I am pleased to add the 53rd 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 occasionally publish these brief Posts.
Wolf Creek Narrows Natural Area, owned and managed by the Western Pennsylvania Conservancy (WPC), is in northwestern Butler County, Pennsylvania, just 30 minutes from where my son and his family reside north of Pittsburgh. Matt, his dog Oakley, and I circuited the 2.35-mile trail on the morning of September 22, the first day of autumn. My heart soared at the prospect of returning to an ecosystem shaped by a continental ice sheet just 13 millennia ago. This Post focuses on a recent blowdown within the Natural Area and my reflections on the implications for the affected stand.
Blowdown in the Forest
All forests are in flux. Individual trees germinate, grow, senesce, and die. Forests come and go with disturbance. Wind, ice, fire, insects, and disease affect trees and entire forests. I observe often that death is a big part of life in forested ecosystems and, for that matter, in any ecosystem. Within a discreet portion of the Wolf Creek Narrows Natural Area old growth forest, a wind storm (thunderstorm downdraft or microburst; derecho; tornado; or perhaps sustained winter gales) toppled enough mature trees to give the affected stand a unique character.
The fallen trees align parallel to the wind direction, their lower trunks shattered or the entire tree uprooted. Based on the apparent progress of woody debris decay, I estimate that the wind event occurred within the past three years.
The wind eliminated enough overstory canopy to significantly reduce forest floor shading. Already understory woody and herbaceous plants are responding with increased vitality. Nature abhors a vacuum.
A cinnabar bracket fungus has colonized this downed American beech, evidencing that the windthrow-accelerated carbon cycling is in full gear.
Elevated root mounds provide ideal sites for herbaceous exploitation. White ash seedlings are quickly colonizing the forest floor on either side of the downed white ash tree.
Not all of the downed trees resulted from the discreet recent event. These trunks toppled more than five years ago. This hardwood stand, like most of Pennsylvania’s forests, is probably even-aged, regenerating following some catastrophic event, such as timber harvesting, widespread major wind, or fire.
An even-aged forest grows in a predictable manner. The inverse J-shaped diameter distribution is one such formulaic metric. Consider the graphs below as a generalized representation of the growth pattern across time. A young even-aged stand my have thousands of stems per acre. Look above at the many ash seedlings surrounding the single mature fallen ash. Over decades, the stand density (stems per unit area) declines. What may have been thousands becomes hundreds, and ultimately scores and dozens. Average stem diameter of the white ash seedlings (two rows above) is less than an inch. The fallen mother (seed source) tree is perhaps two feet.
The tendancy of an even-aged old growth hardwood forest is to gradually transition naturally to uneven-age. Some of the windthrow openings may be large enough to allow trees, their germination triggered by the recent storm, to emerge into the upper canopy, representing a younger age class. Many of the openings will at least be large enough to allow a sapling or mid-canopy cohort to establish, staging one or more of those individuals to rapidly ascend into the main canopy when a subsequent storm topples a large dominat tree, or a cluster of the original old growth cohort.
The forest is in no hurry. Its evolutionary pathway prepared this very successful admixture of species to flourish and persist when conditions are favorable and respond when change presents opportunities. The ash seedlings are already carpeting the ground now blessed with open canopy sunlight. Although my examinations were only surperficial, I observed that American beech, sugar maple, and white oak are stand components. They are shade tolerant species that can persist for decades under a full canopy. They and others are poised to constitute a greater percentage of the future dominant canopy.
The forest is changing, as are all forests. The wind event accelerated the change. I’d like to monitor it annually over another several decades, but my own life curve continues unabated. Perhaps I can revisit Wolf Creek Narrows another time or two, but there are no guarantees. I am grateful for having made this inaugural visit. I’ve learned something of this slice of Nature near to my son’s home and not too far from where I conducted my forestry doctoral research four decades ago.
I am addicted to special places and everyday Nature. Wolf Creek Narrows Natural Area is one such Special Place.
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.
I cannot offer a quote more apropos than an observation I made in the text above:
The forest is in no hurry. Its evolutionary pathway prepared it to flourish and persist when conditions are favorable, and to respond when change presents opportunities to exploit.
Nature’s special treats await our discovery, our understanding, and our interpretation!
Subscribe to my free weekly photo essays (like this one) at: http://eepurl.com/cKLJdL
https://stevejonesgbh.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/09/IMG_9139.jpg-09.22.25-WCN-NA-Blowdown.webp17641324Steve Joneshttp://stevejonesgbh.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/01/gbhweblogo.pngSteve Jones2026-01-05 12:02:412026-01-05 12:02:41Brief-Form Post #53: Wolf Creek Narrows Forest Renewal in an Old Growth Northern Hardwood Stand!
I once again wandered the bottomland hardwood forest on the Wheeler National Wildlife Refuge, south of HGH Road near the Madison-Limestone County line on the morning of August 30, 2025. I wanted to reconnoiter the forest with my recently acquired 1937 aerial photo of the stand. I present my preliminary observations, reflections, photographs, and brief videos as I attempt to make sense of forest history and lay the groundwork for reevaluation during the dormant season.
My Hesitant Working Hypothesis
I was convinced that the bottomland hardwood forest that I explore 3-4 times per year, had regenerated naturally from abandoned farmland since the Corps of Engineers completed construction of Wheeler Dam in the mid-1930s. However, I often found trees far older and individuals decayed beyond what I would expect in a forest freshly regenerated just eight and one half decades ago. Chris Stuhlinger, another retired forester, and I are digging into the question of stand origin. The area I frequent lies south of the red line (HGH Road) and west of the vertical line (Madison County to the east; Limestone to the left) on this 1937 aerial photo. I’ve placed a short vertical ink mark where I routinely enter the forest, which is clearly extant 88 years ago, discounting my supposition of a forest sprouting in the mid-30s from abandoned agricultural land.
I determined the age of a large wind-blown white oak just a few hundred feet south of the forest beyond the edge of the photograph: August 2025 Post: https://stevejonesgbh.com/2025/08/27/huge-white-oak-blowdown-and-cleanup-at-wheeler-national-wildlife-refuge/. I determined its age at 129 years, making it 30-40 years old when acquired by the Corps/TVA. Chris and I will closely examine the stand during the 2025-26 dormant season in the absence of mosquitoes, ticks, chiggers, foliated poison ivy, and oppressive heat and humidity.
My Rationale for Accepting an Abandoned Farmland Origin
In the meantime, I reveal and reflect upon my recent saunter. Dominant yellow poplar and red oak trees could easily have been seedlings in the 1930s. These bottomland soils are extraordinarily fertile.
I recorded this 41-second video of a large black oak within a mixed stand that could have regenerated nearly nine decades ago.
The same is true of the forest housing this mid-story persimmon and a main canopy black oak.
Here is my 35-second video of the persimmon and black oak.
I recorded this 38-second video of mixed main canopy and understory species.
Evidence Casting Doubt on My Abandoned Farmland Hypothesis
The very large dominant trees, including standing dead and nearby grotesqueley swollen and decayed individuals (the final tree in the short video) suggest an older stand. The massive green ash and shagbark hickory, both about two and one half feet in diameter, also hint at an age beyond 88 years.
The same advanced age can be deduced by this 44.5-inch diameter chinquapin oak and the Carpinus carolinia (muscle wood tree) growing at its base.
I also encountered this hollowed three-foot diameter oak barely clinging to life. Eighty-eight years is too abbreviated a period to reach this size and advanced decay.
I recorded this 47-second video highlighting the hollowed oak.
Likewise for this hopelessy decayed and swollen four-foot diameter oak.
Here is my 47-second video of the individual.
This ancient oak stands along the old lane 150 feet from where I parked. Three and one-half feet in diameter, a windstorm took half of its canopy in the summer of 2020. Hidden from this view, the tree is hollow and open at the base, extending at least 30 feet to where the wind ripped half the crown away,
This violently uprooted three-foot diameter cherrybark oak toppled earlier this past summer.
I recorded this 57-second video of the fallen giant.
Here’s another view of the oak.
Nature has work to do, returning the tons of recently deceased wood to the soil. The carbon cycle is a BIG deal! Powder post beetles, wood-boring insects that deposit eggs just under the bark of dead or dying trees, are first in line to feast on the mighty oak’s cellulose and lignin. Drafting this narrative triggered an urge to ask many questions that at the moment I will not take time to answer. Questions such as, “How do the adult beetles know the oak is dead? Do live and dead wood smell different? Does living cambium emit sounds a beetle can hear? Does appearance change subtly with death? More obviously, does a horizontal trunk light up with a neon invitation to Come and Get it!?” Trust me, the beetles know! Within the two months since the tree fell, beetles have deposited eggs, the larvae have hatched, and begun voraciously consuming wood fiber. The beetles have already progressed from egg, to larva, to pupa, to adult. The emergent adult exit holes pepper with the fallen trunk with powdery frass.
Death and life are inter-twined in the forest. The forest air is seasonally thick with fungal spores that have already entered every beetle exit hole. Infecting hyphae have found purchase within the oak. Mushrooms will appear on the oak trunk by the end of next summer. Five years hence, the bark will have sloughed and decay will have penetrated deeply into the wood. Nature abhors a vacuum!
Temporary Closure and a Revised Hypothesis
The 1937 aerial photo is clear. The area I felt had been in agriculture when engineers completed Wheeler Dam was, in fact, forested in 1937. I have a new hypothesis to test with Chris when we conduct our dormant season on-site forestry forensic sleuthing after New Year’s. The largest trees in the stand are overwhelmingly diseased and battered, suggesting that they may have been unmerchatable individuals when crews commercially harvested the forest that was present when the Corps/TVA aqcuired the land adjacent to the land destined for Lake Wheeler inundation. The resultant forest 88 years later is two-aged:
The naturally regenerated 88 year old hardwood stand
Scattered mostly unmerchantable individuals left by loggers
I look forward to learning as we go. As with most elements of Nature, the more I learn, the less I know. Every revelation uncovers new mystery. Such is the joy of curiosity.
Thoughts and Reflections
I offer these observations:
The noblest pleasure is the joy of understanding. (da Vinci)
Every revelation uncovers new mystery. Such is the joy of curiosity. (Steve Jones)
Look deep into nature, and then you will understand everything better. (Einstein)
As with most elements of Nature, the more I learn, the less I know. (Steve Jones)
Inhale and absorb Nature’s elixir. May Nature Inspire, Inform, and Reward you!
Note: Unless otherwise noted, all blog post images are created & photographed by Stephen B. Jones.
I am available for Nature-Inspired Speaking, Writing, and Consulting — contact me at steve.jones.0524@gmail.com
Subscribe to my free weekly photo essays (like this one) at: http://eepurl.com/cKLJdL
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 (2025) 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/2025/09/IMG_8842.jpg-08.30.25-Oak-Windfall.webp20161512Steve Joneshttp://stevejonesgbh.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/01/gbhweblogo.pngSteve Jones2025-12-23 08:04:562025-12-23 08:04:56Late Summer Revelation and Confusion (mine!) in a WNWR Bottomland Forest
Wolf Creek Narrows Natural Area, owned and managed by the Western Pennsylvania Conservancy (WPC), is located in northwestern Butler County, Pennsylvania, just 30 minutes from where my son and his family reside north of Pittsburgh. Matt, his dog Oakley, and I circuited the 2.35-mile trail on the morning of September 22, the first day of autumn. My heart soared at the prospect of returning to an ecosystem shaped by a continental ice sheet just 13 millennia ago. This Post focuses on our passages (out from the trailhead and back) through a goldenrod-dominated autumn meadow.
The 243 acre Natural Area includes several distinct ecosystems: meadow; forest/field ecotone; upland forest, forested riparian zone; and the immediate Slippery Rock Creek. I like the openess of the meadow, accenting the vibrant autumn sky above. Meadows are temporary landscape features unless managed to short-circuit the natural successional impetus to transition to forest cover. I am not sure whether the ash sapling in the photo at right was planted or is a volunteer.
The perennial herbacious cover is dense, ideal for songbirds, small mammals, snakes, and other critters. As I drafted this text on December 2, 2025, western Pennsylvania was reporting several inches of fresh snow. I imagine diverse wildlife hunkered in the tangled vegetation beneath the snow.
I recorded this 58-second video in the luscious goldenrod meadow.
I can’t resist the image of goldenrod backdropped by the fall sky. The air, comfortable and clear, cut through my North Alabama mental fatigue with a long summer and a September dry spell. This a meadow still fresh, blooming, and vibrant, awaiting a first freeze, autumn rains, and an impending deep winter rest.
Hiking the meadow with Matt, sharing the autumn sunshine and exploration, reminded me of Einstein’s view of extending our life-reach beyond our own fleeting existence:
Our death is not an end if we can live on in our children and the younger generation. For they are us; our bodies are only wilted leaves on the tree of life. (Albert Einstein)
Some videos express the essence of a special place better without narration. I recorded this 59-second video focusing on the sounds of autumn breezes and late season insects.
An ideal stage for late season bloomers, the meadow celebrates the end of a full summer of generous meadow sunshine with goldenrod, New England aster, and smooth blue aster. Bright flowers will greet the icy fingers certain to come.
Supplemental wildlife accoutrements (a bluebird nesting box) enrich the meadow bird habitat.
As does the bat house at the meadow/forest edge.
I compliment the LConservancy for both the artificial nesting structures and the excellent interpretive signage.
Pear leaf crabapple is both an excellent wildlife food source and an early meadow colonizer in the successional steps toward natural forest regeneration.
The same is true of northern arrowwood. Both species are prolific producers of fruit that wildlife consumes, digestively scarifies its seeds, and disseminates to enable further colonization.
Two red oaks (left) and numerous sycamore saplings represent the advancing forest along the meadow’s north flank, which is a separate ecotone, neither meadow or forest. View the oak and sycamore saplings as scouts from the advancing forest army. Imagine a squierrel caching an acorn in rich soil under the goldenrod, and then losing track of it. The acorn sprouts with spring’s warmth. The seedling oak flourishes in full sunlight, partially protected by the 4-6-foot-high meadow vegetation from deer and rabbit browsing. The oaks are now out of easy reach of the hungry mammals. This day’s northwesterly breezes may be carrying windborne sycamore seed, potentially extending the forest deeper into the meadow.
The scouts will give way to an outright forest invasion. This isn’t the forest successionary army’s first rodeo. Just 13,000 years ago, the vast continental ice sheet yielded to a warming climate. Hundreds of millions of acres of once fertile and forested land emerged from the deep icepack barren and stark, stretching from the former ice edge near here far into the sub-Arctic Canadian Shield. That wild expanse, now ruchly forested, attests to Nature’s capacity to reclaim devastated territory, whether blasted by Mt. Saint Helens (1980), incinerated by the Big Burn (1910 in Washington, Idaho, and Montana), or savagely innundated by tropical storm remnants flushing western North Carolina river bottomland forests (The Great Flood of 1916). A beautiful postage stamp upland meadow in modern day Butler County Pennsylvania is just a bump in the road for an advancing vegetative front intent on expanding a forest.
I recorded this 59-second video at the meadow/woodland edge ecotone.
The real challenge falls to the Western Pennsylvania Conservancy managers. How do they hold the forest at bay, if indeed that is their objective, which I hope it is. I appreciate and value ecosystem diversity. I won’t attempt to recommend a treatment scenario. I have little relevant expertise, beyond thinking that fire may be among the alternatives.
I do know that the common garter snake we spotted in the meadow depends on the meadow ecotype, as do many other wildlife species.
How long will the meadow survive as a unique ecosystem without management practices, like bush-hogging, prescribed fire, selective herbicide treatments, and other alternatives? No matter where my Nature wanderings take me, I discover a constant: Nothing in Nature is Static. Nothing remains the same. In this case, human intervention will be necessary to keep the meadow…a meadow.
I often turn to John Muir for words that succinctly capture my sentiments…far better than my own feelings. Of my passion for the meadow, I turn to Muir:
Everybody needs beauty as well as bread, places to play in and pray in, where nature may heal and give strength to body and soul.
Thoughts and Reflections
I offer these observations:
Nothing in Nature is Static. Nothing remains the same. (Steve Jones)
Everybody needs beauty as well as bread, places to play in and pray in, where nature may heal and give strength to body and soul. (John Muir)
Our death is not an end if we can live on in our children and the younger generation. For they are us; our bodies are only wilted leaves on the tree of life. (Albert Einstein)
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
Subscribe to these free weekly Nature Blogs (photo essays) at: http://eepurl.com/cKLJdL
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/2025/09/IMG_9089-1.jpg-09.22.25-Wolf-Creek-Narrows-Natural-Area-WCN-NA.webp20161512Steve Joneshttp://stevejonesgbh.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/01/gbhweblogo.pngSteve Jones2025-12-18 11:24:222025-12-18 11:24:22The Meadow at Pennsylvania's Wolf Creek Narrows Natural Area
I am pleased to add the 52nd 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 occasionally publish these brief Posts.
Fellow retired forester Chris Stuhligher and I visited Lake Guntersville State Park (LGSP) on October 23, 2025, to scout a scheduled spring 2026 eagle view outing for the University of Alabama in Huntsville Osher Lifelong Learning Institute (OLLI). The LGSP map in hand, we stopped by several indicated locations. I present an overview of our afternoon ramblings, keeping the narrative brief and technically superficial.
The eagle at the lodge set the tone for our scouting venture.
We enjoyed lunch at the lodge restaurant, our table overlooking the lake.
Cabins Shoreline
Our first suggested viewing spot was the shoreline adjacent to the cabins. We were to search the opposite bank for a summer-foliage-obscured nest. We did not find it, yet we spotted a pair of eagles soaring above us, an adult and an immature.
The photo at left shows the opposite shoreline, where the eagle’s nest, we were assured, lies hidden to our eyes. Regradless, who could not appreciate the cerulean sky, bright sunshine, and comfortable early autumn temperature!
Here is my 58-second video from the cabins lakeshore.
I’m a sucker for tall loblollies and shoreline vistas.
I wanted to revisit the nearby Cave Trail, hoping to quickly photograph the oak burled in the distinctive Big Foot image.
Brief Saunter at the Cave Trail
Here is my July 18, 2018 photo:
I intended to insert the new image here. However, just as there are days when I cannot remember what I had for lunch the day before, I failed to navigate us back the the infamous tree! I will try another day when we have more time for frivality. However, in searching, I did find a very unattractive, yet photo-worthy canker along the Cave Trail.
I recorded this 58-second grotesque Halloween canker video on an elm tree.
I sampled a twig from the elm and offer a still photo.
Town Creek Boat Launch
Our second viewing location forced us to look across the lake directly into the late afternoon sun. We imagined how much better the spot would be with the morning sun at our backs. However, the location kindly presented us with a great blue heron buffeted by persistent winds and surrounded by whitecaps.
I recorded this 59-second video of the windy great blue heron. Pardon the wind drowning out my narrative.
Unfortunately, the heron took graceful flight when I stopped recording.
As regular readers know, I am a huge fan of great blue herons.
Sunset Drive Greenway in Guntersville, Alabama
We drove to a final suggested site, this one off the State Park along Sunset Drive Greenway in the town of Guntersville. The shoreline and greenway are lovely. I intend to visit with Judy during the coming months, to enjoy a mid-morning stroll followed by lunch in Guntersville.
A highlight for such a stroll will be the massive eagle’s nest in a grand loblolly pine.
My 60-second Sunset Drive Eagle’s Nest.
Ours was not an outing requiring months of planning, air travel, and expensive lodging. We needed no reservations. Instead, we boarded Chris’ car after adjouring our 10:00 to 11:30 AM National Parks (LearningQuest) class session at Hampton Cove, drove 45 minutes to the park, grabbed lunch at the lodge, and began our scouting. I am a firm advocate of enjoying Nature near at hand…making the most of special places and everyday Nature!
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.
I cannot offer a quote more poignantly apropos than this anonymous statement:
The strength of the bald eagle lies not just in its wings, but in its unyielding spirit…its symbol of purity, grandeur, wildness, mastery, freedom, independence, integrity, and Americanism.
Nature’s special treats await our discovery, our understanding, and our interpretation!
Subscribe to my free weekly photo essays (like this one) at: http://eepurl.com/cKLJdL
https://stevejonesgbh.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/10/IMG_9446.jpg-10.23.25-LGSP-Near-Cabins.webp20161512Steve Joneshttp://stevejonesgbh.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/01/gbhweblogo.pngSteve Jones2025-12-15 12:11:082025-12-15 12:11:08Brief-Form Post #52: Late October Afternoon Scouting for Eagles and Nests at Lake Guntersville State Park!
I am pleased to add the 46th 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 occasionally publish these brief Posts.
I frequent forest wildness wherever my excursions take me, searching for the beauty, magic, mystery, wonder, and awe that lie hidden in plain sight. This Post derives from years of experience, study, and contemplation, inspired by some recent discoveries (August 15 and October 14, 2025). My focus is on two examples of specialized tree roots.
Adventitious Water Roots
I published a GBH Post on September 17, 2025, chronicling a mid-August visit to Huntsville, Alabama’s Goldsmith-Schiffman Wildlife Sanctuary (the Sanctuary), reporting:
We found a puzzling phenomenon, 100-feet from the shore and out of our reach, on the upstream section of Jobala Pond. Two clearly living red maple trees (Acer rubrum), standing in water, called out to us with a pinkish circumferential ring 2-4″ immediately above the water line. I magnified the image up to the limits of resolution clarity, showing the fibrous nature of the feature. I shared via social media, generating speculation. Chris and I agree with several persons who suggested that the trees, attempting to survive the saturated soil environment, sprouted air roots above the water for supplemental aeration.
Niether of us, fellow retired forester Chris Stuhlinger and I, had previously seen such a curiosity. I scoured the literature and found no succinct explanation. Note: Scoured the literature may be a little overstated! I looked, but it wasn’t like I was preparing my doctoral Literature Review. Shall I say, nothing relevant jumped out at me.
Then, lo and behold, just two months later while solo-exploring the dry-season water tupelo swamp on the Sanctuary, a Eureka moment surged from among the mosquito-infested early autumn dampness!
This three-foot diameter (dbh: diameter breast height) water tupelo, standing in persistent water in the dry-season swamp, evidenced that the winter water level reaches more than two feet higher. Although this stem stands out of my reach in my upland hiking boots, other nearby tupelos stood on dry season upland. And what a surprise to see a band of fibrous air roots ringing the high water marks.
Perseverance does indeed reward the patient and persistent Nature enthusiast. I did not visit the swamp intent on discovering the phenomenon; I went only to seek what delights might be hidden in plain sight! Even the literature opened slightly to my focused stealth…inquiring specifically of water tupelo air roots. I found:
LENTICEL AND WATER ROOT DEVELOPMENT OF SWAMP
TUPELO UNDER VARIOUS FLOODING CONDITIONS
DONALD. HOOK, CLAUD L. BROWN, AND PAUL P. KORMANIK
Forest Service, USDA, Southeastern Forest Experiment Station, Athens, Georgia 30601; School of Forest Resources, University of Georgia, Athens, Georgia 30601; Southeastern Forest Experiment Station, Athens, Georgia 30601
Plant physiology is a is not a subject for the faint of heart, or well-suited to an old retired forest generalist. Suffice it for me to conclude:
Experts confirmed the existence of such a phenomenon.
The authors observed, Water roots developed primarily under continuous flooding in moving water, some apparently originating beneath the phellogen of a lenticel and others within the phellogen or its derivatives.
Chris and I correctly explained the curiosity we observed two months prior on the red maple trees standing in water at the edge of Jobala Pond.
I discovered another facet of delight. Dr. Paul Kormanik, the third listed author, was an acquaintance during my forest industry research period (1975-79), a half-century ago.
Leonardo da Vinci relied on observation and experience to inform reason. He would have applauded Chris and me:
Wisdom is the daughter of experience.
Although nature commences with reason and ends in experience it is necessary for us to do the opposite, that is to commence with experience and from this to proceed to investigate the reason.
I recorded this 59-second video of what I termed incredible adventitious air root beards.
I loved the incredible adventitious root beards! Shall we call these trees the old men of the Tupelo Swamp? I plan to revisit when winter rains fill the sloughs.
Another Variety of Air Roots
Muscadine grape vines drape the bottomland forest at GSWS. I photographed these curtains of air roots south of the tupelo swamp. I’ve encountered the phenomenon in other wetland hardwood forests across northern Alabama. I presumed their purpose was to reach the ground (as these do), take root vegetatively, and provide propagation of their genotype. Now I am less than certain.
Once again, my uncertainty spurred additional literature scouring, if you will. A Mississippi State University Cooperative Extension on-line bulletin amplified my uncertainty:
Aerial root formation in Vitis has been documented on different grape species; however, the driving forces behind the formation of adventitious roots are not well understood.
So, where does that lead me? I have yet to document a case of the air roots sprouting regenerates when contacting the forest soil. I can suggest alternatively that thess drapes capture moist air condensation (swamp fog) to supplement aeration when soils are saturated. I pledge to continue observations and exploration, in the spirit of Albert Einstein:
I have no special talent. I am only passionately curious.
One cannot help but be in awe when [one] contemplates the mysteries of eternity, of life, of the marvelous structure of reality.
In my realm of forest Nature exploration, I conclude: The more I learn, the less I know!
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.
I cannot offer a quote more poignantly apropos than Albert Einstein’s:
One cannot help but be in awe when [one] contemplates the mysteries of eternity, of life, of the marvelous structure of reality.
I add my own bullet of Nature wisdom:
The more I learn, the less I know! (Steve Jones)
Nature’s special treats await our discovery, our understanding, and our interpretation!
Subscribe to my free weekly photo essays (like this one) at: http://eepurl.com/cKLJdL
https://stevejonesgbh.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/10/IMG_9412.jpg-GSWS-East-Side-10.14.25-Water-Tupelo-Aertion-Roots.webp20161512Steve Joneshttp://stevejonesgbh.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/01/gbhweblogo.pngSteve Jones2025-10-27 08:52:162025-10-27 08:52:16Brief-Form Post #47: Strange Bearded Tupelo Trees -- Air Root Mysteries and Curiosities!
[Note: I dedicate this Post to the memory of Charlie Kirk, a bold, courageous pioneer who tirelessly promoted a life of Faith in God’s merciful love, Patriotism, and Family. Two days after his assassination, his widow Erika said of Charlie: He loved nature, which always brought him closer to God. I echo those sentiments. Nature never fails to bring me closer to God.]
On August 15, 2025, fellow retired forester Chris Stuhlinger and I explored the western reaches of Huntsville’s Goldsmith-Schiffman Wildlife Sanctuary, a special place I’ve visited dozens of times since retiring to northern Alabama. I come back again and again, not to see the same thing, but to observe a universe of things that change minute by minute, hour by hour, day by day, and across the seasons and years. Take a walk with Chris and me to see some things that will never look exactly the same again. Nothing in Nature is static; special places offer infinite treats to those of us who seek them.
David George Haskell, professor of biology at the University of the South, published The Forest Unseen: A Year’s Watch in Nature (2012). From the back cover:
Visiting a one-square-meter patch of old-growth Tennessee forest almost daily for one year, biologist David Haskell traces nature’s path through the seasons and brings the forest and its inhabitants to vivid life. Beginning with simple observations — a salamander scuttling across the leaf litter; the first blossoms of spring wildflowers — Haskell spins a brilliant web of biology, ecology, and poetry. He explains the science that binds together the tiniest microbes and the largest mammals, and describes the ecosystems that have cycled for thousands — sometimes millians — of years. Written with remarkable grace and empathy, The Forest Unseen is a grand tour of nature in all its beauty and complexity.
Such is my mindset when I repeatedly visit the sanctuary, touring its 400 acres in all of its beauty and complexity.
Mid-Summer Morning Trek from Hidden Spring to Jobala Pond
Most of its infinite treats are hidden in plain sight, requiring only that we get into the out there from time to time, and that we understand enough of Nature to know how and where to look. Hidden Spring rises within a hunrdred feet of the Taylor Road entrance. Luxuriously vegetated with wetland trees, shrubs, and herbs, the marsh below the spring widens to several hundred feet. Heavy overcast, moistened air, and foliage still dripping from a morning shower set the other-world mood. I imagined an Old World fen.
We observed the transition from wide marsh to Hidden Spring Brook, the channel that extends through a series of beaver dams into Jobala Pond, and eventually the Flint River.
I recorded this 60-second video of what I termed on that special morning, an other-world marsh.
Clear water reflected the cloudy sky and overhead branches, amplfying the other-world mood.
Beaver enjoy the tasty and nutritious leaves, bark and cambium of native hardwood trees, stripping branches and stems, and then employing the stripped stems to repair and reinforce their structures.
This dam held back 15-18 inches of ponded water. Excuse the pun: beavers are dam-good engineers!
I’ve told the story of Jobala Pond many times. Human road engineers mined sand, clay, and gravel from the area to construct Route 431 in the 1950s, creating a borrow pit, a barren excavated depression accepting, holding, and then releasing the flow from Hidden Spring. Nature is remarkably resilient, superbly adept at healing her own wounds as well as convalescencing human insults to the land. The old borrow pit has naturalized over eight decades.
We found a puzzling phenomenon, 100-feet from the shore and out of our reach, on the upstream section of Jobala Pond. Two clearly living red maple trees (Acer rubrum), standing in water, called out to us with a pinkish circumferential ring 2-4″ immediately above the water line. I magnified the image up to the limits of resolution clarity, showing the fibrous nature of the feature. I shared via social media, generating speculation. Chris and I agree with several persons who suggested that the trees, attempting to survive the saturated soil environment, sprouted air roots above the water for supplemental aeration.
Chris and I plan to return with either a canoe or waders to more closely examine the mysterious growth.
Here are two more images of the richly-vegetated upper end of Jobala.
I hope that you agree that this is a special place.
My Avatar: Great Blue Heron
The great blue heron is the totem for my Dad, who passed away in 1996. The heron appeared as an avatar at sunrise on the frigid morning of Dad’s memorial service. Look for the story on my website. I consider every sighting of a great blue heron as Dad checking on me. He lives within me.
A heron passed noiselessly as Chris and I stood at Jobala. He (my sentimental assumption of gender) alighted beyond the pond’s outlet. We stalked the bird to within camera range.
I recorded this 50-second video when I dared not get closer.
The video and photos are not magazine-worthy, but they are soul-value priceless to me.
Again, all special places bless us with infinite treats.
Seasonal Flora
I give you some of the special floral delights we noted along our summer morning route, with no more narration than necessary. A red buckeye carries ripe fruit, its glossy fruit still within its husk.
Elderberry in full ripe fruit.
Trumpet vine sporting its late summer bugles.
Delicate partridge pea and sensitive pea.
Sensitive fern.
Tall ironweed.
Wild hibiscus.
I’ve begun to lose my bias for spring wildflowers; these late sumer beauties are hard to beat!
Nature spins a brilliant web of biology, ecology, and poetry.
Area’s Native American Presence: Archaeology and Anthropology at GSWS
I won’t devote more than a few sentences to these two images. Chris and I took advantage of our need to be on-site for a session to discuss the Native American archaeology and anthropolgy on the property with noted local archaeologist Ben Hoksbergen. Marian Moore Lewis, author of Southern Sanctuary, Bill Heslip, director of a 13-minute video about the Sanctuary, and Bill’s wife Becky gathered for a couple hours with us at a picnic table near the entrance. We made plans to visit pertinent sites on the Sanctuary when cooler weather arrives.
Watch for updates in a subsequent Post.
Thoughts and Reflections
I offer these observations:
Every walk in Nature can be a grand tour of her beauty and complexity. (Steve Jones)
Look deep into Nature, and then you will understand everything better.(Albert Einstein)
Nothing in Nature is static; special places offer infinite treats to those of us who seek them. (Steve Jones)
He loved nature, which always brought him closer to God.(Erika Kirk)
Inhale and absorb Nature’s elixir. May Nature Inspire, Inform, and Reward you!
Note: Unless otherwise noted, all blog post images are created & photographed by Stephen B. Jones.
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 (2025) 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/2025/08/IMG_8638.jpg-08.15.25-GBH-at-Old-Pond-to-South-scaled.webp25601920Steve Joneshttp://stevejonesgbh.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/01/gbhweblogo.pngSteve Jones2025-09-17 10:03:152025-09-17 10:23:11Mid-August Morning at the Goldsmith-Schiffman Wildlife Sanctuary: A Great Blue Heron Encounter
I initially developed this Tenth-Anniversary photo essay as a single post. However, its length exceeded even my generous tolerance for content and length. Here is the link to Part One: https://stevejonesgbh.com/2025/07/18/part-one-huntsvilles-goldsmith-schiffman-wildlife-sanctuary-tenth-anniversary-of-southern-sanctuary/
I repeat the opening paragraph of Part One:
I visited Huntsville, Alabama’s Goldsmith-Schiffman Wildlife Sanctuary on May 17, 2025, with Marian Moore Lewis, author of Southern Sanctuary: A Naturalist’s Walk through the Seasons ((2015), Bill Heslip, Director of A Tale of Two Extraordinary Women (2022; a 14-minute video telling the tale of the Sanctuary), Chris Stuhlinger, a fellow retired forester, and me (I produced the video). We wanted to keep our friendship and love for the Sanctuary vibrant, and once more discover the delights we would find hidden in plain sight. Objective accomplished; we pledged to do it again in October!
Part One carried our venture from Hidden Spring through the marsh and down Hidden Spring Brook to the third beaver dam discharging the creek into Jobala Pond.
Jobala Pond
I’ve devoted significant narrative in some prior GSWS photo essays to the history of Jobala Pond. I won’t repeat here except to say that highway engineers created the pond by mining sand, clay, and gravel for road construction in the 1950s. All the vegetation and the complex associated ecosystem resulted from naturalization. John Muir missed nothing in Nature. Jobala Pond’s recovery from the mining ravages would not have surprisedthe inveterate Mr. Muir:
Earth has no sorrow that earth can not heal.
I never tire of the beauty, magic, wonder, awe, and inspiration that this old borrow pit presents and evokes (left). Marian caught images of two cooters from across Jobala (right).
I am hopelessly addicted to tree form oddities and curiosities. As others enjoyed the pond, I drifted to the swampy slough across the gravel path. The old snag was watching us and, with what I thought was a wink of one of the two eyes (at right), beckoned me to take a closer look. I credit woodpeckers, fungi, insects, and other critters with the sculpting. Note that the snag still supports a clinging vine, the tree’s lifelong companion. A new actor will lead the next act in this Nature drama — gravity will once again prevail. The fallen log will decompose into the rich soil. Nothing in Nature is static!
Nearby, its feet anchored in the same slough, a tree (I failed to identify the species on-site) stands on stilted legs…a living natural bridge. One might question the cause of such an odd form. Imagine decades ago a decaying tree stump offering a favorable site for a fallen seed to germinate. The seedling nourished on moisture and nutrients available in the decomposing stump, even as it extended roots downward along the stump into the rich mineral soil where the prior tree grew. In time the stump decomposed in full, leaving the stilted-root tree embracing thin air…the ghost of a stump.
Leonardo da Vinci, a ghost-spirit of a different sort, inspires me to question, puzzle, and offer explanation for the Nature mysteries I encounter:
There is no result in nature without a cause; understand the cause and you will have no need of the experiment.
I’ve watched this burled water oak near the outlet of Jobala Pond for several years. Since June 6, 2020 (image at right), the burl has more than doubled its girth.
Whether I’m writing about a North Alabama Land Trust Preserve, one of our 22 Alabama State Parks, the Sanctuary, or some other special place, I urge the managing entity to establish permanent photo points to chronicle the change that is ongoing, inevitable, and significant. The paired photos above tell the story far better than the “inimitable Dr. Jones” standing at the tree claiming, “This burl is twice as big as it was five years ago.” Only one AL State Park has created photo points: Monte Sano with funds I helped raise. Education is a fundamental mission element for the Park system, the Land Trust, and the City of Huntsville. Are these entities falling short of meeting their education imperative? You be the judge.
Here is the 59-second video of Marian offering her thoughts on our tenth anniversary explorations at Jobala Pond.
I recorded this 59-second video just below Jobala.
Enjoy the tranquil beauty of the iron bridge and Hidden Spring Brook flowing beyond it, seeking its confluence with the Flint River.
I recorded this 58-second video below Jobala at the iron bridge crossing Hidden Spring Brook.
Chris Stuhlinger, Bill Heslip, Marian Moore Lewis, and Becky Heslip posed at the wetland mitigation area.
I recorded this 59-second video of the wetland mitigation. Note, I refer to Bill in the video narrative as the Sanctuary video’s Producer; instead, he directed the production. He kindly declared me the Producer.
Closing
In closing, the Sanctuary is a speciel place. My third book, Weaned Seal and Snowy Summits: Stories of Passion for Place and Everyday Nature, captures the ecological, spiritual, and emotional nature of such special places. I offer this text from my Introduction to the book:
Awakening to Nature does not require a trip to the Grand Canyon or a trek across the Gobi. Nature is in our backyard, a nearby city park, or a state park just down the road. Anyone can develop a relationship with Nature wherever you are, a point I reiterate in each essay and a message I exhort in each and every nature-inspired life and living address I deliver. My relationship with Nature is spiritual. I view my engagement as a calling, and a noble cause to sow seeds so that others might do their own part to change some small corner of this Earth for the better through wisdom, knowledge, and hard work.
Sharing a special place with special friends multiplies the reward:
There’s a land–oh, it beckons and beckons,
And we want to go back–and we will!
Thoughts and Reflections
I offer these observations:
Nature reaches far into my heart, soul, body, mind, and spirit. (Steve Jones)
Awakening to Nature does not require a trip to the Grand Canyon or a trek across the Gobi.(Steve Jones)
Any glimpse into the life of an animal quickens our own and makes it so much the larger and better in every way. (John Muir)
Inhale and absorb Nature’s elixir. May Nature Inspire, Inform, and Reward you!
Note: Unless otherwise noted, all blog post images are created & photographed by Stephen B. Jones.
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 (2025) 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/2025/05/IMG_7452.jpg-05.17.25-Marian-Bill-and-SJ.webp15122016Steve Joneshttp://stevejonesgbh.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/01/gbhweblogo.pngSteve Jones2025-08-13 10:30:162025-08-17 15:12:12Part Two -- Huntsville's Goldsmith-Schiffman Wildlife Sanctuary: Tenth Anniversary of Southern Sanctuary!
My two Alabama grandsons (Jack Disher, 17, and Sam Disher, 11) accompanied me on June 24, 2025, to the North Alabama Land Trust’s Green Mountain Nature Preserve. We explored the Alum Hollow Trail, where I was scheduled to lead a Land Trust Nature Hike on June 28, 2025. I wanted to scout the trail for features worthy of focus for the planned Land Trust nature venture. Most importantly, I treasure time in Nature with Jack and Sam. I want my passion for the natural world to live in them far beyond my fleeting time on this pale blue orb. Come along with me (and Jack and Sam) through observations, reflections, photos, and brief videos.
Four days later I led the Land Trust Hike with ten eager Nature enthusiasts.
The trail is relatively flat along the 1,400 to 1,500 foot plateau top of Green Mountain. Mixed second-growth upland hardwood is the dominant forest cover, yet shortleaf (below) and Virginia pines occupy the WSW-facing ridge rim where the trail took us. I’ll say more about the preserve’s pine, represented here with a trail marker sign.
Every time I saunter along a forest trail I find magic, wonder, beauty, awe, and inspiration hidden in plain sight. The Alum Hollow Trail was no exception.
Notable Non-Tree Species
Vaccinium aboreum is a species new to me since retiring to Madison, Alabama in 2018. It’s the largest member of the blueberry genus. My fascination may or may not derive from its mirthful common names: farkleberry, sparkleberry, and winter huckleberry. An NC State University online Cooperative Extension publication describes this large vaccinium:
Sparkleberry is a small, deciduous to evergreen shrub or tree that may grow 10 to 20 feet tall. It can be found in rocky woodlands, sandy woodlands, and on cliffs. The leaves are alternate with a smooth or finely toothed margin. The bark is shredded and patchy with reds, browns, and grays present. In early summer, small, white, bell-shaped flowers mature. In the fall, this plant has excellent color. The tall shrub produces a black fruit that matures in the fall and is a good food source for wildlife.
It’s a tough lower-story shrub, seeming to prefer harsh dry sites. I admire it for thriving where more demanding species fear to tread.
We found cedarglade St. John’s wort in flower. Also from an online NC State sourse:
St. John’s Wort is native to SE USA and in NC it is found in the western mountain areas. It is a small, dense shrub that grows 2-4 feet tall and wide with a rounded dense form. It inhabits glades and dry limestone ledges. The foliage may appear slightly bluish-green and is evergreen in its southern range. The showy yellow flowers are bright yellow with numerous stamens on new wood and appear in June-July.
Its foliage and yellow flower drew me in for a closer look.
Greater tickseed is a member of the aster family and is found across Alabama from the Gulf coast to the Tennessee line. I love its whorled leaves.
We feature hydrangea (oakleaf; endless summer; little lime) in our home landscaping. Near the falls the boys and I found wild hydrangea in full flower. Grandson Sam snapped these images.
Although I missed seeing naked-flowered tic-trefoil with the boys, the Land Trust group oohed over its delicate pink blossoms. Note its tri-leaf (i.e. trefoil) foliage. The species is a Legume, a member of the pea family.
I had never asked Jack or Sam to record a brief interpretive video. They have heard me record many, when their role was to be quiet for a moment. I decided to give Sam a try. Without hesitation he recorded this 39-second sassafras identification lesson. He performed as though he’d done it a dozen times! Jack and I walked far enough away not to distract him. He needed only one take. I am grandfather-proud of the result — he may be catching the Nature bug!
We’ll hone his and Jack’s video artistry time and time again!
Selected Curiosities
My third book, Weaned Seals and Snowy Summits (co-authored with Dr. Jennifer Wilhoit), highlighted our passion for place and everyday Nature. The term everyday Nature is adequate but falls far short of sufficient. My eyes wander, seeking the unusual, the bizarre, oddities, and curiosities. I say that, yet I must confess that unusual, bizarre, odd, and curious are within the realm of everyday Nature. Nothing in Nature is strange; some things may be unexpected…but strange in Nature is commonplace!
A vividly green vine spiraling a pole-sized hickory tree may strike the uninformed as strange, but its not at all uncommon for a supplejack vine to have hitched a ride to the full sunlight of an upper story hickory.
A large chestnut oak pointed ahead to the left as we progressed. Jack stood atop the tree’s crook. Some would opine confidently that Native Americans modified the then much smaller stem long ago to create an Indian Marker Tree. Sorry to disappoint, but some natural force (branch or fallen tree) clobbered the young erect tree, bending and breaking it about five feet above ground. The bend remains, supporting a new vertical stem that reaches into the main canopy. Nature’s primary life-imperative is to secure a pathway to immortality, whether me through Jack and Sam, or a crushed chestnut oak by way of an adventious bud sprouting a new shoot that reaches skward. The bridge to immortality extends through generations.
John Muir, too, spoke of immortality.
After a whole day in the woods, we are already immortal.
Nothing in Nature is static. A few weeks prior, this chestnut oak’s crown spread over one-fifth of an acre. One of its progeny may already be feeling the sunshine streaming in from the vacated canopy above. Adjacent trees will extend branches laterally to fill the void. The forest will persist even as individual trees succumb.
But in every walk with Nature one receives far more than he seeks. (John Muir)
I recorded this 59-second video of the fallen chestnut oak and a larger one standing regally nearby.
To many trail trekkers, a windthrown oak is merely an obstacle. To the trail maintenance crew…a task. To me, a prompt for mental wandering and contemplation. I wondered whether Native Americans traversed Green Mountain across their 13-15 millennia of occupation. How many times over those 140 centuries did a windblown chestnut oak bar their transit?
Southern Pine Beetle Outbreak
Summer 2024 was a banner year for southern pine beetle infestations across central and northern Alabama, killing thousands of acres of pine forests. Although upland hardwoods dominate the preserve, the Alum Hollow Trail passes through several hundred linear feet of mostly Virginia pine and, to a lesser extent, shortleaf pine. Beetle-killed pine trees posed a threat to trail users.
Land Trust crews felled dead trees. Jumbles of dead pine debris line the trail. Importantly, the forest persists. Species composition has changed. The piles of pinewood will decompose. Adjacent trees will reach into the crown opening; new stems will grow from the forest floor.
Sam found intrigue in a dead pine carcass recently fallen below the trail.
Curiosities and oddities are commonplace. Strange encounters are the norm to those sauntering and paying attention.
Fungi along the Alum Hollow Trail
Beetles belong to the animal kingdom; oak trees represent the plant kingdom; fungi are members of their own kingdom. Mushrooms are the spore producing reprodctive organs of fungi, which variously decay living organic matter, consume dead biomass, or grow symbiotically with living plants. I won’t go beyond that generalization. Go to the Blog page of my website (https://stevejonesgbh.com/blog/) and search for mushrooms, which will direct you to multiple photo essays focusing on my mushroom encounters. I give you below a few photos of fungi we found along the Alum Hollow Trail.
Coker’s amanita (Sam’s photos) is a common pure white gilled mushroom.
iNaturalist does a good job identifying mushrooms when given top, side, and underside photo views.
Red chanterelle (Sam’s photos) attracted us with their vivid laterns along the trail. A coarsely gilled edible mushroom genus, chanterelles are mycorrhiza fungi with mycelia growing within tree roots, benefitting both the tree and the fungus.
Flaming gold bolete, a member of a polypore (hollow tubes rather than gills) group common in northern Alabama.
Some bolete species are mycorrhizal; other species are parasitic. Some are delectibly edible, while others are not table-worthy; distinguishing among species can be difficult. The boletes are not among the mushrooms I forage!
Alum Shelter and Waterfall
On both days, we turned at the waterfall and shelter.
I asked Jack to record a brief video at the falls. Like Sam, he performed well, recording this 25-second video.
I’ve seen the falls with greater flow, and I’ve visited with far less.
Uncertain of my ability to clamber down to the falls after my two 2024 total knee replacements, I recorded this 59-second video from the trail above the falls.
The Alum Cave is a misnomer. It’s a ledge overhang.
Protected from sunlight and rain, the shelter provides a pleasant spot for resting and reflecting.
I recorded this 60-second video at the shelter.
A child of the central Appalachians, I feel at home in the preserve’s rugged terrain. Pausing at the shelter prompted me to step back six decades. Nature has a way of transporting me, physically, mentally, and spiritually!
A Final Critter
Although the final image in my photo essays, this eastern fence lizard greeted the Land Trust entourage early on our venture. I offer it in closing only because I did not concieve it as a good place to start.
Thoughts and Reflections
I offer these observations:
He who can no longer wonder and stand rapt in awe, is as good as dead, a snuffled-out candle. (Albert Einstein)
The cycle of life is without end…as long as our sun shines, rain falls, and Earth remains otherwise inhabitable. (Steve Jones)
Nothing in Nature is static, whether a mountain range or a northern Alabama upland forest.(Steve Jones)
Inhale and absorb Nature’s elixir. May Nature Inspire, Inform, and Reward you!
Note: Unless otherwise noted, all blog post images are created & photographed by Stephen B. Jones.
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 (2025) 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/2025/06/IMG_7856.jpg-06.24.25-Green-Mtn-Alum-Hollow-Trail-Alum-Shelter.webp20161512Steve Joneshttp://stevejonesgbh.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/01/gbhweblogo.pngSteve Jones2025-07-30 09:58:242025-07-30 09:58:24A Return to the Alum Hollow Trail at North Alabama Land Trust's Green Mountain Nature Preserve
I visited Huntsville, Alabama’s Goldsmith-Schiffman Wildlife Sanctuary on May 17, 2025, with Marian Moore Lewis, author of Southern Sanctuary: A Naturalist’s Walk through the Seasons (2015), Bill Heslip, director of A Tale of Two Extraordinary Women (2022; a 14-minute video telling the tale of the Sanctuary), and Chris Stuhlinger, a fellow retired forester. We wanted to keep our friendship and love for the Sanctuary vibrant, and once more discover the delights we would find hidden in plain sight. Objective accomplished; we pledged to do it again in October!
Marian’s book occupies a special place on my office bookshelf; I may be its biggest champion, wherever I speak or teach in our region.
I don’t see the need for a lot of narrative text for this post, the 30th of my weekly photo essays dedicated to the Sanctuary. I visited first on June 6, 2020 (https://stevejonesgbh.com/2020/06/23/visiting-a-southern-sanctuary-my-orientation-visit/). I reflected on the first GSWS post that the Sanctuary is a special place…and I plan to return again and again:
Robert Service, a British poet who wrote about the Far North during his turn-of-the-prior-century wanderings in the Gold Rush Yukon, beautifully corralled the magic of place in his Spell of the Yukon:
There’s a land–oh, it beckons and beckons,
And I want to go back–and I will
It’s the great, big, broad land ‘way up yonder,
It’s the forest where silence has lease;
It’s the beauty that thrills me with wonder,
It’s the stillness that fills me with peace.
I recorded this 50-second video offering my reflections on Southern Sanctuary.
I published a photo essay about our YouTube video in October 2022: https://stevejonesgbh.com/2022/10/11/goldsmith-schiffman-wildlife-sanctuary-a-tale-of-two-extraordinary-women/. Here’s the video if you care to take time to watch it now:
The three of us, Director (Bill), Talent (Marian), and Producer (Steve) posed on May 17 by the information marquee.
As we crossed the grassy area heading into the Sanctuary, we encountered a cooter, covered with aquatic micro-plants, laying eggs. She did not object to the five of us gawking and snapping photos.
We appreciated seeing a climbing prairie rose, a stunning native growing along the Hidden Spring edge of the road.
This species grows throughout most of the eastern US.
Hidden Spring Marsh
Hidden Spring broadens into an extensive marsh as it approaches Jobala Pond. Vibrant arrow-leaf alum and cattail prevail, each among my favorite freshwater aquatic species.
View my 51-second video of the marsh with no narrative; I chose instead to allow an indigo bunting and a tufted titmouse to hold forth!
Marian captured this image of a midland water snake that slithered atop the marsh water before pausing. Marian relies upon a real camera (a high quality Canon with all the bells and whistles). I feel deep envy with my iPhone. Is it time for me to take the dive?!
We saw three snakes on our three-hour saunter. I share John Muir’s sentiment about encountering all sorts of animals in Nature (Even, and perhaps especially, snakes!):
Any glimpse into the life of an animal quickens our own and makes it so much the larger and better in every way.
The marsh thrust another gift in our face — Canada goose parents and nine goslings among the arum. Marian pulled the camera from her side and auto-snapped the convoy before I could extract my iPhone from my shirt pocket. Discovering Nature treasures hiding in plain sight is one thing; capturing their image is another.
Insects are impossible for me to photograph. The blue dragon defied me; I tried to focus on the insect and all my iPhone saw was the much larger view beyond. Neither the dragonfly nor the six-spotted tiger beetle felt a need to hold still enough for me to get close. Marian performed ably and simply…her images are great!
Here is my 57-second video of the marsh with narrative:
A bit further along, I recorded this 58-second video where Hidden Springs Brook approaches Jobala Pond. Margaret Ann Goldsmith donated the original 300 acres of the Sanctuary to the city of Huntsville. I stumbled on the video narrative introducing Marian as Margaret Moore Lewis. Isn’t my first such error; won’t be my last!
Three small beaver dams funneled and terraced Hidden Spring Brook to Jobala Pond. Each one dropped the brook about a foot.
I recorded this 60-second video of a third beaver dam right before Jobala Pond.
Who can resist the music of falling water, made all the sweeter by knowing beaver designed the instrument?
I leave you here with a simple To Be Continued!
And my standard closing boilerplate:
Note: Unless otherwise noted, all blog post images are created & photographed by Stephen B. Jones.
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 (2025) 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/2025/05/IMG_7427.jpg-05.17.25-Giant-Burl-on-Water-Oak-at-GSWS.webp20161512Steve Joneshttp://stevejonesgbh.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/01/gbhweblogo.pngSteve Jones2025-07-18 12:06:402025-07-18 12:06:40Part One -- Huntsville's Goldsmith-Schiffman Wildlife Sanctuary: Tenth Anniversary of Southern Sanctuary!
Fellow retired foresters Chris Stuhlinger, Brian Bradley, and I co-led a University of Alabama in Huntsville, OLLI (Osher Lifelong Learning Institute) Nature Hike on April 13, 2025. Our group of 25 covered a little over two miles on what I’ve dubbed the Halloween Forest Trail on the North Alabama Land Trust’s Green Mountain Nature Preserve near Huntsville. We focused on the unusually large smoketree grove, the richly mixed hardwood forest, and the newly-constructed woodland trail and its design. We convened at the Astalot Trailhead.
Brian introduced me to the Holloween Forest on October 25, 2024, prompting me to draft a photo essay: https://stevejonesgbh.com/2024/12/16/halloween-forest-of-rare-smoketrees-cotinus-obovatus-on-green-mountain-nature-preserve/
I recorded this 42-second video when we left the trailhead. One of our participants provided a full-throat marching tune.
Brian led the way offering commentary on trail construction and forest ecology.
The early growing season hike introduced me to smoketree foliage, the leaves seeming to emerge from this trunk that appears old and rough…not at all vibrant, yet another mysterious element of my Halloween tree.
My 58-second smoketree video does not belie the gloomy nature of the smoketrees nor the Halloween mood I perceived in October.
I would not have been surprised to see saprophytic mushrooms (feeding on dead wood) sprouting from this branch. Instead, these leaves are very much alive, as is the tree.
Like so many sylvan haunts (pun intended), the Halloween forest is a place of contrasts. The trail passed a four-by-four foot, five feet tall limestone pillar. Its tabletop supported a rich terrarium surface, populated with woodland stonecrop, resurrection fern, moss, Virginia creeper, and leafcup.
My 57-second limestone pillar video tells the tale.
Woodland stonecrop presents a stunning floral display perched on a barren rock. Life finds a way. One plant’s desert is another’s oasis!
Resurrection fern commonly grows on leaning and horizontal tree branches. I was not surprised to see it thriving on the limestone tabletop (below left). Virginia creeper has found purchase on the pillar among a rock-top resurrection fern colony (right).
I’ve seen leafcup exceed four-feet on the forest floor. It may be approaching its rock-top terminal height (below).
Consistent with the Halloween theme, this grotesque three-foot diameter burl graced a large chinkapin oak 30-feet above the forest floor. Burls result from a micro-organsim (fungus, virus, or bacterium)-triggered unconsolidated wood growth on or within the trunk. A human analogy might be a benign tumor…a non-fatal disfigurement.
Again, keeping with the spooky-trail theme, here is a patch of Halloween-lovely flowers — American cancer-root. Yes, they are indeed flowers blossoming from a plant. A parasitic flowering plant that flourishes on oak roots. No chlorophyll on this woodland perennial! No wedding bouquet or boutonniere floral destination for these beauties!
I recorded this 40-second video of American cancer-root, a common sight in the early spring oak woods of northern Alabama.
I delight in musing on the dark side of life and ventures in the woods: tree form oddities and curiosities; macabre woodland fantasies; and stories of the strange and wondrous. Washington Irving is among the masters in spinning such tales of the dark woods, foul and repugnant, harboring ghastly aberrations and savage beasts (The Legend of Sleepy Hollow, 1820):
Certain it is, the place still continues under the sway of some witching power, that holds a spell over the minds of the good people, causing them to walk in a continual reverie. They are given to all kinds of marvellous beliefs, are subject to trances and visions, and frequently see strange sights, and hear music and voices in the air.
I have walked the Halloween Forest, fortunately, only during daylight hours. I wonder how I might fare wandering the trail alone on a gusty late October night?!
All these, however, were mere terrors of the night, phantoms of the mind that walk in darkness; and though he had seen many spectres in his time, and been more than once beset by Satan in divers shapes, in his lonely pre-ambulations, yet daylight put an end to all these evils. (The Legend of Sleepy Hollow)
Some Appropo Closing Reflections
Yesterday (April 29, 2025 as I write this) I covered (walked; hiked; wandered; roamed; sauntered) along a demanding trail at a nearby nature preserve. I did it at my chosen pace, stopping often to snap photos and record brief narrated videos. When Chris and I co-lead an OLLI venture, I rapidly fall behind, being unwilling to forgo gathering images and videos. Moving with the OLLI pack, Chris and Brian handled interpretation. I found myself lagging satisfactorily, pausing with Randy Boyette at a pleasant limestone ledge, together reflecting on John Muir’s thoughts on this practice termed hiking.
Muir is oft quoted regarding the subject:
I don’t like either the word [hike] or the thing. People ought to saunter in the mountains – not ‘hike!’ Do you know the origin of that word saunter? It’s a beautiful word. Away back in the middle ages people used to go on pilgrimages to the Holy Land, and when people in the villages through which they passed asked where they were going they would reply, ‘A la sainte terre’, ‘To the Holy Land.’ And so they became known as sainte-terre-ers or saunterers. Now these mountains are our Holy Land, and we ought to saunter through them reverently, not ‘hike’ through them.
Henry David Thoreau offered a similar sentiment:
I think that I cannot preserve my health and spirits, unless I spend four hours a day at least – and it is commonly more than that – sauntering through the woods and over the hills and fields, absolutely free from all worldly engagements.
The genius of walking lies not in mechanically putting one foot in front of the other en route to a destination but in mastering the art of sauntering.
I have met with but one or two persons in the course of my life who understood the art of Walking, that is, of taking walks — who had a genius, so to speak, for sauntering.
Every walk is a sort of crusade.
With a dramatic flair, Thoreau laid out the spiritual conditions required of the true walker:
If you are ready to leave father and mother, and brother and sister, and wife and child and friends, and never see them again — if you have paid your debts, and made your will, and settled all your affairs, and are a free man — then you are ready for a walk. No wealth can buy the requisite leisure, freedom, and independence which are the capital in this profession… It requires a direct dispensation from Heaven to become a walker.
Yes, I admit to possessing a spiritual flair for my woodland and wildland saunters. Perhaps when I venture alone, I am traveling with three companions: John Muir, Henry David Thoreau, and Jack Emerson Jones, my dear father who planted the seeds of dramatic flair and spiritual dimension.
Thoughts and Reflections
I offer these observations:
It requires a direct dispensation from Heaven to become a walker. (Henry David Thoreau)
Perhaps when I venture alone, I am traveling with three companions: John Muir, Henry David Thoreau, and Jack Emerson Jones, my dear father who planted the seeds of dramatic flair and spiritual dimension. (Steve Jones)
I don’t like either the word [hike] or the thing. People ought to saunter in the mountains – not ‘hike!’(John Muir)
Certain it is, the place still continues under the sway of some witching power. (Washington Irving)
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
Photo at right above from my October 2024 visit — me standing under a macabre smoketree.
https://stevejonesgbh.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/04/IMG_7135.jpg-04.13.25-OLLI-Halloween-Trail-Am-Cancer-root.webp20161512Steve Joneshttp://stevejonesgbh.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/01/gbhweblogo.pngSteve Jones2025-07-02 09:33:242025-07-02 09:33:24Green Mountain Nature Preserve: Spring UAH OLLI Hike through the Halloween Forest
