Tag: deciduous forest

Dipping your feet in the water (A first year’s experience with fieldwork)

by | 9.21.2012 at 10:07am
Tromping in the midst of the 'Jurassic Park' of the Palmaghatt Ravine. Photo: D. Martin

My feet are soaking wet and I’m playing a game of Marco Polo, but I’m nowhere near a pool. It’s my second day on the job. It’s my second week of college. I have no idea what to expect.

Maybe not the Turkey you imagine

by | 5.5.2012 at 3:10pm | 5 Comments
This Oriental beech is 164 centimeters in diameter (5 feet)

Despite reading about these temperate rainforests, this is not the Turkey I imagined. This might not be the Turkey most people imagine. I’m really not sure what you envision when you think about Turkey. A dry, open landscape? That is what I thought.

Around the Broadleaf World in 180 Days

by | 4.10.2012 at 7:49pm
Kuenzang and Chencho coring an ancient Quercus griffithii in a woodland that has been sustainably pollarded or lopped for the last 250 years near Paro, Bhutan. A Columbia University undergrad is studying the tree rings of these trees. Photo: N. Pederson

I have been very fortunate lately. In the last 6 months I visited forests I have longed dreamed about and visited forests I had never dreamed of before. I have been so fortunate that it is hard to believe. And, it is only going to get better in the next two weeks. Early in my [...]

Charismatic Megaflora: What do Old Trees Look Like?

by | 3.18.2012 at 2:01pm | 5 Comments
A particularly sinuous chinkapin oak in eastern Kentucky. Photo: N. Pederson

Charismatic megaflora? What kind of a tree might that be? As with many things, one person’s charismatic megaflora is another person’s tree. For myself, a tree that would draw and hold my attention as a younger person/student is very different than my current definition of a charismatic tree.

Nature & Naturalists, an Ode to Adirondack Color

by | 12.8.2011 at 10:19pm
in Autumn, the Adirondacks are glorious. Sept, 1999. Photo: Neil Pederson

There was a nice article in the NY Times on the Adirondack State Park whose title initially focused readers on how climate change could alter the park’s ecosystems. However, by the time you get to the end of the article, and luckily for us, you get to know Jerry Jenkins, one of the best naturalists [...]

Confessions from a Former Coniferphile

by | 11.29.2011 at 4:01pm | 6 Comments
The oldest-documented loblolly pine in Congaree National Park. Photo: Neil Pederson

The first time I felt truly fanatical about coniferous trees was while walking among the great eastern white pine trees in the Adirondack State Park as an undergraduate research assistant and student.