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USDA Forest Service
Daniel Boone
National Forest
1700 Bypass Road
Winchester, KY 40391
Phone: 859-745-3100
FAX: 859-744-1568
Education: A Naturalist’s Journal
Steve Kickert, Information Specialist, U.S. Forest Service
July 19, 2005
SUCCESSION
One of the first things I learned in ecology class was that nature is dynamic - constantly changing. Watch a piece of barren ground and before long it will be covered with Queen Anne's lace, fleabane, yarrow and sweet clover. If the soil is on limestone you'll soon learn to identify sycamores, sumacs, junipers, sassafras and ash. Next come the red maples, oaks and pine (if it's a dry site.) And so it goes, until the ground reaches a "climax condition" at which point the plants and animals inhabiting it stabilize until is disturbed.
Even in the climax condition, disturbance is inevitable, and often good. A tree dies, sunlight hits the forest floor, wildflowers and shrubs emerge and the process starts again. The process is called succession.
I bring the topic up because I am in the middle of a succession process
of my own. After spending several years in a "climax condition" working
here on the Daniel Boone National Forest, my family and I are experiencing
a disturbance. We are preparing to move to West -By God- Virginia (I
love
saying that.) I've taken a job on the Monongahela National Forest and have
to report by mid-August.
I like the word disturbance as a way of describing what is happening.
It paints a more accurate picture than the word change. Change implies
that there is a preconceived plan evolving. We adjust a thing here and
tweak a thing there until we end up with what we want. Disturbance, on
the other
hand, has a hint of violence and unpredictability. We are jerking things up
by the roots, and there is potential for pain. It's a little bit scary.
In fact, there is pain, and no small measure of fear, in this move. I have been writing these little essays for nearly ten years now, trying is some small way to tweak and adjust the way readers see their National Forest.
You might say I've been trying to change you. In the process, I've changed.
I've discovered that the essence of an object is more important than
its scientific name and that sharing a forest experience with you serves
to clarify its meaning for me. The pain comes from leaving the people
and places that have helped me discover so much. The fear comes from
wondering if I'll ever feel this comfortable again.
Now that I've got that off my chest, here's a toast to succession, both in nature and in your life, may it always keep your world interesting.
Confession: The numerous misspellings and grammatical errors that have appeared in these articles through the years were not the fault of the type-setter. I own them all.
