NOTE: Some of my GBH photo essays were not routinely distributed from mid-February through mid-June. I will resend those one by one, beginning the first week of July. Here is my Post from April 29 (https://stevejonesgbh.com/2026/04/29/brief-form-post-58-forest-discoveries-while-measuring-tree-heights-on-monte-sano-state-park/)

I assisted the Alabama State Park staff in delivering the Teaching Beyond the Walls: Alabama’s Ecology In Action educators’ workshop at Monte Sano State Park on June 30, 2026. Funded by BlueCross BlueShield of Alabama, the ~30 participants enjoyed diverse sessions over the nine-hour program, including: Alabama’s biodiversity; immersion in forest ecology; student-centered science; place-based teaching and learning; water cycle and stream ecology; asking the right questions; seeking insight from others; and learning through Nature. Join me as I accompany the registered learning community participants at the State Park Lodge and its plateau-edge surroundings.

The State Park System education and interpretation obiectives align with my professional retirement 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. I find fullfillment in partnering with the park system to educate, inspire, and enable visitors to embrace Earth Stewardship. What better way than through educator workshops!

We learned indoors (blessed air conditioning) and out (welcome breezes and deep woods shade).

I recorded a 54-second video showcasing the lodge and its immediate woodland outdoor laboratory.

I suppose that spending my youth in family Nature-based recreation, four years in forestry school (1973 BS), 12 years employed by a Fortune-500 paper and allied products manufacturing company, three years earning a doctoral degree in Applied Forest Ecology (1987 Ph.D.), and 35 years in higher education teaching, research,and administration at nine universities, positioned me to know all the answers. Not so! The more I learn, the less I know. Sure, I am pretty comfortable with how I can handle a day of learning and sharing in a northern Alabama forest. Just the same, it is I who benefit most from interacting with eager, inquisitive, and dedicated educators intent on sharpening their craft, deepening their knowledge, and fueling their environmental education passion.

Understanding and Appreciating Alabama’s Biodiversity

Dr. Scott Duncan’s SouthernWonder is a perfect launching pad for such a course. Alabama is the fourth most biologically diverse state in the country. Each participant exited the workshop with a copy for use as an invaluable environmental education resource.

Finding Inhabitant Wonder in a Plateau-top Brook

Environmental learning is a contact sport. The educators leaped into investigating abundant life (biodiversity) in the plateau-top brook near the lodge.

Participants turned over rocks, screened the water, and gathered nearby to share discoveries and compare observations.

There is excitement and celebration in learning, a demonstrable contact sport with feet in the water, knees in the mud, and hands on the tiny critters.

Here is my 25-second video of learning in action, which is anything but learning inaction!

Amber Coger, the Alabama State Park NW District Naturalist, shares the caddis fly larva she found under a rock mid-brook. She may not have been more thrilled finding a gold nugget.

Here’s my 59-second video recorded where the plateau-top brook exits at a ledge to depart for the Huntsville valley floor.

There is palpable magic in learning, sharing, understanding, and appreciating.

Seeing What Lies Hidden in Plain Sight

I often observe that I invest most of my time in forest wanderings discovering what wonders lie hidden in plain sight.

I recordeed this 58-second video of the workshop’s forest immersion experience, a designed quiet period to listen, relax, and absorb through all five human portals: mind, body, heart, soul, and spirit. Here’s the location where instructors released students one at a time to facilitate solitary immersion.

Instructors placed guidance along the way to help focus and implore deep thinking and full immersion.

An instrucor cautioned participants and bikers to watch out for each other.

Teacher-students followed forest immersion practitice guidelines. I reminded myself that I need to be a more disciplined practitioner. I don’t sit quietly long enough. Come on, Steve, practice what you preach!

One station suggested that students look into the crown, a perspective that forces us to think about the engine, Old Sol, that fuels forest energy flow.

Although I seldon pause for a full forest immersion, I abhor wasting my time blindly hiking through Nature, intent on the destination… not the journey.

John Muir advocated sauntering in Nature, as an online biographer source noted:

One day as I was resting in the shade Mr. Muir overtook me on the trail and began to chat in that friendly way in which he delights to talk with everyone he meets. I said to him: “Mr. Muir, someone told me you did not approve of the word ‘hike.’ Is that so?” His blue eyes flashed, and with his Scotch accent he replied: “I don’t like either the word or the thing. People ought to saunter in the mountains – not hike!”

John Muir lived up to his doctrine. He was usually the last man to reach camp. He never hurried. He stopped to get acquainted with individual trees along the way. He would hail people passing by and make them get down on hands and knees if necessary to see the beauty of some little bed of almost microscopic flowers. Usually he appeared at camp with some new flowers in his hat and a little piece of fir bough in his buttonhole.

Discovering Special Oddity, Curiosity, and Delight in Everyday Nature

Forest oddities, curiosities, and mysteries fascinate, puzzle, and entertain me on my forest excursions. I kept my eyes open as I wandered during the workshop. This chestnut oak stood in plain view where I recorded the start of the forest immersion video. I wondered how many noticed?

A contorted sugar maple displayed clear evidence of some past physical battery (falling branch or tree, logging equipment damage, or some less-obvious injury). Nature is remarkably resilient.

Naturally curious in its manner of growth, sparkleberry or farkleberry grows however it wishes, without apparent disciplinary rules.

I love it for its mirthful common names and for its whimsical growth.

I learned a new plant: leafy elephant’s-foot, a moniker worthy of inclusion in this listing of notable features in everyday Nature.

I consider myself a neophyte mycophile… a fungi enthusiast. I’m gaining confidence in identifying regional edibles. iNaturalist identified this mushroom as Neoboletus sp. ‘varietstibus. Its velvety brown, stocky appearance drew me closer. I saw no other individuals and because of its scarcity, I did not disturb it to capture a complete set of photo images: top, bottom, and side. Therefore I am not confident in the iNaturalist identification. I’ll consider whether this species is edible or not when I find a patch large enough to be certain.

Red chanterelle mushrooms are edible, but are too diminutive to bother. I do forage larger chanterelles, but not from our State Parks.

I recorded this 60-second red chanterelles video during the workshop.

I present this final oddity, curiosity, and delight: dog vomit slime mold, which presented itself along the trail at the intersection where we launched individuals for their solitary immersions. So much lies hidden in plain sight.

Like John Muir, I believe:

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

The Wonder of My Retirement Role

Here’s our contingent of ardent learners.

One of the educators (Shelly, employed in Tennessee) said to me after sharing a table during the indoor sessions, “You have the greatest volunteer retirement role I could ever imagine.” She nailed it:

Alabama State Parks Foundation

Thoughts and Reflections

I offer these observations:

• Mr. Muir, someone told me you did not approve of the word ‘hike.’ Is that so?” His blue eyes flashed, and with his Scotch accent he replied: “I don’t like either the word or the thing. People ought to saunter in the mountains – not hike!” (Muir biographer)
• There is excitement and celebration in learning, again, a demonstrable contact sport. (Steve Jones)
• There is palpable magic in learning, sharing, understanding, and appreciating. (Steve Jones)

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

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:

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

[Workshop facilitator Amber Coger depicting the right-angle branching character of black gum (the smaller tree at her right forearm).]