With all the snow gone, it was time for a spring inspection of the trail around the East Branch Nature Preserve this week and there were a few surprises. A stand of birch (pictured above) in the switch-back turn in the northernmost part of the trail by the outdoor classroom were almost completely prostrate, as if they were frozen in time while taking their last bow to the audience. It’s likely they were dying and buckled under the weight of snow. There is another stand of birch nearby unscathed.
The lack of foliage and snow revealed more vines: black, gnarled, and striated, they wound around trees like the crab apples and ironwoods. This is not a common sight in the Catskills, especially seeing specimens that are so ancient looking – mummified, like they belong in the last Roman Empire. Who planted them and when?
There were the furry, sage green, first year basal rosettes of mullein scattered on the trail, and some new poop: we still have our prolific hunter in the south portion of the trail that for some reason makes it really obvious that they’ve been there, always fertilizing the trail itself. It could be an owl, coyote, or fox, but we won’t find out until we put up a trail cam.
The beavers have added a satellite work station to their staging area. There is a downed tree much further north towards the outdoor classroom. This tree is all alone in a little thicket, and it will either be dragged south to be part of the dam in progress, or used for a new dam, or maybe it’s a spare tree that the beavers have hidden in the undergrowth as an emergency. Nevertheless, those beavers have been hard at work over the winter, just like the rest of us.
There is a carpet of what looks like cow parsley by the main fishing sign, but this is to be identified by a professional. Cow parsley can be eaten, but has many poisonous, look-a-like cousins like cow parsnip and poison hemlock. The CWDC is in negotiations for a foraging walk with the Catskills Forest Association and we’re hoping that if we section off part of this carpet and refrain from mowing it, we can let it grow and have it properly identified by the CFA.
For now, the landscape is a dampened dreamscape in a haze of post-storm mist under a swirling foggy sky: russets, burnt siennas, ochres, umber and copper hues, with vivid greens yet to establish their presence outside of the handful of lush evergreens and the grassy parts of the trail.
We can’t wait to watch it wake up.
See you on the trail!
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