Posts

Early Autumn Delights on Madison, AL’s Rainbow Mountain Nature Preserve!

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On October 12, 2025, I led a scheduled Land Trust of North Alabama hike on the Rainbolt Trail, Rainbow Mountain Nature Preserve in Madison, Alabama. I led 16 participants, ascending ~250 feet to the Rainbow Mountain Loop Trail, then to the Balance Rock near the preserve’s summit, and returning to our trailhead. I knew as the leader and interpreter, I would have no time for photos, videos, and detailed personal exploration. Instead, I scouted the route three days in advance, sauntering to snap photographs and record brief videos to include in this Post.

 

I found multiple delights worthy of pointing out to the hikers. Fragrant sumac, often mistaken for poison ivy or poison oak, grows trailside on the Rainbolt Trail lower slope.

 

Carolina buckthorn, an understory shrub, is also common along the lower hillside.

 

Amur honeysuckle, an East-Asian invasive, is likewise common, unfortunately.

 

Chinquapin oak is among the many oak species populating our uplands.

 

Always alert for tree form oddities and curiosities, I photographed this rock-kissing chestnut oak with resurrection fern aside one of the many limestone ledges.

 

 

Rainbow Mountain is one giant limestone ledge!

 

I recorded a brief video of a terraced ledge and a shagbark hickory standing sentinel against it.

 

A still photograph of the shagbark hickory with its intricate plated, shaggy bark.

 

There is no limit to elements of Nature hidden in plain sight. My goal in leading any Nature Walk is to encourge participants to look, see, understand, and appreciate. The task of interpreting is complicated by a narrow trail, varying pace, and a wide range of participant interest. I try to reach as many as I can and transfer as much as I am able.

Alligator rock, admitedly an imaginative stretch, fascinated everyone.

 

I had recorded a brief alligator rock video on my scouting visit.

 

A three-stemmed chinquapin oak served as another point of interest…and learning. You’ll see in the video below that this fern-draped stem is one of three.

 

I recorded a brief video at above cluster.

 

A contorted dead Eastern redcedar, flanked by chinquapin oak and green ash seedlings, sported a pleasant cape of resurrection fern.

 

Viewed from different angles, the cedar with fern presents a lovely natural sculpture.

 

I never tire of the menagerie of beauty, magic, wonder, awe, and inspiration that Nature provides, like this supplejack vine spiraling on a hickory sapling. I hoped that some level of my amazement, surprise, and delight transfered to my fellow hikers. Enthusiasm for Nature can be (should be) a contagion.

 

Oh, what a treasure is this whitemouth dayflower!

 

My journey of discovery and joy is not limited to the botanical. The physical environment stirs my soul. I am a closet geologist, fascinated by this layered limestone head wall (view to the South left and North right) at the suumit of the preserve. How many millions of years ago did the source marine creatures die and their sediment collect on a shallow tropical sea floor?

 

Nature’s special treats await our discovery, our understanding, and our interpretation!

Subscribe to these free weekly Nature Blogs (photo essays) at: http://eepurl.com/cKLJdL

 

Thoughts and Reflections

 

I offer my observations:

  • Nothing in Nature is static; every visit reveals a distinct face.
  • Leading a Nature walk, I try to reach as many as I can and transfer as much as I am able.
  • Enthusiasm for Nature can be (should be) a contagion.

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

 

Note: All blog post images created & photographed by Stephen B. Jones unless otherwise noted. Please circulate images with photo credit: “©2026 Steve Jones, Great Blue Heron LLC. All Rights Reserved.”

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

 

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

 

 

 

 

Brief-Form Post #53: Wolf Creek Narrows Forest Renewal in an Old Growth Northern Hardwood Stand!

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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

 

 

Gray Cemetery: Nature Across Two Centuries of Life, Living, and Dying!

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Suburban housing and light commercial establishments surround Gray Cemetery in Madison, Alabama. Urged by friend Gilbert White to visit the 200-year-old cemetery, I (and my 17-year-old grandson, Jack) met him there on September 6, 2025, as a thunderstorm bore down on us. We returned for a leisurely, sunny Sunday afternoon with Gilbert the next day. Abandoned 100 years ago, the cemetery (courtesy of volunteers working feverishly over the past four years) is reappearing from the jungle of natural vegetation regrowth. My central observation is that Nature is adept at disappearing (i.e., hiding, obscuring, and concealing) the dedicated work of man.

The new look will attract saunterers — mature forest, an open understory, and the deep and meaningful history tales told by the ~500 permanent residents whose remains are interred here.

 

This incredible cemetery is a gem recovered from a jungle of natural vegetation and vibrant second-growth forest that strangled the cemetery for a full century. The new scene is park-like, the trees towering above the newly revealed historical site.

 

Diverse Tree Species

 

A diverse tree overstory complements the rich human history. I admit to total fascination with the forest that emerged from the grassy knoll that served as an early Madison, Alabama burial oasis. I won’t burden you with the messy dendrology of the species I discovered, admired, and celebrated.

White oak.

 

A white oak stump resulted when workers removed the tree decapitated by an F-1 tornado passing nearby earlier in the summer. I accepted the carnage as a gift, permitting me to do a ring count. The tree aged at 103 years, confirming that the tree regenerated at the time of cemetery abandonment and neglect.

 

The annual rings of oak are easy to count.

 

I assume that this 44-inch diameter white oak is older, and probably shaded a segment of the cemetery for decades prior to service and maintenance ceased.

 

See this spectacular white oak on my 27-second video:

 

Sweetgum (left) is one of our common Alabama forest denizens. The species aggressively colonizes abandoned crop, pasture, grasslands, and cemeteries. Sugar maple (right).

 

Likewise, water oak is ubiquitous in our area.

 

As are species of hickory.

 

Black cherry, not a valuable timber species in northern Alabama, does regenerate valiantly and works its way into the intermediate canopy.

 

Eastern redcedar is a prolific pioneer species. This one is notably large and vibrant. What a magnificent crown, with laddered branching that reaches high above.

 

I recorded a 57-second video of the handsome Eastern redcedar tree.

 

I mentioned the low intensity tornado that side-swiped the old cemetery. It toppled  a large loblolly pine.

 

The fallen pine, like most of the trees standing within the cemetery, probably dates back to abandonment.

 

 

 

Cemetery Remnants

 

I had not previously seen such brick tombs.

 

 

 

Here is the oldest interment at Gray Cemetery. I am sure that Mrs. Gray’s story is rich with life and living, and that many loved and loving descendents mourned her passing.

 

Local celebrated local historian John Rankin shared some time with us. He knows many of the stories that enrich our cemetery explorations and reflections.

 

I recorded this 60-second video showing the four types of tombs.

 

This is a box tomb.

 

An Irish stone tomb.

 

And another example of a standard vertical tombstone.

 

 

Cemetery Critters

 

Among the departed humans, I found evidence of a current living resident — the shed skin of a grey ratsnake.

 

And a hackberry emperor butterfly.

 

Throughout our vibrant ecosystems, including the human realm, life and death are intertwined.

 

Thoughts and Reflections

 

I offer these observations:

  • Nature is adept at disappearing (i.e., hiding, obscuring, and concealing) the dedicated works of man. (Steve Jones)
  • Throughout our vibrant ecosystems, including the human realm, life and death are intertwined. (Steve Jones)
  • This incredible cemetery is a gem recovered from a jungle of natural vegetation and vibrant second-growth forest that strangled the cemetery for a full century. (Steve Jones)

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

 

Note: All blog post images created & photographed by Stephen B. Jones unless otherwise noted. Please circulate images with photo credit: “©2025 Steve Jones, Great Blue Heron LLC. All Rights Reserved.”

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

 

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

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The Meadow at Pennsylvania’s Wolf Creek Narrows Natural Area

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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!

 

Note: All blog post images created & photographed by Stephen B. Jones unless otherwise noted. Please circulate images with photo credit: “©2025 Steve Jones, Great Blue Heron LLC. All Rights Reserved.”

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

 

 

 

Brief-Form Post #52: Late October Afternoon Scouting for Eagles and Nests at Lake Guntersville State Park!

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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.

Lake GSP

 

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!

Lake GSP

 

 

Here is my 58-second video from the cabins lakeshore.

 

I’m a sucker for tall loblollies and shoreline vistas.

Lake GSP

 

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.

Lake GSPLake GSP

 

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.

Lake GSP

 

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

 

The Northern Hardwood Forest at Pennsylvania’s Wolf Creek Narrows Natural Area

/in /by

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. I focus this photo essay on the exquisite old-growth northern hardwood forest.

My heart soared at the prospect of returning to an ecosystem shaped by a continental ice sheet just 13 millennia ago. The absolute freshness and newness stimulate wild conjecture and total admiration for Nature’s rapid recovery from thousands of feet of ice.

The Western PA Conservancy provided an online description:

Wolf Creek Narrows Natural Area is particularly known for its spectacular display of spring wildflowers. An active floodplain, mature northern hardwood forest, and scenic cliffs make this property one of WPC’s most popular. It is believed that the steep, narrow gorge of Wolf Creek Narrows originally formed when the ceiling of an ice-age cave eroded and collapsed due to runoff from the melting glacier. The site now consists of a high-quality stream meandering through towering 50-foot cliffs. These natural processes, including annual flooding and ice scouring, as well as limited human activities, have resulted in diverse natural communities.

We have lots of karst topography and abundant caves in my present home range of northern Alabama, but nothing so exciting as ice-age caves and ice scouring!

The meadow trail below led into the deep forest.

 

Okay, I’ve opened the portal to Wolf Creek Narrows. Now comes the tough part. How do I package 31 photos and two brief videos into a Post digestible within 15-minutes? Species resident to the Allegheny Hardwood forests of my 1984-85 NW PA and SW NY PhD field research welcomed me with warm and comforting embrace.

 

I’ve found that brief videos tell a richer tale than still photographs and written narrative. I recorded this 58-second video within the mixed forest. I hope that I’ve stimulated your interest in this special place.

 

The Narrows and Wolf Creek lie beyond the forest edge.

 

Matt stands six-feet tall, behind a 30-inch diameter American beech. The red oak beyond the beech (at left) is nearly 40-inches in diameter.

 

You don’t need my narrative to appreciate the beauty, magic, inspiration, and awe of this park-like northern hardwood wonderland.

 

Take a look heavenward into this cathedral forest canopy.

 

I love the deep shade and open understory far below.

 

I frequently lead or co-lead organized woodland Nature excursions (saunters) in parks, preserves, refuges, and sanctuaries near my Madison, Alabama home. Like John Muir, I prefer sauntering in the woods…abhoring hurrying through the forest. I noticed that Oakley takes the same approach, sniffing and scenting her way within the woods, reading the signs, never missing an olfactory clue. My iPhone camera substitutes for scenting. So much of what I seek in Nature lies hidden in plain sight. I believe my own joy in discovery matches Oakley’s!

 

I can’t imagine Oakley concerned with steps, miles, time elapsed, or other metrics. For her, each sniff tells a tale. My objective is to learn from every Nature venture, intent upon constructing a meaningful tale in form of a photo essay like this one.

In fact, my retirement mission, practiced in these Posts, is to: Employ writing (and photography) to educate, inspire, and enable readers and viewers to understand, appreciate, and enjoy Nature… and accept and practice Earth Stewardship.

I keep my nose fine-tuned for sniffing tree form oddities and curiosities. A living, deeply decayed, cankered intermediate canopy sugar maple forced me to snap photographs of both the canker and the brown mushrooms above. How long ago did the fungus (or fungi) infect the sugar maple? How long will the tree survive? Death is a big part of life in the forest, whether west-central Pennsylvania or Alabama’s Tennessee River Valley.

 

Again, so much in Nature lies hidden in plain sight. Oakley discovered untold olfactory treasures. Most un-attuned hikers would not have seen, understood, and appreciated the visual treasures I encountered in our brief morning excursion. Allow me now to superficially catalog the more notable main canopy tree species.

 

Diverse Species Introductions

 

With little need for extensive narrative, I offer photos expressing the forest’s dominant upper canopy tree species. Yellow poplar reigns supreme at Wolf Creek Narrows, just as the species rules the high canopy at my favorite deep forest stand along the Wells Memorial Trail in Alabama’s Monte Sano State Park.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I recorded this 59-second video of the forest’s mixed species.

 

I conducted my doctoral field research in the Allegheny Hardwood forests within 80 miles of Wolf Creek…forests dominated by black cherry.  I revere the species for its beautiful high grade furniture wood, superior height growth, straight form, and handsome bark and foliage. The white-trail-marked black cherry (image below right) delivered a message meant for me. The species marked my professional development re-route. I worked 12 years after earning my Forestry BS for a southern paper and allied products manufacturing company that relied heavily on loblolly pine, a utility species here in the Southeast. Black cherry is anything but a utility species. It’s the filet mignon of furniture grade timber. Black cherry served as the North Star for my second career launch. The big white-blazed cherry signaled that the species remains a major emblem and totem for my path well into retirement. Among my fellow Union Camp foresters, I chose the path less traveled…one lined by black cherry trees (the other edged by loblolly pine) leading to a PhD and 35 years at nine universities.

Two roads diverged in a wood, and I—
I took the one less traveled by,
And that has made all the difference.

(Robert Frost)

 

American beech and yellow birch reminded me of my love for northern hardwood forests.

 

Basswood (tree and leaves) also ranges into northern Alabama, but the entire mixed species forest package at Wolf Creek represents a special orchestration that strokes my psyche and lifts my entire body, heart, mind, soul, and spirit. The assemblage reached me as Art Garfunkel belting his full-bodied Bridge Over Troubled Waters!

 

Black walnut tree and nut.

 

 

Bitternut hickory.

 

And nut.

 

Cucumber tree and leaf.

 

Red oak, deep memories, and an older gent feeling young-at-heart experiencing a symbolic step into his past…at home in a place he’d never been before.

 

Forests like this netted me decades ago, never completely allowing release. I think of Robert Service’s The Spell of the Yukon:

The freshness, the freedom, the farness–

O God! how I’m stuck on it all.

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.

Some of me remains in the Far Northland of Alaska, where we lived 2004-08. Service nailed the place and my sentiment. In similar fashion, vestiges of these magnificent northern hardwood forests habituate my psyche. I want to go back–and I will, if only to the nearby Wells Memorial Trail, a suitable southern version of a rich upland forest.

 

Thoughts and Reflections

 

I offer these observations:

  • The rich northern hardwood forest is an orchestral composition, a natural Bridge Over Troubled Waters. (Steve Jones)
  • Black Cherry is a trail marker species, both a literal guide through the Wolf Creek Narrows forest…and a career/life path symbol and guidepost for me. (Steve Jones)
  • Mine is a story of passion for place and everyday Nature. (Steve Jones)

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

 

Note: All blog post images created & photographed by Stephen B. Jones unless otherwise noted. Please circulate images with photo credit: “©2025 Steve Jones, Great Blue Heron LLC. All Rights Reserved.”

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

 

 

 

 

The Nature of Legendwood Development

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Judy and I closed on the house we built in Madison, Alabama’s Legendwood development, on December 24, 2015. I am posting this photo essay for two reasons. First, a tenth anniversary merits commemoration. Second, I feel compelled to remind my neighbors and friends how fortunate we are to reside in an enclave defined by Nature in a city and county growing explosively. Judy and I view our community as an oasis surrounded by busy roads, proliferating apartment buildings, and diminishing farmland and forests. Straying from my wildland-focused weekly Great Blue Heron Posts, I share these observations, reflections, photos, and two brief videos on Legendwood, a community of 124 homes, three ponds (the largest spanning 3.7 acres), a 5.2-acre woodlot along Balch Road, and a full, lighted sidewalk circuit totaling 3.48 miles.

 

 

The Rockhaven Drive entrance from Capshaw Road (left) and Legendwood Drive entrance from Balch Road (right) are attractive portals to a desirable, high-quality residential community. The map defines our neighborhood.

 

Likewise, the aerial photo shows Balch as the eastern border and Capshaw to the north. Woodgrove Drive and its homes constitute the western extent. A long row of new apartments borders our southern boundary, crammed against backyards and fences.

 

I’ll begin this virtual walking tour from the Balch Road entrance. Our 5.2-acre woodlot lies along Balch south of the entrance. Oak, hickory, maple, poplar, and other deciduous species dominate. Barren in winter, the forest offers deep summer shade. I’ve heard musings about selling the wooded haven. Such a sale would generate income, even as it condemns us to another commercial or residential enterprise pressing against our eastern flank. I object strongly to selling it simply to generate a little HOA income. The woods offer a rich, biological ecosystem, a buffer to external negative development pressures. I will gladly conduct information and interpretive saunters for residents within the parcel at request (I have a 1973 Forestry BS and a doctoral degree in applied ecology).

 

The south side of Legendwood beyond the Balch entrance welcomes residents and visitors with a touch of Nature (grassy lawn, beds, shrubs, trees, and hardscape), maintained contractually or by Board member and resident volunteers. Admittedly, the well-landscaped Legendwood roadside when a driver exits or is about to enter the Balch traffic flow, often escapes our notice and appreciation.

 

Judy and I walk an average of two miles daily through our community, ensuring our appreiation and enjoyment of the Nature of Legendwood. The northside amenities along Legendwood satisfy our quest for a home environment that nourishes body, mind, heart, soul, and spirit. Its no wonder our homes sell quickly and values outpace inflation.

 

Imagine the classlessness and boredom of entering a neighborhood absent median strips (like the one within a 100 feet of the entrance) and landscaped cul-de-sacs (at the end of Springhaven). I compliment our Board for establishing and retaining high standards for community aesthetics and individual home appearance.

Springhaven

 

The intersection of Legendwood and Hawks Crest epitomizes the aesthetic richness of our community, a step above nearby developments with dull, unimaginitive narrower lanes, cars parked curbside, and no standards for home landscaping and maintenance.

 

The cul-de-sac at the northern end of Hawks Crest features three nicely crowned ornamental trees, a small natural respite to a short street with seven homes, including the two along Legendwood.

 

At the southern end, few residents have reason to travel to Barons Court, yet Judy and I make a point to visit regularly on foot. A broad grassy expanse (a quarter-acre) beckons drivers at the south end of Hawks Crest where it meet Barons. Note: I suggest planting some trees early this coming spring.

 

Cul-de-sacs at both eastern and western ends of Barons have three (east) and two (west) shade trees. How pleasant!

 

The largest pond sits along Legendwood. Both photos look to the south from community property, mowed and maintained by our HOA. Residents have shoreline access to the entire perimeter.

 

 

Even as a picture expresses a thousand words, a video speaks for a hundred photos. I recorded this 56-second video.

 

Judy and I live in the second house west of the above video camera point. We maintain (mowing, fertilizing, pest treaments) a strip of common property 30 feet from our line (the wall in photo at left) to the pond and 100 feet long, a total of 3,000 square feet. We established and care for two perennial beds within the strip for all to enjoy.

 

I recorded this 58-second video at pondside.

 

Rockhaven Drive’s maple-lined median carries us north to Capshaw.

 

At Capshaw, a lovely sinuous walkway extends west along Capshaw 660 feet. This entire area and its 1,122 foot counterpart to the east, also adjacent to Capshaw, are maintained by our HOA.

 

The eastern extension offers a large, tree and shrub-topped berm to shelter homes on the north side of Legendwood from the Capshaw traffic noise. The photo at right looks south across the berm to homes along Legendwood.

 

Our community owns a small lot on the south end of the Woodgrove cul-de-sac. Like all the other Legendwood community parcels, this lot requires HOA financial outlays.

 

Judy and I built in Legendwood because of its very Nature. We knew this would be our final relocation to an above ground residence. When we visited in spring 2015, a great blue heron stood at what was to be our shoreline…the heron is a meaningful family totem, a sort of avatar for my long-deceased Dad. We are grateful for whatever force beckoned us to Legendwood. I’ve observed as many as 24 bird species on a quiet morning from our patio. We have seen in our backyard squirrels, chipmunks, wildland rats, rabbits, skunks, raccoons, armadillos, and voles, among others. Throw in slider turtles and a huge snapper or two, bull frogs, garter and brown water snakes, and even an osprey. Ten years ago, we saw an occasional coyote and deer. We converted a vacant eroded lot to our own natural refuge.

I hike often in area State Parks, Land Trust Nature Preserves, the Wheeler National Wildlife Refuge, and diverse other nearby (as well as distant — domestic and international) natural areas. I publish a free weekly Great Blue Heron photo essay on what I term Nature-Inspired Life and Living!

Subscribe to my free weekly photo essays (like this one) at: http://eepurl.com/cKLJdL

Walking and enjoying Nature in our neighborhood is necessary, even if not sufficient. I encourage all of our fellow residents to explore segments of our 3.48 miles of heavenly, paved, nearly flat, lighted sidewalks and trails, and experience the Nature of Legendwood!

And if you want to understand more about our 5.2-acre woodland, send me an email (steve.jones.0524@gmail.com). We’ll set a date and time to explore, preferably before spring transitions to heat, humidity, ticks, redbugs, mosquitoes, and the like.

 

Thoughts and Reflections

 

I offer these observations:

  • The Nature of Legendwood is a compelling theme to distinguish our community from others. (Steve Jones)
  • There are some who can live without wild things and some who cannot. (Aldo Leopold)
  • Look deep into nature, and then you will understand everything better. (Albert Einstein)

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

 

Note: All blog post images created & photographed by Stephen B. Jones unless otherwise noted. Please circulate images with photo credit: “©2025 Steve Jones, Great Blue Heron LLC. All Rights Reserved.”

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

 

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

 

 

 

Brief-Form Post #50: Field to Forest in a WNWR Bottomland — Armed with a 1937 Aerial Photograph

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I am pleased to add the 50th of my GBH Brief-Form Posts (Less than five minutes to read!) to my website. I don’t want my enthusiasm for thoroughness and detail to discourage readers. So, I will occasionally publish these brief Posts.

 

I’ve rambled through the bottomland forests of the Wheeler National Wildlife Refuge (WNWR) south of HGH Road routinely since my 2018 retirement to northern Alabama. Fellow retired forester Chris Stuhlinger recently secured 1937 aerial photographs of the area. The images confirm some of my suppositions of forest history and contradict others. I focus this brief-form post on the forest west of Jolly B Road and south of HGH Road, where the 88-year-old image validates my supposition that this area of mature forest was open farmland when engineers completed Wheeler Dam. I captured photographs and videos for this Brief-Form Post on August 30, 2025.

The red line on this 1937 aerial image depicts the location of today’s gravel HGH Road, separating private land to the north from WNWR south of the road. The aerial photo, even though of poor resolution, clearly shows open land where I captured the photographs and two brief videos, a few hundred feet east of the copse of trees north of the road. Today, everything south of HGH is a mature forest.

HGH Road

 

This is the mid-morning view to the east where I parked along HGH Road. To all appearances, a shady forest road.

HGH

 

I recorded this 59-second video at the same location with the former open land to the south (right).

 

I turned my camera to the south, where a mature forest stands in the once open field.

HGH

 

Pointing my camera to the west, I again captured a shady forest lane.

HGH

 

I recorded this 54-second video looking west with the former open land to the south (left).

 

The two images below look into the towering mature forest where fields once grew agricultural crops.

 

Nothing in Nature is static. A century ago, these rich bottomlands, tended by farmers and mules, produced crops of corn, beans, and cotton. Priot to those years of sweat, anxiety, good years, and bad, other generations cleared the luxurious old growth forests to enable agriculture.

 

Nature always stands at the ready. The process is simple and long-practiced. Stop plowing, discing, and sowing. Nature fills the void with wind- and critter-born seeds. Bare land transitions to herbs, shrubs, seedlings, and eventually to vibrant stands of maturing trees.

This coming dormant season Chris and I will return to this old field mature forest for a deeper examination, without the company of mosquitoes, chiggers, ticks, and leafy poison ivy!

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. The great philosophers and physicists are attributed with exploring the notion of nature’s insistence on eliminating nothingness or emptiness. I say so be it; let them ponder the esoteric and say what they wish.

I adopt a simpler view, having learned through observation and experience that Nature hungrily fills every element and feature of any ecosystem I have observed. Vaporize 96,000 acres of forest on the footslopes of Mt. St. Helens in May of 1980; see the verdant slopes 45 years later. Scorch nearly 800,000 acres of Yellowstone National Park in 1988; see the wounds healing 37 years hence. My simpler view:

Nature abhors a vacuum.

I suppose I could attribute the wisdom to Henry David Thoreau:

Nature abhors a vacuum, and if I can only walk with sufficient carelessness I am sure to be filled.

He added a twist of poetry to the axiom, suggesting that Nature fills us who venture into her realm. I embrace both variations. Nature rapidly filled the WNWR void when agricultural operations ceased. Contemplating the succession from field to forest fills me as well…body, mind, heart, soul, and spirit swell with the essence of Nature.

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

 

Brief Form Post #49: Lessons and Observations from a Maryland Mountain Hardwood Forest Fire

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I am pleased to add the 49th of my GBH Brief-Form Posts (Less than five minutes to read!) to my website. I get wordy with my routine Posts. I don’t want my enthusiasm for thoroughness and detail to discourage readers. So, I will publish these brief Posts regularly.

 

On July 29, 2025, my grandson, Jack (then 17), and I hiked the Evitts Mountain Homestead Trail at Western Maryland’s Rocky Gap State Park, ascending 1,100 feet to the summit of Evitts Mountain, a six-mile round trip. A mile from the parking area, an extensive burned area rose uphill on the east side of the mountain. The trail, an old jeep road, obviously served as an effective fire break. I estimated that the fire burned within the past three years, running hot enough to kill at least half of the upland hardwood (oak-hickory) main canopy trees and all of the understory trees and shrubs.

 

A hardwood forest fire of this intensity occurs only under special circumstances, generally a very windy spring day after forest ground surface fuel has dried. One may think intuitively that autumn’s leaf litter would be more likely to burn. High winds with low humidity occur more often in the spring. Autumn seldom brings the intense dry winds that follow a late spring cold front. By mid to late April in these Central Appalachian forests, the prior year’s leaf litter and fine fuels cure rapidly. In late April of 2016, such a day in nearby west-central Pennsylvania saw nearly 10,000 acres of hardwood forest burn, the largest Pennsylvania forest conflagration in 26 years.

 

I imagined such a day triggering the fire leaving the evidence I observed. The fire left an impression of a wildfire racing up the slope consuming understory and killing overstory trees, a fire more intense than I would expect from a prescribed fire.

However, my online search discovered a November 7, 2022, announcement (Cumberland Times-news.com) of a planned 90-acre prescribed fire in the park on the east slope of Evitts Mountain, the location where I snapped these photographs and recorded the video. Excerpts from the notice:

Controlled burns for forest and wildlife habitat management are always conducted with safety as the top priority. Burn staff are trained practitioners who monitor the weather leading up to and during a burn to ensure the fire remains at the desired intensity and smoke is carried up and away from roads and homes. If the required conditions for temperature, humidity, moisture levels, cloud cover, and wind are not met or they unexpectedly change, the burn will be postponed.
Foresters and ecologists recognize that fire is a critical ecological process for many environments, including the typical Appalachian forests of oaks, hickories and pines that cover most of western Maryland. Since the 1930’s however, a lack of fire has unintentionally harmed forest health.
The controlled burn at Rocky Gap State Park is being conducted to help a variety of fire-adapted native tree and plant species, including table mountain pine (which needs fire to regenerate), pitch pine, oak trees, blueberries, huckleberries, and many native wildflowers. A more open forest will also improve habitat for birds, bats, and other animals, while also making it harder for destructive pests like pine beetles to travel between trees.
Another significant benefit of controlled burns is the reduction of dry wood and organic matter on the forest floor that build up over time, which then reduces the likelihood and severity of dangerous wildfires.
Part of the controlled burn will also be conducted through the use of an ignition drone, which allows a drone operator to drop incendiary devices on the interior of the burn site. This not only results in a more precise ignition pattern, but also reduces the need for crew members to traverse difficult terrain near the active burn.

Unfortunately, I found no online commentary or YouTube videos of the fire or its results. Clearly, I view the burn rationale and intent as well-reasoned. The results, a full two growing seasons after the November 2022, prescribed fire, suggest that the burn exceeded the planned level of intensity. Too many main canopy oaks succumbed. Survivors suffered basal scarring that will allow heart rot to infect.

I’d like to see an official assessment of the burn. How do results compare to purpose and expectations?

I recorded this 58-second video of the burn area above the trail.

 

Midway through the third growing season after the burn, some areas (left) remain mostly barren of regrowth. Other areas, like the two photos above the video and the image at right show robust understory resurgence, including tree regeneration.

 

The stand beyond Jack shows the desired intact overstory and vigorous regeneration.

 

At my request, Jack ascended 75 feet above the trail to capture these images of the uphill side of a sawlog-size chestnut oak. Because leaf litter and fine fuels aggregate on the uphill side of trees, the fire burned hotter in the concentrated debris, killing the cambium. Witness the mushrooms from decay fungi already infecting the tree that is otherwise undamaged.

 

A closeup of the colony of decay fungi mushrooms.

 

We found a number of trees below the road that showed deep decay and hollowing of oak trees similarly scarred on their upslope side from a fire decades earlier.

 

Controlled fire can be a valuable tool for forest management:

Foresters and ecologists recognize that fire is a critical ecological process for many environments, including the typical Appalachian forests of oaks, hickories and pines that cover most of western Maryland. Since the 1930’s however, a lack of fire has unintentionally harmed forest health. [From the online announcement}

During my 12 years with Union Camp Corporation (1973-1985), I oversaw prescribed burning on tens of thousands of acres, including a single day in Alabama when we ignited 4,300 acres, intentionally (by aerial ignition) and under control.  Like all tools, the use of fire requires careful planning, responsible and informed implementation, and post-treatment assessment and learning. Again, I would like to see the review of this particular prescribed fire.

I will not pass judgement. I wasn’t there. I refuse to criticize. I can only posit that the result does not appear to have yielded what was intended.

All of us who have accomplished much, have missed our mark, fallen short, or failed from time to time. Always, our intentions were sound:

A good intention, with a bad approach, often leads to a poor result. (Thomas A. Edison)

The road to hell is paved with good intentions. (Samuel Johnson)

Over my career, I missed 9,000 shots; I was on the losing side of nearly 300 games; on 26 occasions when my teammates entrusted me to take the last minute winning shot, I missed. I’ve failed over and over and over again, and that’s why I succeeded. (Michael Jordan)

I hope the various agency planners and pratitioners learned from the November 2022 prescribed fire.

 

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. Thomas Edison implored that good intentions must be matched with a good approach. Russell Stevens focused his related admonition to prescribed burning:

Prescribed fire is a process and should be well planned to safely accomplish desired goals. (Noble Research Institute)

Nature’s special treats await our discovery, our understanding, and our interpretation!

 

 

Note: All blog post images created & photographed by Stephen B. Jones unless otherwise noted. Please circulate images with photo credit: “©2025 Steve Jones, Great Blue Heron LLC. All Rights Reserved.”

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

 

Part Two 175-Year-Old C&O Canal Pawpaw Tunnel Hill Trail

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I drafted this Post a dozen weeks ago. Oh, the sweet memories it rekindled…of the hike itself and of the deep recollections of my wanderings there with Dad, as well as with Judy and our kids. And on November 14, I will take Jack, who has since turned 18, for a second visit to Auburn University. Life races ahead of memories. I’m trying my best to keep up, yet I know that one day I will trundle along as only a memory, which spurs me to plant seeds, prompted by one of my favorite quotes from Robert Louis Stevenson:

Don’t judge each day by the harvest you reap but by the seeds that you plant.

I once again visited the Pawpaw Tunnel, located within the Chesapeake and Ohio (C&O) National Historical Park, on July 28, 2025. Alabama grandsons, Jack (17) and Sam (11), accompanied me. I grew up 30 miles upstream along the Potomac River in Cumberland, Maryland. I wanted the boys to experience the Nature, history, and engineering marvel of the tunnel and canal. We walked through the 3,600-foot tunnel, traversed a mile beyond it, and then hiked the Tunnel Hill Trail over the mountain to return to the parking area. Part One carried us through the tunnel (https://stevejonesgbh.com/2025/09/25/part-one-175-year-old-co-canal-pawpaw-tunnel-where-nature-meets-engineering-and-history/); Part Two took us back over the Tunnel Hill Trail.

 

Tunnel Hill Trail

 

The Tunnel Hill Trail rose from the towpath on the same route used extensively during the construction era 175+ years ago. Signage indicated where work crews resided during the 14-year construction period. We viewed a hollow filled to the brim with rock debris blasted and excavated from the tunnel and its east-end approach. Sam and Jack assumed a victorious pose on a more current debris mound. Jack and I rested beside a white oak tree.

 

Dare I admit that the 362-foot ascent winded us? We rested on logs at the gravel parking at the top of Sorrel Ridge, where a Green Ridge State Forest dirt road met the no-access terminus of the NPS tunnel hill jeep trail. Green Ridge State Forest holds deep sentimental and professional meaning for me. Between my junior and senior undergraduate academic years, I worked under the Green Ridge Forest Supervisor, the inimitable John Mash, who demonstrated the essential need to know the land…both its natural and human history…to effectively manage it.

 

 

 

 

Jack and Sam agreed that the view more than compensated for our effort on a hot summer mid-day. CaCapon Mountain rises in the distance above Pawpaw, West Virginia.

 

I recorded this 53-second video at the summit.

 

The overlook revealed far more than the scenery…sparking fragments of memory across seasons, decades, life stages, and generations.

 

Forest Life along the Trail

 

A forest ecosystem is a complex community of plants, animals, fungi, and the physical environment. I give you a sampling of photo-worthy life forms we encountered along the trail. View this as a teaser to what could have filled volumes. This Amanita beckoned us to look closely…side view and its gilled underside.

 

And its handsome top.

 

Old-man-of-the-woods grew among the green of a cushion of moss.

 

White-pored chicken of the woods stood silently along the trail, mocking me for all the times while foraging locally in Alabama, I found nothing approaching the size and quality of this specimen. We took home only a photo of this gem.

 

I delight in spring wildflowers even as I rally to see late summer beauties like these pigeonwings

 

The tunnel and nearby West Virginia town monikers suggest that Asimini triloba might grow abundamently in the area. We saw lots of pawpaw, an understory and lower canopy tree. Sam lends a personal touch to its elongate shade-tolerant foliage.

 

We found a contorted white oak trailside as we ascended. I can only conjecture what injuries, and subsequent fungal infections, owing to humans and their equipment along the trail, permanently marred the tree and its future growth.

 

Sam spotted this agreeable tiger moth larva.

 

 

Same for this black-and-gold flat millipede.

 

I will repeat the circuit (through the tunnel and over the Tunnel Hill Trail) another time, when I return, preferably during the dormant season. Like so many of my special places and the everyday Nature that defines them, the C&O Canal and Pawpaw Tunnel extend roots deep into my mind, body, heart, soul, and spirit. Where do those intense feelings and vivid memories go when we are called Home? Perhaps fragments will live on through my children, Matt and Katy, and in Jack and Sam, Katy’s boys. Robert Louis Stevenson nailed the sentiment:

Don’t judge each day by the harvest you reap but by the seeds that you plant.

 

A Post Script

 

Contemplating the inevitable, I once thought my ashes could be spread in Teton National Park, a majestic place where I once planned a sabbatical leave after securing promotion to Full Professor at Penn State. An ascending career path instead led me immediately to Auburn University, bypassing the sabbatic. Nearly 30 years have passed since then. From my current vantage point, the Tetons is a step too far. Upon considerable thought, why not have the five grandkids and children, Matt and Katy, leave a dusting at the Potomac River overlook…and another bit in the Cathedral Forest along the Wells Memorial and Sinks Trails on Monte Sano State Park.

 

Thoughts and Reflections

 

I offer these observations:

  • My Dad was called Home 29 years ago, yet he once again accompanied me (and two of his great grandchildren) in July 2025, as I covered ground we walked together many times in my youth. (Steve Jones)
  • I am hopelessly addicted to Nature. (Steve Jones)
  • My experiences from those formative years shaped me, sculpted my lifetime addiction to Nature…propelled me to a forestry degree, and a meaningful career committed to natural resources sustainability. (Steve Jones)

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

 

Note: All blog post images created & photographed by Stephen B. Jones unless otherwise noted. Please circulate images with photo credit: “©2025 Steve Jones, Great Blue Heron LLC. All Rights Reserved.”

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

 

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