Into the Woods

Randy checks the hive

Bees are thriving, the garden is growing, and our woodlands are getting some attention from a forest management specialist. We invited Jake Pressley from Grateful Trees and Bees to come walk the trails with us on Monday, July 11. Anthony, Jeffry, Paul, and Hope spent several hours on this sultry morning walking the entire trail network through forest and fields. Jake was very taken with the enticing trail design, so beautifully mapped by Anthony and sculpted by so many members and friends over these past 2-3 years.

With our Forest Stewardship Management plan in hand (supported by the Eno River Association in early 2013), we examined every area noticing what we need to keep an eye on for later and what needs attention soon. Marvelous mushrooms in orange and blue hues teased us off the path here and there, along with Indian Pipe flowers in ghostly white and blushing Pinesap clusters. Jake noted the many Christmas ferns bespeaking rich soil, and he enjoyed the variety of tree and plant life abundant all around. We even picked our way to the other side of the lush and simmering wetland, but further trail blazing will need to wait for another time.

We’re awaiting his report, but it’s clear that the ever-invasive Tree of Heaven definitely needs to be corralled if not eliminated…somehow. And then there’s the dam which needs to be cleared again of shrubby growth before the roots get too large and well established. But overall, it looks like a time to wait-and-watch as the forest reveals to us what’s needed next for vitality and health a few years hence.