| <div class="ck-content"><h3>My mind on eternity, or at least tree time</h3><p>I've been enjoying Bruce Cockburn lately - <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WAdU4rPQ5hE&list=PLyIhNZsfiY8REoj6CUafpsT5-GTSInWPe">Stolen Fire</a> is an amazing album. These lines from <a href="https://songmeanings.com/songs/view/3530822107858481576/">Wonder where the lions are</a> really resonated with me:</p><blockquote><p>Up among the firs where it smells so sweet<br>Or down in the valley where the river used to be<br>I got my mind on eternity<br>Some kind of ecstasy got a hold on me<br>And I'm wondering where the lions are<br>I'm wondering where the lions are</p></blockquote><p>When I am in the woods rescuing trees, I feel a shift, if not to eternity, then at least to tree time. Taking actions that will be felt for decades. And so often that leads to a feeling of great joy, even ecstasy. </p><h3>The Gifts of Trees</h3><p>Trees give us - all of us, not just humans - so many gifts: shade from from the sun, CO2 absorption, oxygen release, homes for trillions and food, many kinds of food. For example: fruit. Can you tell what fruit is lying in the palm of my hand?</p><div class="raw-html-embed"><img src="https://drive.google.com/thumbnail?id=11hZGU2gBdAcM5AbfqA_o8Xn5thAGJxCA&sz=w200-h300"></div><p>If you're having trouble identifying then, imagine if they were as big as your fingertip, juicy and plump. </p><p>That's right - they're cherries. They're cherries that I picked from a <i>natural</i> cherry tree (as opposed to a cherry tree artificially selected to produce fruit for insatiable, greedy humans).</p><p>One very glorious consequence of my move to Chapel Hill from Chicago in 2018 has been a growing awareness and appreciation of the diversity of trees. Some of them really stand out for me:</p><p><strong>American hornbeam</strong> (<a href="https://plants.ces.ncsu.edu/plants/carpinus-caroliniana/">Carpinus caroliniana</a>), with its muscle-like trunk. This photo doesn't do it justice, but it might get you intrigued enough to notice them when you are next in the woods, in which case: get up close and apply hands to trunk.</p><div class="raw-html-embed"><img src="https://drive.google.com/thumbnail?id=1of4Z_onKCQtfcgkf54IO5jFqk5ULlCt-&sz=w400-h600"></div><p><strong>Sourwood </strong>(<a href="https://plants.ces.ncsu.edu/plants/oxydendrum-arboreum/">Oxydendrum arboreum</a>), with its graceful curving moves through the understory in search of sun. I think these should actually be called Dancing Trees. I will wax poetic about sourwood in a future newsletter.</p><p><strong>Cherry</strong> (<a href="https://plants.ces.ncsu.edu/plants/prunus-serotina/">Prunus seratina</a>), with its burnt cornflake bark, shiny leaves and…well, cherries. Cherries are pretty much my favorite fruit. I love that bitter edge. So let's talk about cherry trees.</p><p>Until moving here, I had no idea how big natural cherry trees could grow. According to NC State Extension, it is “<span style="background-color:rgb(255,255,255);color:rgb(33,37,41);">a rapid grower capable of reaching 60 to 80 feet tall and 30 to 60 feet wide.” Um, like, WOW!</span></p><p><span style="background-color:rgb(255,255,255);color:rgb(33,37,41);">Just to give you a sense of these beauties, in my last visit to Mason Farm Biological Reserve, I came across a lovely cherry that has been battling buckthorn and paper mulberry to stay alive and reach the sun. I cleared away the buckthorn, but the paper mulberry will have to wait. Can you make out the cherry in the photo below? Here's a </span><a href="https://drive.google.com/file/d/17lAN34Kx9iUg5xgnAQRzm8QuXXhOMiSw/view?usp=drive_link"><span style="background-color:rgb(255,255,255);color:rgb(33,37,41);">link to it</span></a><span style="background-color:rgb(255,255,255);color:rgb(33,37,41);"> on my Triangle Rewilding drive in case you want to zoom in.</span></p><div class="raw-html-embed"><img src="https://drive.google.com/thumbnail?id=17lAN34Kx9iUg5xgnAQRzm8QuXXhOMiSw&sz=w600-h400" alt="REPLACE" width="600" height="400"></div><p><span style="background-color:rgb(255,255,255);color:rgb(33,37,41);">On a recent walk down Piney Mountain Rd, I noticed some cherry branches that had grown out towards the sidewalk in search of sun…and they had lots of tiny little fruits on them. I picked a few dark ones, and gave them a taste. Yes! Cherries! Sweet, a little bitter, mostly pit. But undeniably cherries.</span></p><p><span style="background-color:rgb(255,255,255);color:rgb(33,37,41);">(some of you are undoubtedly thinking right about now “What a city boy”)</span></p><p><span style="background-color:rgb(255,255,255);color:rgb(33,37,41);">What a world we live in! What a world we should, must and can save!</span></p><h3>Natural Disobedience </h3><p>You've all probably heard of civil disobedience. From <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Manufacturing">Wikipedia</a>, a definition:</p><blockquote><p>Civil disobedience is the active, professed refusal of a citizen to obey certain laws, demands, orders or commands of a government (or any other authority). </p></blockquote><p style="margin-left:0px;">I've been thinking a lot lately about <strong>natural disobedience</strong>, which I hereby define as:</p><blockquote><p style="margin-left:0px;">Civil disobedience whose object is to save nature - that is, non-human life on planet Earth.</p></blockquote><p style="margin-left:0px;">Specifically, I think about an enormous forest in Chapel Hill, owned by UNC, and terribly mismanaged when it comes to invasives. It is probably the single-most important natural area in Chapel Hill. And UNC is allowing it, year by year, to degrade. </p><p style="margin-left:0px;">Privet and olive sweep through the understory, in some areas creating “deserts” with nothing but those plants. There are at least a half dozen outbreaks of ailanthus (tree of heaven), completely ignored. Thorny olive, wisteria and bamboo threaten other areas. </p><p style="margin-left:0px;">And almost nothing is being done about it. This is a crime against the planet. There are two main reasons for this, that I can see:</p><ul><li>There are way too few staff,. So far as I know, there is the forest manager and one person working for him. There was, for a little while, a volunteer coordinator, but she is no more. </li><li>The forest manager is resolutely opposed to scaling up volunteers to counter the scale of the problem. He holds at most one volunteer event a week and insists on (a) staff supervision and (b) using mechanical-only removal methods (i.e., tree extractors like Weed Wrenches). He apparently does not want to use herbicide. Like at all. </li></ul><p>The result is that progress, when there is any, is very slow. So he constantly falls behind, and each year more native species are replaced by invasives.</p><p>I've tried to get the forest manager to allow me and others to work unsupervised (as we do in a dozen parks and preserves in the area). To no avail. He is defensive, controlling, and incredibly thin-skinned.</p><p>Folks, the year is 2024 and the world around us is dying, while we hide away inside our boxes, behind our screens. Who will stand up for the forests and all the creatures living in them?</p><p>These kinds of questions haunt me, and I now find myself driven to consider taking more extreme action: natural disobedience.</p><p>I think about taking my chainsaw and heading down to the privet deserts along Bolin Creek, and take down all the big privet that are choking out the few remaining native trees. I daydream about hacking-and-squirting the massive ailanthus (especially one that is 50' tall, I kid you not).</p><p>Quite likely, I will be “caught" doing this. And I have been warned sternly that this would be “vandalizing state property.” Ah, the absurdity!</p><p>II figure, though, maybe the time has come to <i>be caught</i>, to possibly be arrested or fined. Maybe the time has come to take a stand, and force the issue into the public eye, and perhaps shame UNC into changing direction (and maybe changing forest managers).</p><p>Right now, there are simply musings bouncing around in my head. But I feel like my unconscious is moving me closer and closer to action. And after almost 66 years living with my unconscious, I know how this works. Soon, I (the conscious part of my brain) will have no choice, but to take action.</p><p>And now I have an ask for you: might you be interested in joining me or supporting me in this? I can think of multiple kinds of ways to help:</p><p><strong>Legal support:</strong> if you are a lawyer or know of one who might want to help, I need some general guidance: what are the laws I might be breaking? What are the potential penalties? Would you represent me/us?</p><p><strong>Media support:</strong> I think this could and should be a big story. I'd love to start talking to journalists about it, or with media-savvy folks about how to handle that side of the action.</p><p><strong>Participation:</strong> if you are even <i>considering </i>the possibility that you might want to participate, get in touch. I am not looking for commitments at this time, just “testing the waters.”</p><p><strong>Cheerleading: </strong>I figure it will be a great thing if, when I am cutting down those invasives "illegally", I am being cheered on by 1000s. OK, even just 20 people would be fine. Also being witnesses in case the authorities actually are dumb and ignorant enough to stop me, and perhaps arrest me.</p><p>Hope to hear from you! Speaking of hearing from you….</p></div><div class="ck-content"><h3>Receive all my reports on tree rescues</h3><p>If you'd like to get some good news about restoring native habitats delivered straight to your brain upwards of a few times a week, sign in to <a href="https://rewildearth.net">Rewild Earth</a>, click on your name in top right, then My profile. Under Communication Preferences, switch “Send reports of all events” to ON. </p><div class="raw-html-embed"><img src="https://drive.google.com/thumbnail?id=1BeynVqu8taOGrsvi56u0mmDKuNJko22h&sz=w600-h400" alt="REPLACE" width="358" height="138"></div><h3>Resources you might find useful</h3><ul><li><a href="https://shop.naisma.org/collections/buckthorn-blaster">Buckthorn Blasters</a>: safe, easy herbicide delivery system from the North American Invasive Species Management Association. Don't start cutting without them!</li><li><a href="https://nc-ipc.weebly.com/nc-invasive-plants.html">NC Invasive Plants list</a>: recently updated by NC-IPC, the NC Invasives Plants Council.</li><li><a href="https://edis.ifas.ufl.edu/publication/AG259">Overview of different herbicides</a>: glyposphate, triclopyr and others - which should you use?</li><li>Volunteer for <a href="https://triangleland.org">Triangle Land Conservancy</a>: the biggest land conservancy group in our area. </li><li>Volunteer for <a href="https://ellerbecreek.org">Ellerbe Creek Watershed Association</a> (Durham): a wonderful group working hard to maintain contiguous natural areas along Ellerbe Creek.</li></ul></div> |