The tree which moves some to tears of joy is in the eyes of others only a green thing that stands in the way. Some see nature all ridicule and deformity… and some scarce see nature at all. But to the eyes of the man of imagination, nature is imagination itself.
~ William Blake
It may be the way of humans to want development to cease once their home is built on the edge of the wilderness but I still shudder every time I see tracts of land cleared. I realize that before my home was built on this spot, many wild creatures made this acreage their home. Trees once stood where my driveway now covers the ground with gravel.
Yesterday I went looking for amphibian eggs in a spot where I had seen them in a waterway near the bog years before. Chainsaws tore through trees in the vicinity throughout the afternoon.
I also looked for Boreal Felt Lichen, an endangered species that seems like it would thrive in this neck of the woods. Though none was found yesterday, I did find a cluster of foliate lichen that I had seen earlier this year. Unfortunately, this time, the tree was on the ground, freshly sawed into pieces, a casualty of the surveyor’s line.
These lands are likely slated to be developed soon. yet, fresh evidence of porcupine, hare and deer activity was everywhere to be found. It’s a shame that so many animals will be displaced and that all these lichen-covered trees will eventually be covered with weedless green lawns and paved driveways.
Bogs are often considered wastelands by developers who want to fill them up. That saddens me just as much as the demise of the trees. New trees can be planted on cleared land but a bog can’t resurface once it’s been filled with rubble.
Throughout the walk, my friend Sybil who accompanied me kept repeating lines from Joni Mitchell’s Big Yellow Taxi…
Don’t it always seem to go
That you don’t know what you’ve got
Till it’s gone.
Her singing was barely audible over the roar of the chainsaws.
Flandrum Hill 
I am sadden for the bogs, too. They are unique and not only add to the biodiversity of the land but to one’s soul. A walk though a bog is a mysteriously wonderful experience. Plants and animals who live there can look and seem alien.
Who knows what future medical breakthrough may be found amongst these “wastelands”. Man should be more careful in what it destroys for itself.
Scott, you’re so right about the diversity of the living creatures in the bog. There are pretty pink orchids in this bog that are unlike anything I’ve seen elsewhere here in the wild. And bog walks truly are uplifting.
Dreadful stuff. I really hope ‘we’ (by ‘we’ I mean the money hungry nitwits with the power) come to our senses one day. Things will eventually reach a point where we have made this planet uninhabitable for ourselves. We won’t ‘destroy the world’ as most people say, life as a phenomenon is ubiquitous and adaptable, it will simply go on without us.
If you are concerned about the environment I would recommend that you read Tim Flannery’s ‘Here on Earth’, I reviewed in in my blog a while ago. Excellent read.
Confusedious, I will look up ‘Here on Earth.’ Thank you for suggesting it and thank you for stopping by and sharing your thoughts.
Do you follow “The Long Now” blog, by any chance, confusedious? Or is it just a coincidence (or serendipity!) that this has recently been posted thereupon? :
http://blog.longnow.org/2011/05/04/tim-flannery-“here-on-earth”/
I will take this opportunity to recommend this fascinating blog!
No I’ve never seen that particular blog before but I’ll be sure to take a look.
I don’t know that we’re any different than any other critters. Zebra mussels. Voles. Tent caterpillars. Populations of us explode in one place or another because it’s a place we like to be. Then of course there’s a crash, and we disappear for awhile. Or forever, depending. Maybe we only think we should be able to foresee these things and do better. Maybe the real problem isn’t just what we choose. Maybe it’s that everything, including us and the voles and the zebra mussels, is choosing all the time. I do not know. I am resolved to testify to the wonders I see and the mysteries I encounter. Beyond that, I am blind.
Gerry, I feel blind a lot of the time too. We have an advantage over most of the earth’s creatures in that we can adapt so well to such a variety of environments. And we can also change our environment to suit us much of the time. Something’s got to give eventually. Not sure what that will be or if I’ll be here to see it. I just hope for the sake of my children and grandchildren that it’s not as bad as I sometimes imagine it might be.
See — sometimes chainsaws can be good — you could ‘barely’ hear my singing !
Sybil, your singing wasn’t *that* bad 😉
Interesting observation. I cried when my trees in our yard had to be torn down. We live in the prairie land, so most of our trees in our neighborhoods had to be planted. We just planted a new tree recently. So many builders still want to clear new land, when we have tons of lovely homes on the market. I enjoyed your post and photos.
Martina, trees must be so much more precious in the prairies. In Nova Scotia, we’ve lost many trees in recent years due to storms and hurricane force winds. Regardless of whether the cause is nature or man, it’s always sad when a tree comes down.
Landowners clear their lands for residential purposes to maximize the return on their investment. Too bad there isn’t a financial incentive for landowners to leave their woodlots in a primeval state.
Glad you enjoyed the post.
It is odd, that make way for me blind spot. We can say that we ask, but do we imagine the Yes answer, as being creatures habituated to having a temper tantrum and not wishing nor being able to handle a no? Thank you for beautiful out of doors images.
Elisa, humans seem to have a lot of blind spots when it comes to dealing with nature. We should see ourselves as stewards of the land, not conquerors.
I was sorry to read about the news in your neighborhood. Funny how we don’t usually think of the other living forms around us as being our neighbors. There are so many areas within existing cities and settlements that could and should be developed first. Perhaps whomever is doing the “development” of a place that is new to the ax and bulldozer should pay a higher premium for the right to despoil? Satellite imagery can show us the damage over a wider area, but blogs can show us life at the local level. That’s kind of what my project is about since my location has changed immensely in the past two hundred plus years and will continue to change as time goes by.
Artistatexit0, we should indeed be re-using land that’s already been cleared. That’s an excellent idea to charge developers of unspoiled lands a higher premium. So many wild creatures get displaced and biodiversity suffers whenever primeval woods get developed.
One of the only up sides to the economic down turn here has been a slowing of this sort of clear cutting for housing. Not long ago at least once a week some plot of land was being cleared – 60 trees here, 40 trees there, etc.
I’m sure folks might argue that the lack of building means no jobs – yes, but maybe a pause if ok to give the wildlife a chance to catch up.
No good answer.
Dawn, too much development too fast is rampant everywhere it seems. Our sewage treatment plant is operating beyond capacity and still land is being cleared in town and new homes are being built. Fast development is wrong on so many levels.
It can break a tender heart, it can…
Kathy, I’m sure the squirrels will find a way to wreak their revenge 😉
It seems that trees and their loss is a common thread at the moment. But also the question of perception that you raise so well with the quote from Blake. How do we see and feel and listen to the world around us? What does it mean to each of us?
Whether, as some comments suggest, we could use houses already on the market or urban sites, a continually rising population is inevitably going to result in the building of new homes. But to see the land being cleared is a difficult task; I sometimes try to imagine what North America looked like prior to the arrival of Europeans. I fear that it is a process that will run its course to its very end, ideologically perceived to be resource rather than a place of shared community with other creatures, a place with a life of its own not defined by our own desires.
Julian, it’s been centuries since William Blake wrote those lines and they are still relevant.
As in many places, due to low birth rates, the population of Nova Scotia is not seeing the kind of growth that was previously expected. Yet land is still being developed for residential purposes.
When the Scots arrived in Cape Breton (at the north tip of Nova Scotia) it’s said that they cut down trees at an unprecedented rate and took great pride in taming the land. Many people still see the wilderness as a threat that needs to be subdued. I too fear that the process will run its course to its very end.
if we could learn to only take what we need – for example, a house can be on a small cleared area instead of a huge lot. When I say ‘we’ I mean developers as much as anyone. We rape the land every day and expect it to keep nurturing us. sigh.
Joss, unfortunately, ‘taking only what we need’ is not a common mindset these days. We have much to learn from the practices of the natives who were present here long before the Europeans arrived.
Soo true. If we all just took what we need…there wont be consumerism, modern economy would not exist.
They will build on this bog, but the bog will protest. Permanently built-in sump-pumps will continuously drain seepage from below the house onto cul-de-sacs and sidewalks, picking up toxins as it flows across the ‘paved paradise’, into the sewers and back through the water table. Critters will creep into basements, dig into gardens and de-bark tasty and expensive shrubs under the snow. Unfortunately we have stonger weapons. Herbicides and pesticides will ultimately kill all undesirable life and when the houses rot back into the bog like the temporary shelters they really are, the earth will be silent – no sentients left to mourn.
Cindy, yay for the bog 🙂 Thanks for your insights into bog warfare.
I thought development was the curse of only developing countries like India and the West had reached some equilibrium…but that was just my ignorance. This is sad truth.
Swaps, Canada still has vast tracts of land in their primeval state. Wherever wilderness borders ‘civilization’ it’s a challenge to get landowners, government and the public to agree on how to proceed with development.
For so many years there have been protests by many ecology associations about this very subject : destruction of forests all over the world. We know the sad result not only for us but for the future generations. Of course for the fauna and the flora. Some species have already disappeared. What does it need for people, governments to understand and stop this ? Will greed always be stronger ?
Thank you for your thoughts and beautiful photos.
Isa, although greed is a factor, I think some landowners just don’t know enough about best practices and the possible ramifications of their actions before they make their decisions. Sometimes, the less you know, the easier it is to make a decision.
Hi!
I’m stumbled upon your beautiful blog while doing a web search, in an effort to identify some of the flowering trees around our property in Cow Bay. I was thrilled to find a wonderful source of information and photographs from the local area. Our family also loves to explore these shores and woods and our two young boys are so fortunate to grow up in this setting. We are always trying to correctly identify our discoveries, so I’m happy to have your blog as a reference.
So, I felt like I needed to write this friendly note, as the very first photograph on this entry is a picture of our property. I felt that I needed to set the record straight on this particular piece of land and the other areas on our land that appear the same. I agree, it’s not pretty. It was, however, NOT clear cut and there are no intentions to develop it. There was not a live tree standing after Juan in this area. My husband and I sat on what to do for quite a while and made the decision to clear the dead trees under a gov’t subsidized program in order to decrease the risk of fire. With two very small boys who are always exploring, we also felt it would make walking safer as it was a tangled mess. The “roads” you see are paths that we hope to just mow while the rest of the land recovers and grows in a natural state with perhaps a small piece for a couple of sheep to graze. The paths will allow the children to use their bicycles around the property and perhaps a pony.
Anyway, we too love this land and the creatures that reside here with us. My goal is to raise two children who share this appreciation so that they too will want to care for it when it is passed down to them. Like many property owners, we were very devastated by the effects of Juan, but that is the force of nature. I see so many seedlings out there poking their heads out and in no time, I’m sure the forest will be thick and lush.
Take care,
jen
Hi Jen,
Thank you for clarifying about your property. It’s a relief that you are not developing it. I would love to see sheep in Cow Bay 🙂 Juan did leave a terrible mess on many properties making even walking through such areas downright impossible for both man and beast.
A couple of years ago, while researching the subject of deadfall, I discovered that the fire hazard presented by such a mess diminishes significantly after five years.
Soon after Juan hit, we cut down half-fallen trees on our property that might pose a hazard. We left everything else ‘as is.’ Since then, growth of mountain ash and balsam fir trees has been amazing.
Although new growth can be fast once sunlight is no longer filtered through a canopy of tall trees, biodiversity is minimized if all deadfall is removed and the land is smoothed out to flatten the pits and mounds created by large uprooted trees. For more on this, see https://flandrumhill.wordpress.com/2008/12/15/pits-and-mounds/ and https://flandrumhill.wordpress.com/2010/02/03/dont-clear-your-woodlands/
Even though you have no plans for development, unfortunately, I’m afraid you may be the exception. Since I wrote this post, I’ve since noticed an even greater number of survey lines cut through the woods in the area surrounding the bog.
It’s wonderful that you are raising your boys with an appreciation for their natural surroundings. Here’s a bit more on that subject too: https://flandrumhill.wordpress.com/2008/11/26/does-country-living-make-one-happier/
Jen, thank you so much for taking the time to comment. I will be in touch by email.
Hi Flandrumhill, Good post. Yes, the lyrics sadly fit all too often in life now. I once told my young son to enjoy the open fields, ponds and wetlands in our former community in Northern California, as by the time he was grown, the land would be all developed. Sadly, less then ten years later, the area became a number of suburban housing tracts with manicured park and school playground open space. Glad we moved away just before the increased development happened. Have a super nice day today!
wildlifewatcher, the time to enjoy it all is now. It’s wonderful that you are getting out there and doing just that.
Miss your posts. Hope that you come back with more wonderful tales and photos
Thanks Margaret. There will always be more tales to tell 🙂
Your post of development broke my heart. I can’t bear urban sprawl. This morning I heard NO birds singing. I see fewer and fewer animals everywhere. WE humans are plague to all other living things it seems. We say we love nature but we don’t–not enough to allow it space to LIVE and thrive. We are killing the Earth and ourselves with it.
Note that you’ve been mia for a while–having been so myself. I hope you did not fall victim to a developer’s chainsaw.
Namaste
47whitebuffalo, the chainsaws didn’t get me (yet!) Too bad we can’t find ways to sprawl upwards and downwards instead of outwards for the sake of keeping wild spaces wild.
You haven´t been blogging for a long time now, is everything all right?
I hope so.
Giid, I’m still hanging in there 🙂 Thanks for asking.
I assume however that an environmental assessment has to be completed with the development, no? Although I’ve just moved to NS so I’m not sure of the regulatory framework yet…
Westwood, I don’t know how tight the restrictions are for environmental assessments in NS. Welcome to Nova Scotia!
Hi Amy-Lynn! (We all miss you terribly.) But understand when and if life whispers in different directions.
Thanks Kathy. Different directions are already being taken 🙂