Wood Romances

by   Joan Maloof   Last year I decided to read books to help me understand the importance of the habitats I encounter (or would like to encounter) in Florida. I didn't realize when I bought this book just how rare old growth are. In the Eastern United States, only 1 percent of our forests qualify as old growth. The west is not much better at about 3 percent. It turns out I've only visited one forest that qualifies as "old growth" in the Eastern U.S., and that's Swallow Falls State Park (the photo surrounding the title of this blog comes from there). Swallow Falls contains 37 acres of old growth forest, including the last stand of virgin hemlock in the State of Maryland. Some of the trees here are over 300 years old. As I read this book, I found myself longing to visit one of Florida's old growth forests, and I was saddened to learn that most of them weren't anywhere near me. The Apalachcola National Forest (north) and the Big Cypress National Preserve

Lake Apopka Restoration Area Lake Apopka is a haven for wildlife but was heavily polluted. Restoration efforts turned this area around,  and it's becoming a healthy area for wildlife again. The title of this blog comes from a poem by C. S. Lewis, entitled, "The Future of Forestry." The poem is set in a time when the last tree is gone from England, and children have to ask their parents what trees are. The poem is an example of what I see as a reason for starting a blog like this. I love nature, I love God's creatures, and I believe that we need comprehensive conservation programs that are scientifically-sound and empirically-driven to ensure that the "future of forestry" is one that our children will enjoy as much as we do.  So this blog is about "wood romances"--the love of the natural world and the creatures that live in the habitats that should motivate us to use sound, scientific, and empirical reasoning to conserve habitats and the biodi