Will o the wisp

Walking through a forest of spring aspen and maples with a soft breeze blowing through bright green new leaves is a little magical.

Today was my first day of teaching. We went out for an exercise on soils and tree growth. Still getting to know everyone, field work out in the woods, and this process of so called 'science'. We took measurements of trees in two different soil types, remnants from the glaciers past over 12,000 years ago to illustrate that ancient geological processes still impact ecosystems today. Once there was up to two miles of ice over our heads here and much of North America...man, that still amazes me to thick about! We went to one forest patch in sandy soil on the receding path of an outwash plain and the other more loamy on a terminal morraine, or the maximum extent of a glacier where it has pushed materials up to a certain point, leaving a hill of sorted materials. Ha, anyway, not trying to do this lesson again, but you get the idea. It was a good day.

I snapped this shot while helping students take tree measurements (while keeping an eye out for mushrooms too btw!). The tree trunks contrast well with the white space and bright green of the new leaves, almost neon so full of chlorophyll now. Another gorgeous day in the woods, following spring northward...