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Come back to this page each day to read another entry from Frederick R. Gehlbach's almanac of suburban natural and unnatural history, "Messages from the Wild," which chronicles the world of a forested ravine in central Texas.
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Dense fog pervades every nook and cranny, silencing the land. I love the woods on such early mornings. As I pass a crimson and gold Chinese tallow tree, I consider whether to allow its beauty to perpetuate its weediness. It is an escapee from cultivation that can take over disturbed places. Shumard oaks are just as beautiful in scarlet and burgundy, as are scalybark oaks now past their golden peak. But nurseries push the easily grown (weedy) Old World exotics because of a European gardening tradition that represents civilization, by contrast to natives that symbolize a wild world that should be tamed. |
Frederick R. Gehlbach is Professor Emeritus of Biology and Environmental Studies at Baylor University. His ecological studies have taken him from New Zealand to Slovakia and, in the Americas, from Alaska and Newfoundland to Guatemala, Belize and Honduras. His research interests include the life-history strategies of small owls, small burrowing snakes and urban wildlife ecology.
From MESSAGES FROM THE WILD: AN ALMANAC OF SUBURBAN NATURAL AND UNNATURAL HISTORY by Frederick R. Gehlbach, Copyright © 2002. Courtesy of the University of Texas Press.
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