“Acts of creation are ordinarily reserved for gods and poets, but humbler folk may circumvent this restriction if they know how. To plant a pine, for example, one need be neither god nor poet; one need only own a shovel. By virtue of this curious loophole in the rules, any clodhopper may say; Let there be a tree – and there will be one. If his back be strong and his shovel sharp, there may eventually be ten thousand. And in the seventh year he may lean upon his shovel, and look upon his trees, and find them good.”
-pg. 81, “A Sand County Almanac,” Aldo Leopold
I found this quote relevant because it shows us as the proponents of the environment. We can take the action to plant trees, among other things, to have a direct positive impact on the world around us. I think it’s important to remember that our actions aren’t negligible but can really have an effect.
While I was wondering through the brush around my parents land on a cold midday Feb. 10th, I came to a more heavily wooded area with bare trees and found these strong vines running all over and in-between the branches. These vines were nasty, covered in thorns and growing up out of the ground in small groups then grasping upwards to fight for light and water and spreading like crazy. The best guess I can make is that they were Greenbrier vines, but I decided to include them as an example of parasitism and competition in plants. The area they were in had some older trees that were just being completely overrun by the vines and there was a clear distinction between the healthy color of the vines and the “dead-like” look of the trees they had overrun.
Going out Thursday Feb. 19 and the temperature was somewhere in the 60s. I notice a lot of activity near a Cedar tree and going closer I noticed a nest with a Mockingbird flying away as I come near. The nest is too high up to inspect, but I noticed two other different trees growing in almost relatively the same spot as the Cedar.
The three trees; A Cedar, Mesquite, and possibly a Mexican Plum (?), were all growing within a foot radius of each other and all seemed relatively healthy. One of the trees didn’t seem to be overtaking the others, which led me to think about how interwoven the roots must be and if the trees are just in some form of intense competition where they are all doing well or if they have somehow formed a mutualistic bond. Either way, the Cedar was green and full, the Mesquite looked like every other Mesquite (gross and gnarled), and the Mexican Plum (?) was flowering so none had obvious signs of stress or of giving into the other trees.
Heading out Feb. 27 and it is in the low 30s, I come to a new area and find some sort of animal den hidden among a tree.
Judging by the size of the den’s hole, I would say either a family of skunk or coyote live there, both of which I’d rather not mess with so I make off in a new direction. I find some more Mesquites, Cedars, and some smaller leafless trees that I can’t identify. Walking through the tall grass a quick movement in front of me catches my eye and I begin to follow it. At first I just see a brown tinted shape jumping through the grass and I assume it to be a field mouse, but as I get closer I realize it is some species of Flycatcher (?) that I couldn’t identify because it flew away before I could really look at its color pattern.