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SATURDAY, JUNE 4, 2005:
As I mentioned in the "Intro," first day of "Mountains" class was beautiful, and I forgot my camera. Here, I will talk about the readings we have been doing for class. Reading The Forested Landscape: A Natural History of New England by Tom Wessels ISBN: 0881504203 The book is amazing and I've been telling everyone about it. There are now several friends who would like to borrow it--unfortunately, I don't want to let go of it because I want to carry it with me when I go hiking in the woods. David suggested that I photocopy some of the key pages and encase them in plastic--I just might do that. I find the whole idea of disturbance history fascinating. While fire, logging, beavers, and blight seem likely suspects, the idea that blowdowns and abandoned pastureland can greatly affect a forest is really interesting. And while I'm a bit overwhelmed with all the information Tom Wessels included in this book, I know that whenever I see a downed tree, I will take a second look--checking for rot (is it from inside or outside?), or if the fallen tree is a now nurse log--home to the next generation. Pillows and cradles--who knew? And the fact researchers have been able to determine what kind of storm, at what time of year, and in what year the trees fell, is mind-blowing! Wessels states that coppice are "trees that have more than one trunk growing from their root system." The leader dies while the root system remains alive and sprouts more trunks. There is a photo of a coppice to the right. Wessels also talks about the "Great Hurricane of 1938," that leveled "about a quarter million acres of forestland" in New England. To the right, is a photo from the Northborough Historical Society archives depicting Main Street, Northborough, right after the 1938 hurricane. Pictured is a large tree uprooted, just across the street from the library. What this picture does not show is the car this tree crushed, killing the driver. I volunteer at the historical society and have seen that particular disturbing photo. |
 Stone wall indicates possible abandoned pastureland Edmund Hill Woods  Coppice  (Photo: Northborough Historical Society) |
| A Sand
County Almanac:
And Sketches Here and There by Aldo Leopold ISBN: 0345345053 As I started reading this book, I kept thinking how great it would have been to have a next-door neighbor like Aldo Leopold who revered nature and observed it with such a careful eye. The language he uses defies gravity, and can still hold its own over half a century later. It is something worth passing along to the next generation. "Good Oak" - Feburary: "We let the dead veteran season for a year in the sun it could no longer use, and then on a crisp winter's day we laid a newly filed saw to its bastioned base. Fragrant little chips of history spewed from the saw curl... our saw was biting its way, stroke by stroke, decade by decade, into the chronology of a lifetime, written in concentric annual rings of good oak." "Bur Oak" - April: "Thus, he who owns a veteran bur oak owns more than a tree. He owns a historical library, and a reserved seat in the theater of evolution..." "Back from the Argentine" - May: "The county records may allege that you own this pasture, but the plover airily rules out such trivial legalities. He has just flown 4000 miles to reassert the title he got from the Indians, and until the young plovers are a-wing, this pasture is his, and none may trespass without his protest." Pure magic... |
 A "Good Oak" (coppice) on Wachusett Mountain  Six-week old Kiara "listens" as her grandmother reads A Sand County Almanac. |
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