Article about my reading at St. Mary's College

http://thepointnews.com/2012/03/save-the-old-growth-forests-voices-reading-presents-joan-maloof

This link points to a nice newspaper article about my St. Mary's College reading.

Old-Growth Forest Network gets first online donation!

After working  diligently, joyfully, and without pay, to develop the Old-Growth Forest Network; today we got our first online donation. If you have been waiting for your opportunity to support this important movement please visit www.oldgrowthforest.net and look for our new "donate" button. Blessings.

It will be a beautiful day to visit Adkins Arboretum

Announcement for my talk at Adkins Arboretum this week:
http://talbotspy.com/nature-writer-to-discuss-old-growth-forests-march-14-2/

Acorns in the middle of the trail at St Mary's River State Park. Did they fall this way? Or did some animal do this?

Reading tonight at St. Mary's College

It's a beautiful day on the campus of St. Mary's College. I have already taken a 4 mile hike in St. Mary's River State Park -- the candidate for the Old-Growth Forest Network in this county (St. Mary's). Saw 1 blooming flower (besides those on the red maple trees), 1 frog, and 1 butterfly, spring is here! A beautiful forest. Tonight I give a reading at the College. See link below for details:
http://www.washingtonpost.com/local/going-out-guide-for-prince-georges-county-and-southern-maryland-march-8-14/2012/02/29/gIQAkUqZxR_story.html

Checking out candidate forests

The Old-Growth Forest Network is progressing nicely. One of the best parts of what I do is inspecting  forests that are candidates for including in the network. That's how I spent my Friday. When I'm not in the forest there is plenty of paperwork to do. At present I am working on agreements for 6 forests in Maryland, 2 in New York, 2 in Massachusetts, and 1 in Virginia. Next week I head to California to start selecting forests there.

 My next talk is March 8th at St. Mary's College where I'll be reading from Teaching the Trees and Among the Ancients.

I was on the local TV news

Click here to see a brief WBOC news clip  on logging. I speak out for habitat protection. This aired in the late fall but I just got a chance to see it, thanks to a botanist friend who forwarded the link.

Chapman Forest - Charles County, Old-Growth Forest Network selection

Early Sunday morning I made the long drive to Charles County, MD
to join a group going to Chapman Forest. It will be the perfect forest for the Old-Growth Forest Network. The walk was led by Rod Simmons and these are his notes: "Fifty-four of us from the Maryland Native Plant Society, Virginia Native Plant Society, Botanical Society of Washington, Mattawoman Watershed Society, Arlington Regional Master Naturalists, Alexandria TreeStewards, and others traversed the highland areas from the Glymont area to historic Mount Aventine above the deep ravines and bluffs that comprise the old-age section of Chapman Forest. We saw a remarkable diversity of vegetation, old-age trees, and spectacular scenery throughout, including some interior sections of Shell-Marl Ravine Forest. This section of the park is a fascinating and regionally unique meeting ground for plants with a primary range in the inner piedmont and mountains and those of the southern coastal plain.

We began the walk through both the Chestnut Oak-Mountain Laurel evergreen and mixed oak-deciduous heath types of Oak-Heath Forest (USNVC: CEGL008521 and CEGL006299) on the gravel terrace near Chapman Landing Road, descended in elevation through sections of Mid-Atlantic Mesic Mixed Hardwood Forest (USNVC: CEGL006075), and traversed sections of old-age Shell-Marl Ravine Forest (Basic Mesic Hardwood Forest – USNVC: CEGL006055) that occur in the deep ravines, stream valleys, and rolling hills where calcareous and glauconitic marine sands and marl beds are exposed.

Annual Winter Solstice field trip participants and State Champion Pagoda Oak (Quercus pagoda) atop bluffs above the Potomac River at Chapman Forest, Charles County, Maryland. Photo by R.H. Simmons.