A walk in the woods is often done to escape the complexities of human society that hound us all. The forest is a place of peace and supposed simplicity. But a closer look reveals an intricate complexity that is so elegantly carried out we aren’t aware it’s happening. Take that dead log lying beside your favorite trail. It’s just a tree whose time ran out and appears inactive. But what’s going on inside it is a key component in recycling nutrients to feed the trees of the forest and provide food and habitat for many wildlife species.

By Steve Roark
Volunteer, Cumberland Gap National Historical Park
With Thanksgiving approaching thoughts turn to the first English colonial settlement in America. If you remember your history lessons, the first attempts to colonize the New World were the Roanoke Colony in 1587 and the Jamestown Colony in 1607. The Roanoke Colony disappeared without a trace and has been the subject of much speculation ever since.

Persimmons are a popular food source for many wildlife species such as fox, opossum, deer, raccoons, and many types of birds. Humans find them tasty as well if gathered at the right time. If you want to try some, be sure and take along the kids or grandkids, as they benefit from a shot of nature every now and then.

The autumn coloration of trees is always looked forward to with anticipation. The presence of numerous tree species (around 125 for us) having brilliant fall foliage is not common planet wide, as the only other places with a similar abundance of foliage colorations is northern China, Korea, and Japan. A common question this time of year is will the colors be good or not? The answer is meteorological.

Ironweed (Veronia altissima) is the purple flowers you see growing on a tall, slender stalk in pasture and hay fields while driving down the road.

Ironweed can grow to a height of 7 to 10 feet in deep moist soils, but usually averages around 5 feet. The stem of the plant is very hard and stiff, hence the name. Spear shaped leaves around 6 inches long grow all along the length of the stem.

Maybe you aren't familiar with the plant, but perhaps you’ve noticed Witch Hazel as an ingredient found in after-shave lotion, skin ointments, eyewash, or hemorrhoid medication. Witch Hazel (Hamamelis virginiana) is a small tree common in our forests. It usually only reaches 15 to 20 feet in height, and tends to have a thick, crooked crown with a lot of branching. The leaves are round or oval shaped with wavy edges. The bottom of the leaf at the stem is always offset, where the leaf edges don’t meet the stem at the same level. The bark of the tree is light brown and scaly.

When it comes to wildflowers that show up in August and September, two things stand out: yellow is by far the dominant color you’ll see, and many of the flowers have a complex flower structure termed a composite, made up of many flowers. You have to look close to actually see what’s going on here, so let me dive in.

By Steve Roark
Volunteer, Cumberland Gap National Historical Park
If you read my stuff much, you know that I am unabashedly proud to be mountain bred. I love our southern Appalachian mountains. The terrain, the climate, the plants and animals, the culture and history, all blend together to form a unique place to live.

By Steve Roark
Volunteer, Cumberland Gap National Historical Park

You don’t realize it, but when you look at our local mountains you aren’t really seeing the mountains themselves because they are covered in trees with a whole lot of leaves. On average a mature tree has a hundred thousand leaves. It takes around seventy biggish trees to shade an acre of mountain forest, which doing the math comes to seven million leaves per acre. And since you are looking at perhaps a thousand acres of forest at a casual glance, that comes to…well you get the gist.

Requirements for good wildlife habitat can be broken down into three basic needs: water, food, and cover. While the need for water and food is pretty obvious, cover is more dynamic, and the need varies from day to day and season to season.

Sumacs are very common in our area, most often found in overgrown fields and areas that have been disturbed. While considered a weed by many, it does have the virtues of providing cover and food for wildlife, and nice fall coloration for human enjoyment.

Thousands of years before modern medicine, people depended on medicinal plants to ease pain and aid healing. Our early pioneer ancestors learned from native Indians what plants were useful to treat maladies, and many of these plants are common in our area and easy to identify. What follows is a description of some of the easier to find medicinals found in our area.

With all the hot, dry weather we’ve had of late, watering plants becomes necessary. Water is a critical requirement for all plants, and they need a lot of it. Pulling water in from the soil through the roots is not only how plants get water, but also how they obtain the nutrients they need to grow, which is dissolved and suspended in soil water. Each day they take in a great deal of water through their roots, sift out the nutrients, and then release it as vapor through their leaves in a process called transpiration. Forests, being made up of a lot of really big plants standing shoulder to shoulder, account for some of the high humidity we experience each summer through this process. A mature maple tree can take up enough water to fill three bathtubs per day.

Used to early to mid-summer was considered tick season, but since here of late I have pulled them off me all twelve months, I no longer think there is a season. But warm weather gets more people outdoors, which ups the chance of contact with the little pests. I’ve also heard of several local folks that have gotten Rocky Mountain spotted fever, and they are other tick-borne diseases to be concerned about.

In mid to late summer if you’re out and about you will likely see plants bearing fruit going through color stages, especially blackberries right now. Blackberry and several other wild fruits go from green to red and finally black or blue when they fully ripen. As is almost everything in creation, there is a purpose to the color change.

It interests me how trees are so often intertwined with our culture and history. The July celebration of our independence is a good time to review the history of the Liberty Tree, a symbol for individual liberty and resistance to tyranny.

The first American Navy consisted of six schooners paid for and pressed into service by none other than General George Washington in 1775. He pleaded with the Continental Congress that he needed a Navy immediately, but true to form, the Congress endlessly debated on the need for a Navy, how to organize and fund ships, and so on until Washington’s patience was at an end, so he funded the ships himself.

Everyone knows the dandelion (Taraxacum officinale), which is usually found somewhere in your lawn unless herbicides are heavily used. This European import is probably enemy number one on the lawn weed list, but it is still an interesting study, being both an edible and a medicinal.

My Uncle (Cas Newton Day) remained a kid at heart to his last days. I loved him for it, for I think (and hope) a little of it rubbed off on me. To illustrate, he and I, both grown adults, were helping hang tobacco in a barn that had very dusty soil in front of the doors. We noticed funnel shaped indentions in the soil and asked what it was.

By Steve Roark
Volunteer, Cumberland Gap Historical Park

Summer tends to up activity levels with most folks, such as hiking or working in a garden. Sometimes these activities lead to a blister, which is your body's way of telling you to ease off on what you're doing. They are of course the result of too much friction, possibly from poor-fitting shoes or not wearing work gloves. There are several opinions on how to treat them.