We are about to announce our own photo contest winners and I wanted to show this terrific photo from Plymouth State University's Museum of the White Mountains. On their webpage it's called "close strolling".What a great title! Forget backbacks and water bottles and fancy hiking boots. Let's just go for a stroll together among the tall, tall pines.
From their body language you can almost sense their amiable conversation.
But can you imagine the Whites without their spectacular forest cover? One hundred years ago, deforestation was a huge problem and it was largely thanks to the efforts of one person, Philip Ayres, who went on the lecture circuit with his own lantern slides , that a national forest reserve was ultimately created.
If you go to the above exhibit, you see that the efficiency with which Ayres describes the logging companies' decimation of the forests is reminiscent of the efficiency with which we are overfishing the oceans. Still, full credit -- and profound thanks -- to Ayres for giving us all such an incredible legacy. Perhaps one of us will fill his shoes for the beleaguered fish and other endangered species.
In the meantime, I suggest taking advantage of whatever weather you've got and going for some close strolling...
No comments:
Post a Comment