking and exploring Nature
I see images I want to (and do) capture with my trusty iPhone camera
I enjoy explaining those images — an educator at heart
I don’t play golf!
I do love writing — it’s the hobby I never needed when my career consumed me
Judy suggested my writing is in large measure my legacy to our two kids, our five grandkids, and all the unborn generations beyond
And finally, perhaps my books and Blogs could reach beyond family and touch a few other lives… sow some seeds for the future
On October 25, 2024, fellow retired forester Brian Bradley introduced me to the lower mile of the two-year-old Green Mountain Trail, beginning at the Astalot Trailhead. Cognizant of my August 20, 2024 right knee replacement surgery, Brian planned sauntering approximately a mile to what I’ve come to call the Halloween Forest. We had no reason to hurry, taking time to examine and enjoy every element of wonder, awe, inspiration, and beauty we encountered. This photo essay focuses on the lower trail’s mixed mesophytic forest.
The Land Trust of North Alabama’s 818-acre Green Mountain Nature Preserve is in South Huntsville. The Green Mountain Trail stretches 3.2 miles from Riverview Drive to Green Mountain Road. I am not yet ready for that distance. Perhaps by January 1!
The Astalot Trailhead, where Brian and I met, departs from a parking area at the Astalot Trailhead. The 0.06 mile Connector joined the NE-to-SW Green Mountain Trail. We ascended four prominent switchbacks to the Halloween Forest located approximately where the trail bends southward near the western property line. This Lower Slope photo essay covers the terrain and forest ending at the contour-denoted drainage feature that trends from SE-to-NW about midway from the upper switchback to the western property line.
Patches of flowering white snakeroot peppered the lower slope, a surprising artifact of the late summer season.
A Native Smoketree Teaser
A few smoketrees greeted us well before we approached the Halloween Forest, teasing me with what Brian indicated we would see in profusion once we reached into higher terrain. American smoketree (Cotinus obovatus) is a relatively rare species, native to the southern United States, growing in the rocky mountain soils from Kentucky, Tennessee, and northern Alabama westward to Oklahoma (NC State Cooperative Extension online bulletin).
Smoketree is neither common nor does it have commercial value, and its range does not overlap where I attended forestry school and took dendrology and tree identification. Hence, at the tender age of 73, this was, to my recollection, my first and only exposure to the native species. Other species of Cotinus, native to southern Europe and Asia, are commonly used for landscaping.
The native species stems are contorted, convoluted, gnarled, and fit my characterization as tree form oddities and curiosities.
The leaves were already senescing, their green fading and yellow deepening. I am eager to return when fresh leaves emerge and spring flowers earn the smoketree moniker.
The stems appear ancient, well-weathered, and tortured.
View this brief introdction via the small smoketree patch we encountered near the trailhead as a trailor of sorts, stirring your appetite for the full Halloween photo essay that will follow.
The Mixed Mesophytic Forest
White oak is a major component of the main canopy.
White oak, a long-lived species, will dominate the forest for many decades. Black locust, an early successional species, secured the cutover land 80-90 years ago, and is now departing, succumbing to old age and black cap polypore decay, its bracket mushrooms ubiquitous.
This tall dominant individual bears brackets 30+ feet up the bole.
Lying on the ground, this stem shows both the hollow created by a squirrel or woodpecker courtesy of the decay-softened wood. It will serve no more as a bird or squirrel den, yet for a few more years a snake, mouse, or chipmunk may lay claim.
We pondered the tooth marks on this trail sign. Did a squirrel seek to sharpen its teeth? Was there some special nutritional or mineral attractant in the finish? Once again, the answers to Nature’s puzzles and mysteries are not always apparent. Over 73 years of hiking, I have never seen similar sign defacement. Were I still in a New England forest, I would attribute blame to a porcupine, a forest critter reputed to eat anything!
Resistant to ground contact decay, black locust makes great fence posts. Oak and other upland species rot more quickly. This toppled black locust root mass and its still-barked trunk may lie intact for decades. I pictured (and secretly coveted) the root-arms without the trunk as a landscape sculpture, much like a shoreside driftwood.
This unusual pair caught my eye. A mockernut hickory, straight and true, stands to the left of what appears to be an ancient white oak…its stem bent and its bark aged and unusually flaked (I thought at first yellow buckeye).
The oak bears a barrel-sized burl 25 feet above the ground, another suggestion that this tree is a residual from a prior stand. I will examine more closely when I revisit.
Brian shared my curiosity as we passed along the trail.
I recorded this 59-second video of a large mockernut hickory. We wondered whether this, too, is a residual from another generation.
My knee would not allow me to assist Brian measuring diameter. Writing the narrative five weeks after our hike, I am confidant I am now able to scramble on the hillside!
This is one handsome tree. Brian masterfully measured its diameter…a horizontal D-tape placed at 4.5-feet above the stump on the high side! We estimated 36 inches; the measurement gave us just shy of 35! Not bad for a couple of old foresters!
I grew up in the heart of the pawpaw tree range, the central Appalachians, my home just 30 miles from Pawpaw, WV. Less common here in northern Alabama, the tree excites my homing instinct. We stopped to examine a pawpaw patch
Here is my 57-second video of the pawpaw patch we encountered:
Its long leaves deep in understory shade are distinctive.
A traditional Appalachian native fruit staple, the song inspired a popular children’s verse from a song that I remember from my youth:
Where, oh where is pretty little Susie?
Where, oh where is pretty little Susie?
Where, oh where is pretty little Susie?
Way down yonder in the paw-paw patch.
Pickin’ up paw-paws, puttin’ ’em in her pockets, Pickin’ up paw-paws, puttin’ ’em in her pockets, Pickin’ up paw-paws, puttin’ ’em in her pockets, Way down yonder in the paw-paw patch.
Come on, children, let’s go find her, Come on, children, let’s go find her, Come on, children, let’s go find her, Way down yonder in the paw-paw patch.
I have yet to find a pawpaw tree bearing fruit here in Alabama. During the three college-year-summers when I worked for the Maryland Forest Service in western Maryland I sampled pawpaw fruit, enjoying what I described as a texture and taste similar to bananas.
We discovered a native buckthorn, nicely striated, more distinctively than any I had previously observed. I’ll look for more when I return.
The mid-summer sun barely penetrates our dense forest canopies. By late October its rays brighten the forest floor and illuminates snags like the one below right. I welcome the changing season and its portent of an extened period of dormancy. What glory would there be in spring without the relative gloom of Nature’s December through February rest?
Experiencing the positive evidence of Nature’s indisputable Power of Healing amplified by dedicated phyisical therapy lifts my body, mind, heart, soul, and spirit.
Thoughts and Reflections
I offer these observations:
The answers to Nature’s puzzles and mysteries are not always apparent.
What glory would there be in spring without the relative gloom of Nature’s December through February rest?
Experiencing the positive evidence of Nature’s indisputable Power of Healing amplified by dedicated physical therapy lifts my body, mind, heart, soul, and spirit.
Inhale and absorb Nature’s elixir. May Nature Inspire, Inform, and Reward you!
Another Note: I am available for Nature-Inspired Speaking, Writing, and Consulting — contact me at steve.jones.0524@gmail.com
A 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 by untold orders of magnitude:
Mission: Employ writing and speaking to educate, inspire, and enable readers and listeners to understand, appreciate, and enjoy Nature… and accept and practice Earth Stewardship.
Vision:
People of all ages will pay greater attention to and engage more regularly with Nature… and will accept and practice informed and responsible Earth Stewardship.
They will see their relationship to our natural world with new eyes… and understand their Earth home more clearly.
Tagline/Motto: Steve (Great Blue Heron) encourages and seeks a better tomorrow through Nature-Inspired Living!
Steve’s Four Books
I wrote my books Nature Based Leadership (2016), Nature-Inspired Learning and Leading (2017), Weaned Seals and Snowy Summits: Stories of Passion for Place and Everyday Nature (2019; co-authored with Dr. Jennifer Wilhoit), and Dutton Land & Cattle: A Land Legacy Story (2023) to encourage all citizens to recognize and appreciate that every lesson for living, learning, serving, and leading is either written indelibly in or is powerfully inspired by Nature. All four of my books present compilations of personal experiences expressing my deep passion for Nature. All four books offer observations and reflections on my relationship with the natural world… and the broader implications for society. Order any from your local indie bookstore, or find them on IndieBound or other online sources such as Amazon and LifeRich.
I began writing books and Posts for several reasons:
I love hiking and exploring Nature
I see images I want to (and do) capture with my trusty iPhone camera
I enjoy explaining those images — an educator at heart
I don’t play golf!
I do love writing — it’s the hobby I never needed when my career consumed me
Judy suggested my writing is in large measure my legacy to our two kids, our five grandkids, and all the unborn generations beyond
And finally, perhaps my books and Blogs could reach beyond family and touch a few other lives… sow some seeds for the future
https://stevejonesgbh.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/10/IMG_5018.jpg-10.25.25-Green-Mtn-Trail-Hick-and-WO.jpg20161512Steve Joneshttp://stevejonesgbh.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/01/gbhweblogo.pngSteve Jones2024-12-27 09:43:312024-12-27 09:43:31Mixed Forest along the Lower Slope of Green Mountain Trail
I am pleased to add the 38th of my GBH Brief-Form Posts (Less than five minutes to read!) to my website. I get wordy with my routine Posts. I don’t want my enthusiasm for thoroughness and detail to discourage readers. So, I will publish these brief Posts regularly.
Grapevine Bonanza!
Alabama State Park Northwest District Naturalist Amber Coger and I hiked the Wells Memorial Trail at Monte Sano State Park on December 4, 2024. We found multiple woodland delights: massive grapevines, incredible mature puffball mushrooms, and a landscape of sinks, pits, mounds, hummocks, and hollows. The aggregate would have overwhelmed a single Great Blue Heron photo essay. Instead, I offer three distinct Brief-Form essays, this one focusing on the grapevine marvels.
The maturing second-growth hardwood forest on the upper slopes along the Sinks Trail shares its upper canopy with numerous large native grapevines. The grapevines do not climb the trees; instead, they grow vertically with the trees, clinging and hitching a ride as the tree extends vertically. Imagine grape seeds deposited by birds in the brushy bramble of a recently harvested forest among seedlings of black locust, Eastern red cedar, hickories, oaks, and others. The grapevines wrap their tendrils among the leafy leaders of the trees reaching year-by-year heavenward, ensuring their position high in the forest canopy 90 years hence.
I recorded this 53-second video at the first tangle we encountered on the middle-upper slope a quarter mile below the Bikers Pavillion.
This vine produced a peculiar curlicue, a mirthful expression 40 feet above the ground. The Sinks Trail is well used by hikers, joggers, and bikers, most too consumed by through-passing to notice, much less pay attention to, the wonders around and above them. As Thoreau observed, and I paraphrase, I have no time to be in a hurry. Life is too short to miss the marvels in front of my nose!
One of my roles as a senior educator, old forester, and mentor to less seasoned Nature interpreters is to open their eyes to the Nature magic that lies hidden in plain sight. I am confident that Amber sees the delights, is intent upon understanding the wonder, and is dedicated to interpreting the mysteries to stir imagination and appreciation among state park visitors, young and old.
This 58-second video presents another cluster of massive vines within a few hundred feet of the first.
Unlike the oak that supports it, this six-inch diameter grapevine serves only as conduit for transporting the stuff of life (water and nutrients) up from the roots and carbohydates down to the roots.
I’ve puzzled for years over the tree/vine relationship. Clearly the vine benefits by positioning its foliar crown in the upper reaches where, for the life of the tree, the vine accesses full sunlight. Is there a commensurate advantage to the tree? I shall continue to explore the question.
Closing
I accept the challenge of distilling these Brief-Form Posts into a single distinct reflection, a task far more elusive than assembling a dozen pithy statements. Henry David Thoreau captured the sentiment I felt as we explored the grapevine tangles:
I have no time to be in a hurry.
Nature’s special treats await our discovery, our understanding, and our interpretation!
https://stevejonesgbh.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/12/IMG_5637.jpg-12.4.24-Wells-Mem-Trail-Amber-at-Grape.webp16241356Steve Joneshttp://stevejonesgbh.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/01/gbhweblogo.pngSteve Jones2024-12-13 07:16:152024-12-13 07:25:22Brief-Form Post #38: Tangles, Loops, and Vines in the Hardwood Canopy on Monte Sano
On October 13, 2024, my new right knee (August 20, 2024) and I ambled along the moderate Rainbolt Trail on Madison, Alabama’s Rainbow Mountain Nature Preserve, where I observed the early signs of the coming winter.
Judy and I made 13 interstate moves across our five+ decades of married and professional life. We love autumn, especially where it comes with a flourish with vivid colors, persistent intrusions of cold winds, and harsh signals of what lies ahead. Autumn here in northern Alabama does not make bold statements. It languishes as the heat of summer slowly yields to cooler nights. Already winter has imposed itself where we lived in Fairbanks, Alaska from 2004 to 2008. The two photos below are still shots from the University of Alaska Fairbanks webcam 10/16/24 at 4:00 AM and 10/20 at 8:30 AM. A Winter Storm Warning for 6-9 additional inches is in place for tonight (10/20) through 10/22. During our Alaska tenure, a White Halloween was as certain as a Hallmark White Christmas! As of October 23, Fairbanks had recorded 15″ of snow in October.
The hickory understory leaves along Rainbolt Trail seemed in no rush to show their autumn colors. They were simply wearing out…senescing with brown leaf spots and green fading to yellow.
Understory green ash likewise showed signs of yielding to the inevitable end of the growing season. There will be no bold announcements this year, no curtain call with trumpets and spectacular hues. Last year (2023) was exceptional for our deep south location. I think this year’s lackluster seasonal transition here in north-central Alabama is weather related. I measured less than an inch of rain this August; a total of three inches in September in two episodes; so far (as of 10/20) in October not a drop with an extended forecast for extremely dry.
Some late season wildflowers still bloomed in the trailhead cul-de-sac road shoulder. These are not announcing fall…instead, they state summer’s insistence upon continuing her hold. Partridge pea is finding enough soil moisture to produce its yellow flowers and delicate pinnately compound leaves.
Camphorweed displays as though the first freeze is not lurking in the predawn hours behind a near-term cold frontal passage.
Pokeberry is taking no chances of being ill-prepared for the winter weather that will eventually arrive. Her berries have ripened. Seeds are ready for harvest and dissemination by birds.
Goldenrod continues to attract pollinators.
I should not be so judgemental. Even without fall rains and bursts of colors, I eagerly await our extended November through mid-April season, which I refuse to term as winter. Winter is what we experienced in Alaska, New York, New Hampshire, Ohio, and Pennsylvania. This same period of time in northern Alabama I consider not as winter, but as a fall that gradually transitions to spring, with a few winter-like days thrown in for good measure.
Thoughts and Reflections
I offer these observations:
Winter in northern Alabama is a fall that gradually transitions to spring, with a few winter-like days thrown in for good measure.
No twelve-month period repeats itself exactly as the year prior, the reason we express climate in terms of long-term averages.
Every woodland saunter tells you only the truths and secrets of that single outing, and reveals little about what we can expect a year hence.
Inhale and absorb Nature’s elixir. May Nature Inspire, Inform, and Reward you!
Another Note: I am available for Nature-Inspired Speaking, Writing, and Consulting — contact me at steve.jones.0524@gmail.com
A 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 by untold orders of magnitude:
Mission: Employ writing and speaking to educate, inspire, and enable readers and listeners to understand, appreciate, and enjoy Nature… and accept and practice Earth Stewardship.
Vision:
People of all ages will pay greater attention to and engage more regularly with Nature… and will accept and practice informed and responsible Earth Stewardship.
They will see their relationship to our natural world with new eyes… and understand their Earth home more clearly.
Tagline/Motto: Steve (Great Blue Heron) encourages and seeks a better tomorrow through Nature-Inspired Living!
Steve’s Four Books
I wrote my books Nature Based Leadership (2016), Nature-Inspired Learning and Leading (2017), Weaned Seals and Snowy Summits: Stories of Passion for Place and Everyday Nature (2019; co-authored with Dr. Jennifer Wilhoit), and Dutton Land & Cattle: A Land Legacy Story (2023) to encourage all citizens to recognize and appreciate that every lesson for living, learning, serving, and leading is either written indelibly in or is powerfully inspired by Nature. All four of my books present compilations of personal experiences expressing my deep passion for Nature. All four books offer observations and reflections on my relationship with the natural world… and the broader implications for society. Order any from your local indie bookstore, or find them on IndieBound or other online sources such as Amazon and LifeRich.
I began writing books and Posts for several reasons:
I love hiking and exploring Nature
I see images I want to (and do) capture with my trusty iPhone camera
I enjoy explaining those images — an educator at heart
I don’t play golf!
I do love writing — it’s the hobby I never needed when my career consumed me
Judy suggested my writing is in large measure my legacy to our two kids, our five grandkids, and all the unborn generations beyond
And finally, perhaps my books and Blogs could reach beyond family and touch a few other lives… sow some seeds for the future
https://stevejonesgbh.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/10/IMG_4960.jpg-10.13.24-Rainbolt-Trail-Senescing-Hickory-Leaves-scaled.webp25601920Steve Joneshttp://stevejonesgbh.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/01/gbhweblogo.pngSteve Jones2024-12-10 09:29:342024-12-11 05:45:19Hints of Autumn in Mid-October along the Rainbolt Trail at Madison AL's Rainbow Mountain Nature Preserve
My Introduction to the Little Mountain Forest School and Its Undergirding Philosophy
On October 30, 2024, at the invitation of Beth Barry and Sarah Callaway, co-founders and directors, I enjoyed an orientation visit to the Little Mountain Forest School. I chatted individually with Sarah and Beth as staff-led breakout groups of the 23 students went through hands-on instruction and exploration near the Overlook at Monte Sano State Park. Having written exhaustively about the continuous cycle of life and carbon in forests, I listened with glee to the youngsters talking about decomposition. What could be a better learning laboratory than a 90-year-old hardwood forest?
Albert Einstein would have endorsed the notion of an outdoor school, having observed:
Look deep into nature, and then you will understand everything better.
The LMFS philosophy is apparent and in concert’s with Einstein’s.
[Image from the LMFS website]
I am a lifetime advocate of outdoor recreation, education, and learning…for people of all ages. Environmental education, including my undergraduate forestry studies, is a contact sport, requiring hands-on, dirty-kneed examination and experience. As President of Antioch University New England, I had the pleasure of knowing and learning from Dr. David Sobel, a renowned American educator and academic, responsible for developing the philosophy of place-based education. He has written extensively on the topic in books and numerous articles. He was a Core Faculty member and Director of Certificate Programs at AUNE. I experienced David conducting a workshop for teachers along the windy shore of Lake Champlain in Vermont. He is a master of his craft. Beth and Sarah arranged for David to visit with them as they launched LMFS. They’ve learned from the best
A few quotes from David evidence that his wisdom is germane and timeless:
You can’t bounce off the walls if there are no walls: outdoor schools make kids happier—and smarter.
We tiptoed the tops of beaver dams, hopped hummocks, went wading, looked at spring flowers, tried to catch a snake, got lost and found. How fine it was to move at a meandery, child’s pace.
What’s important is that children have an opportunity to bond with the natural world, to learn to love it and feel comfortable in it, before being asked to heal its wounds.
[Image from the LMFS website]
Richard Louv is a journalist and author of ten books, including Last Child in the Woods: Saving Our Children from Nature-Deficit Disorder, The Nature Principle, and Vitamin N. Translated into twenty languages, his books have helped launch an international movement to connect children, families, and communities to nature. LMFS exemplifies the tenets of Louv’s philosophy of engaging children in Nature. Richard’s quotes are priceless and his advice more applicable now than ever before:
We cannot protect something we do not love, we cannot love what we do not know, and we cannot know what we do not see. Or hear. Or sense.
Time in nature is not leisure time; it’s an essential investment in our chidlren’s health (and also, by the way, in our own).
Nature-deficit disorder describes the human costs of alienation from nature, among them: diminished use of the senses, attention difficulties, and higher rates of physical and emotional illnesses. The disorder can be detected in individuals, families, and communities.
Every child needs nature. Not just the ones with parents who appreciate nature. Not only those of a certain economic class or culture or set of abilities. Every child.
Reconnection to the natural world is fundamental to human health, well-being, spirit, and survival.
Nature is imperfectly perfect, filled with loose parts and possibilities, with mud and dust, nettles and sky, transcendent hands-on moments and skinned knees.
[Image from the LMFS website]
The Nature of My Visit
This portion of the photo essay will present more like one of my routine woods-wanderings. Keep in mind that I offer it within the context of LMFS, an entity new to me, yet deeply rooted in a philosophy and practice that I have promoted and embraced intellectually for years. I accepted Sarah and Beth’s invitation to serve on the LMFS Board after our morning interactions. Watch for subsequent photo essays as I engage more deeply.
Allow me to introduce my on-site wanderings within the forest where LMFS conducted its morning learning adventures on October 30. Before my 9:15 AM “appointment,” I visited with an old friend, an ancient hollow chestnut oak sentry standing just south of the Overlook along the trail that runs along the plateau edge. The view at left below looks north to the Overlook parking area. The gaping hollow faces the trail.
I recorded this short video of the tree. Listen carefully to background audio of autumn breezes and happy LMFS students!
The hollow offers a line of sight through the tree. Eventually, physics will topple this State Park denizen. An arborist rule of thumb is that a tree is at precarious risk of falling when the diameter of wood rind is less than one-third the diameter of the tree. I will not be surprised if on some future visit, I find the chestnut oak shattered, its carcas blocking the path, decomposing, recycling its essence into the soil.
The autumn-yellow leaves of a sasafras waved in the breeze above the students as they discussed decomposition. How apt!
Six decades ago, when I was their age, I relished my informal learning outdoors with Mom and Dad fishing, hiking, picnicing, and camping. I did not suffer Nature Defecit Disorder or Vitamin D Defieciency, thank God!
Far too many children today aren’t as fortunate as I. It has made all the difference for me, fundamentally shaping my life and charting my career. I am grateful now for the chance to make difference for tomorrow by serving the LMFS Board.
Nature is rich with objects and opportunities for learning. Tree form oddities and curioisities fascinate me, and I believe would likewise have intrigued Albert Einstein:
The important thing is not to stop questioning. Curiosity has its own reason for existence.
I have no special talents. I am only passionately curious.
People like you and me never grow old. We never cease to stand like curious children before the great mystery into which we were born.
It is a miracle that curiosity survives formal education.
Rather than dig deeply into the many objects spiriting my own curiosity, I will end with photographs of plants, trees, leaves, and other objects that could stimulate learning and inspire curiosity for LMFS students.
Wintergreen barberry, an evergreen shrub with sharp thorns.
Carolina buckthorn.
The long arm of an oak waving to the students heading into the forest north of the area where they had gathered to explore decomposition.
My 57-second video titled Combatting Nature Deficit Disorder at Little Mountain Forest School atop Monte Sano!
A red oak, tortured and swollen with a fungal infection, a primary agent of decomposition.
A chestnut oak, hollowed by decay, backlighted by fall foliage.
Exquisite crown shape, perhaps particularly interesting on this day before halloween.
I am a champion of curioisity as a catalyst for learning. Allow me to close with additional Einstein quotes:
The only thing that interferes with my learning is my education.
The true sign of intelligence is not knowledge but imagination.
My all time favorite conservationist, Aldo Leopold, expressed similar sentiment:
Is education possibly a process of trading awareness for things of lesser worth?
I pledge fidelity to the wisdom of Sobel, Louv, Leopold, and Einstein in my Board service to LMFS!
Thoughts and Reflections
I offer these observations:
Look deep into nature, and then you will understand everything better. (Albert Einstein)
You can’t bounce off the walls if there are no walls: outdoor schools make kids happier—and smarter. (David Sobel)
Nature-deficit disorder describes the human costs of alienation from nature, among them: diminished use of the senses, attention difficulties, and higher rates of physical and emotional illnesses. The disorder can be detected in individuals, families, and communities. (Richard Louv)
Inhale and absorb Nature’s elixir. May Nature Inspire, Inform, and Reward you!
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 Four Books
I wrote my books Nature Based Leadership (2016), Nature-Inspired Learning and Leading (2017), Weaned Seals and Snowy Summits: Stories of Passion for Place and Everyday Nature (2019; co-authored with Dr. Jennifer Wilhoit), and Dutton Land & Cattle: A Land Legacy Story (2023) to encourage all citizens to recognize and appreciate that every lesson for living, learning, serving, and leading is either written indelibly in or is powerfully inspired by Nature. All four of my books present compilations of personal experiences expressing my deep passion for Nature. All four books offer observations and reflections on my relationship with the natural world… and the broader implications for society. Order any from your local indie bookstore, or find them on IndieBound or other online sources such as Amazon and LifeRich.
I began writing books and Posts for several reasons:
I love hiking and exploring Nature
I see images I want to (and do) capture with my trusty iPhone camera
I enjoy explaining those images — an educator at heart
I don’t play golf!
I do love writing — it’s the hobby I never needed when my career consumed me
Judy suggested my writing is in large measure my legacy to our two kids, our five grandkids, and all the unborn generations beyond
And finally, perhaps my books and Blogs could reach beyond family and touch a few other lives… sow some seeds for the future
https://stevejonesgbh.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/11/IMG_5211.jpg-10.30.24-Near-Overlook.jpg21001110Steve Joneshttp://stevejonesgbh.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/01/gbhweblogo.pngSteve Jones2024-11-21 06:56:232024-11-21 06:56:23Introducing Little Mountain Forest School
I am pleased to add the 37th of my GBH Brief-Form Posts (Less than five minutes to read!) to my website. I tend to get a bit wordy with my routine Posts. I don’t want my enthusiasm for thoroughness and detail to discourage readers. So, I will publish these brief Posts regularly.
On October 30, 2024, 69 days since my total right knee replacement surgery, I ventured solo to the Wells Memorial Trail at Alabama’s Monte Sano State Park. The difficulty is only moderate, yet following five surgeries (including triple bypass) in 16 months, my strength, endurace, and confidence are not up to par. The magnificence of the Well Memorial cove hardwood forest beckoned. I accepted…and subsequently celebrated…the test. I offer these observations, reflections, photos, and brief videos from my afternoon sauntering.
The trailhead is located at Three Benches, a confluence of several trails.
Parked at the bicycle pavillion, I descended toward Wells via the Sinks Trail. The upper slope forest carries thick ropes of grape vine; their leafy vegetation rides the tree canopy, enjoying full sunlight. People assume the grape vines climb the trees. No, the vines originate from seed or vegetative sprouts when the forest begins anew following natural disturbance, agricultural abandonment, or timber harvesting. The young vines reach skyward as the trees grow. The vine on the yellow poplar tree at right did not need to grow a stout trunk to support its wieght; the poplar did the grunt work…the heavy lifting.
My heart soared as I entered the cathedral forest. The trees tower. The changing autumn foliage presented a stained glass backdrop.
My meager words add little…and maybe even detract from…the somber grandeur of this special place.
I recorded this 59-second video along the trail through some hefty, heaven-reaching oaks and hickories:
Conservationist Aldo Leopold once said that he loves trees, then added that he is in love with pine tree. I am in love with northern red oak, the headliner in the Appalachian forests that shaped my life-passion and vocation.
The images of forest and wandering trail need no narrative.
The bird-pecked yellow poplar and its ascent to the heavens asks nothing from me, and in return gives far more than I ask.
One of the three benches and the Wells sign are the surgery-recovery benchmark I sought. I recalled my recreational competetive distance running days (competed against my prior best times) when I crossed the finish line for a marathon. In its special way, reaching the benches was a crossing of equal weight and significance.
I recorded this brief video lying on my back near the trailhead, gazing into the high canopy above me:
Ah, who could ask for more! A large yellow poplar, stunning oaks and hickories, leafy path, and autumn-yellow forest glow.
Here is my 58-second video showing the beckoning trail:
A fallen hollow oak branch served as a hickory nut snackbar.
I ascended back through the upper slope natural grape arbor, completing a notably rewarding hike, a Nature-Buoyed Aging and Healing venture.
I’m grateful that such pleasures are within reach and that I am able to once again thoroughly and delightfully experience them.
I accept the challenge of distilling these Brief-Form Posts into a single distinct reflection, a task far more elusive than assembling a dozen pithy statements. William Wordsworth captured Nature’s magic in simple beautiful verse:
Come forth into the light of things, let Nature be your teacher.
Feeling the Glow of an overdue return to Nature!
https://stevejonesgbh.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/11/IMG_5136.jpg-10.30.24-Down-to-Wells-Into-the-Hollow.jpg20161512Steve Joneshttp://stevejonesgbh.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/01/gbhweblogo.pngSteve Jones2024-11-13 08:54:202024-11-13 08:54:20Brief-Form Post #37: Autumn Mid-Day Descent to Monte Sano's Wells Memorial Trail!
On October 4, 2024, five and one-half weeks beyond my total right knee replacement surgery, I continued my recovery and reentry to Nature exploration. Judy and our two Alabama grandsons (Sam, 10, and Jack, just shy of 17) accompanied me. My appreciation for the simple pleasures of the Common in Nature grew during my forced Nature Deficit Disorder period! I was eager to absorb a dose of Nature’s elixir along the nearby Bradford Creek Greenway, a flat paved surface appropriate for this stage of my recovery.
Innumerable times, I’ve introduced adults and kids to the compound, fierce-looking thorns of our native honey locust trees. I seldom include Latin names in these photo essays, yet some scientific monikers, like Gledistia triacanthos, are irresistible! Somehow the sweet, sugary resonance of honey locust belies its fanged thorns waiting to prick and puncture the unwary woods-rambler.
Familiarity breeds contempt, an apt adage. Take a closer look, then back away from the forked spikes. Were I inclined to sate my curiosity, I would dive into an internet rabbit hole to determine the one or many evolutionary impetuses for evolving the loathsome appedages. Perhaps on a day when the fall weather is not so perfect as today’s.
I recorded this video at our prickly friend.
This tupelo tree with its gnarly roots is one I visit frequently. Never have I seen it with such little water. I measured just 0.70″ of rain in August; a little over 3.00″ in September; and just 0.72″ in October. Bradford Creek is demonstrating the serious rainfall deficit.
A few deeper channels hold water sufficient to retain all manner of stream life.
Two and one-half miles south of the Heritage School trailhead, some flow, albeit painfully slow, persists.
My brief video from the south-end bridge speaks softly of our persistent drought:
Nothing in Nature is static. Since my prior visit, an easterly wind pushed a trailside 18-inch diameter shagbark hickory past its critical strength threshold. Toppled, the tree reveals its rotted and weakened east-facing trunk. In so many ways, Nature offers rudimentary lessons in applied physics.
There is no result in nature without a cause; understand the cause and you will have no need of the experiment. (Leonardo da Vinci)
The species’ bark is uniquely distinctive, whether standing vertical or recently resting supine.
Here is my 53-second fallen shagbark hickory video:
The standing tree evidenced the basal rot. Now fallen, the rotten-to-the-core stump leads me to wonder how it stood at all. The tree was not able to withstand the wind. Trees so close to the disturbances of installing the sewer line and constructing and maintaining the greenway sustain injuries that open infection courts for pathogens and decay fungi. Their days are numbered.
No one in our region could complain about an absence of October sunshine.
I recorded the call of a mockingbird celebrating the fine day in the canopy of a cedar tree between the greenway and Bradford Creek.
I’m sure you’ve heard people complaing about hayfever instigated by goldenrod pollen. They are mistaken. Goldenrod pollen is heavy and sticky, the plant relying on insects for pollination. Ragweed is the principal late summer and early fall hayfever culprit.
This ailanthus webworm moth is one of goldenrod’s many pollinators.
Blue mistflower also provided color along the greenway.
Cardinal flower also brightened my return to Nature.
Straw-colored flatsedge carries an apt moniker.
Walking or biking along Bradford Creek occasionally rewards me with a snake sighting, most often a gray ratsnake. Unfortunately, a passerby decided to crush the head of this small copperhead, and leave it on the pavement. In every matter concerning informed and responsible Earth Stewardship, ignorance can be an overwhelming obstacle.
Until my final breath, I will hold fast to my retirment 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.
Thoughts and Reflections
I offer these observations:
A short return to Nature five weeks following surgery pays dividends, amplifying and accelerating physical and mental healing!
There is no result in nature without a cause; understand the cause and you will have no need of the experiment. (Leonardo da Vinci)
The older I get, the more I don’t know.
Inhale and absorb Nature’s elixir. May Nature Inspire, Inform, and Reward you!
And Third: I am available for Nature-Inspired Speaking, Writing, and Consulting — contact me at steve.jones.0524@gmail.com
A 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 by untold orders of magnitude:
Mission: Employ writing and speaking to educate, inspire, and enable readers and listeners to understand, appreciate, and enjoy Nature… and accept and practice Earth Stewardship.
Vision:
People of all ages will pay greater attention to and engage more regularly with Nature… and will accept and practice informed and responsible Earth Stewardship.
They will see their relationship to our natural world with new eyes… and understand their Earth home more clearly.
Tagline/Motto: Steve (Great Blue Heron) encourages and seeks a better tomorrow through Nature-Inspired Living!
Steve’s Four Books
I wrote my books Nature Based Leadership (2016), Nature-Inspired Learning and Leading (2017), Weaned Seals and Snowy Summits: Stories of Passion for Place and Everyday Nature (2019; co-authored with Dr. Jennifer Wilhoit), and Dutton Land & Cattle: A Land Legacy Story (2023) to encourage all citizens to recognize and appreciate that every lesson for living, learning, serving, and leading is either written indelibly in or is powerfully inspired by Nature. All four of my books present compilations of personal experiences expressing my deep passion for Nature. All four books offer observations and reflections on my relationship with the natural world… and the broader implications for society. Order any from your local indie bookstore, or find them on IndieBound or other online sources such as Amazon and LifeRich.
I began writing books and Posts for several reasons:
I love hiking and exploring Nature
I see images I want to (and do) capture with my trusty iPhone camera
I enjoy explaining those images — an educator at heart
I don’t play golf!
I do love writing — it’s the hobby I never needed when my career consumed me
Judy suggested my writing is in large measure my legacy to our two kids, our five grandkids, and all the unborn generations beyond
And finally, perhaps my books and Blogs could reach beyond family and touch a few other lives… sow some seeds for the future
https://stevejonesgbh.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/10/IMG_4822.jpg-10.4.24-Creek-at-BCGW.jpg20161512Steve Joneshttp://stevejonesgbh.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/01/gbhweblogo.pngSteve Jones2024-11-06 14:06:522024-11-06 14:06:52An Early Fall Exploration along Madison, Alabama's Bradford Creek Greenway!
I’m drafting this photo essay on Saturday morning, September 28, 2024, just five-and-one-half weeks after my August 20, 2024, total right knee replacement surgery. I ventured into Nature last on August 19, 2024. My backlog of pre-surgery observations, reflections, photos, and brief videos is nearly depleted, and I’m not sure when I can recharge my inventory. My knee recovery is on pace, but questions of timing remain. Therefore, I am returning to a set of photos and brief videos I compiled on a March 2023, trip to Joe Wheeler State Park, where I discovered lots of winter wind damage. [NOTE – I am publishing this photo essay on October 31, 2024. I am now about 85 percent recovered and returning to the woods!]
My recollection of what I wanted to convey with each image is fresh. The theme I intended to explore remains relevant to The Nature of North Alabama and Nature-Inspired Life and Living. I suppose we can blame my failure to follow through earlier on a series of health issues after March 2023: triple bypass surgery; total left knee replacement surgery; bilateral inguinal hernia repair; kidney stone removal; and total right knee replacement surgery. I know…such minor inconveniences may seem a lame excuse!
Two Hardy Senior Forest Denizens
Our forests are ever-changing. Seldom do I enter a forest without seeing a fresh blwodown. However, I frequently encounter senior citizens that have persevered. In an 80-90-year-old stand at Joe Wheeler, this nearly four-feet diameter sugar maple is likely a century older, perhapss formerly standing along an old property line or fence row, withstanding the test of time, wind blasts, lightning strikes, or ice storms.
This massive yellow poplar likewise beat the forces of time. Larger than three feet in diameter and topping 100 feet tall, it may stand another century, or crash to the ground tomorrow. I wonder if Las Vegas oddsmakers will entertain gambling on tree-toppling? I hope not. The only bet I would place is that gravity will remain undefeated!
I am eager to return to the Park this coming dormant season to check on these two denizens.
A Series of Winter 2022-23 Windthrow Casualties
Perched on bluff overlooking the body of Wheeler Lake within sight of the dam, this large hollow red oak yielded to the irresistable force of wind and gravity. An arborist’s rule of thumb states that when the combined thickness of wood rind is less than one-third of the tree’s diameter, the tree is subject to breakage and windthrow. This one failed the hollow tree windthrow threshold test. Interestingly, the trunk shows no externl evidence that it is hollow.
Here’s my 3:16 narrated video of this shattered oak. This giant left a void…one that Nature will fill. Tons of organic woody debris will inexorably recycle to soil and new life.
The now prostrate trunk points east, evidencing the westerly wind that leveraged the tree beyond its strength threshold.
As I’ve incessantly observed in these photo essays, nothing in nature is static. Decay fungi consumed wood fiber across the decades, annually expanding the hollow. The large-canopied crown continued to build mass, compounding the leveraging force of wind and gravity. The oak will live on through the carbon cycle as decomposers reduce wood to soil organic matter and other life forms.
The trunk of this hackberry giant did not fail. Instead, the wind used the tree’s mass to twist and wrench the roots from the soil. Once loosened, the tree acted as the first in a hackberry domino series. Wind combined with the multi-ton mass momentum of the swaying tree served as an irresistible force. Physics is a big part of life…and death…in the forest, whether determining if a tree stands or falls, and regulating fluid transport within the tree.
The hackberry brought several smaller downwind trees to the ground.
As I often note, a short video (this one 3:31) tells the tale better than my feeble prose.
John Muir spoke of the physical and ecological interconnectivity of all elements of an ecosystem:
Tug on anything in nature and you will find it connected to everything else.
The hackberry-toppled stand epitomies the physical interdependence.
This oak tree shattered at the stump. Decay fungi mushrooms signal that decomposers are hard at work.
Again, nothing in Nature is static.
Our State Park trails demand ongoing maintenance attention. A fallen hickory crossed the trail.
My 3:12 video captures the the windthrow jumble and gives a sense of how the wind flows across the lake and buffets the forest, even on a fair weather spring day.
Not all crashing trees knock their neighbors to the ground. The top of a windthrown tree pulled this smaller pole-size tree into a nearly horizontal position just ten feet above the forest floor. I’ve seen such trees survuve for decades. I often photograph the survivors as what I refer to as tree form curiosities and oddities. Let’s come back and visit this one in 20-40 years. Well, perhaps I may not be up to it at ages 93 to 113!
I love contemplating Nature’s forest wonders and mysteries!
Alabama State Parks Foundation
I’ll remind you that although 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, any positions or opinions expressed in these Posts are mine alone and do not in any manner represent the Foundation or its Board.
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:
Look deep into nature, and then you will understand everything better. (Albert Einstein)
And into the forest I go, to lose my mind and find my soul. (John Muir)
The calm of a fine spring day belies the brutal winds that can ravage a winter forest.
Inhale and absorb Nature’s elixir. May Nature Inspire, Inform, and Reward you!
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 Four Books
I wrote my books Nature Based Leadership (2016), Nature-Inspired Learning and Leading (2017), Weaned Seals and Snowy Summits: Stories of Passion for Place and Everyday Nature (2019; co-authored with Dr. Jennifer Wilhoit), and Dutton Land & Cattle: A Land Legacy Story (2023) to encourage all citizens to recognize and appreciate that every lesson for living, learning, serving, and leading is either written indelibly in or is powerfully inspired by Nature. All four of my books present compilations of personal experiences expressing my deep passion for Nature. All four books offer observations and reflections on my relationship with the natural world… and the broader implications for society. Order any from your local indie bookstore, or find them on IndieBound or other online sources such as Amazon and LifeRich.
I began writing books and Posts for several reasons:
I love hiking and exploring Nature
I see images I want to (and do) capture with my trusty iPhone camera
I enjoy explaining those images — an educator at heart
I don’t play golf!
I do love writing — it’s the hobby I never needed when my career consumed me
Judy suggested my writing is in large measure my legacy to our two kids, our five grandkids, and all the unborn generations beyond
And finally, perhaps my books and Blogs could reach beyond family and touch a few other lives… sow some seeds for the future
https://stevejonesgbh.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/03/IMG_8109.jpg-03.16.23-JWSP-2.46-Shattered-30-inch-SRO.jpg1200900Steve Joneshttp://stevejonesgbh.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/01/gbhweblogo.pngSteve Jones2024-10-31 11:08:552024-10-31 11:02:20Reading Signs of Big Winter Winds at Joe Wheeler State Park
