Sheltered Lands

N A N J E M O Y,  M D Crossing the Woodrow Wilson bridge brings me to the southern-most point around Washington DC’s famed beltway.  To the left is Washington’s monument, looking right is the Capital Ferris Wheel of National Harbor.  But I’m about to leave the capital’s urbanization behind at the first exit into Maryland.  Turning south down Indian Head Highway leads to solitude, following a path against traffic and toward 46,000 acres of nearly unfragmented forest.   Surprisingly, in one of the wealthiest and fast-growing regions of the country, this unbroken forest has resisted intense development pressures for decades thanks in part to a strong conservation effort including The Nature Conservancy (TNC) and their 3,500-acre Nanjemoy Creek Preserve.  Plans for residential development, gravel pits, and nuclear power plants have all been dashed by the work of TNC and many others who know preserving this area originally inhabited by Nanjemoy Indians is o...

W E S T E R N   M D I really dislike cold weather.   It’s gloomy, draining and greatly demotivates.   But every year, at least once, I fully embrace the hate by spending a day wrapped in it.   Often this involves hiking to a windy Appalachian outcrop and letting the cold to penetrate to the core.   Masochistically, this deliberate embracing of cold inoculates me, taking the edge off a season of discontent.   And it works every time: for several days after, the cold becomes much more tolerable.   This winter’s inoculation is a two-parter.   In western Maryland, not far from where the coldest temperature ever recorded in the state occurred, two Nature Conservancy (TNC) properties - Fort Hill Limestone Glade and Oldtown Shale Barrens - share commonalities in that neither is open to the public and both exude feeling of old western movies. Mountains are comprised of varying layers of rock.   Some layers are less resilient, and whe...

Tussocks, Sideling Hill Creek Preserve B E L L E G R O V E,  M D Shortly after crossing into West Virginia, the road in this famously curvy and mountainous state becomes arrow straight for the next twelve miles.  As the trajectory of the road changes, so too changes my own arc.  My day so far has been a bit of a scramble as I’ve been gathering and packing gear for a very early morning visit to an eighth Nature Conservancy (TNC) preserve in eight days.  Almost to the point of obsession, I strive to visit new places like today at Sideling Hill Creek Preserve in the early morning hours.  This strategy, which I’ve been employing for years, often bears wonderful fruits.  How often have I had places of such beauty at sunrise all to myself?  That solitude and oneness with places have made for incredible experiences.  But such an obsession does come with a price: early morning scrambles.  As I hit this stretch of straightness though, today...

Third Haven Woods, Easton, Md E A S T O N,  M D Immediately after stepping into the woods, I couldn’t be more pleased.  My brother Skip’s thoughtful slow pace is a great sign; it matches my own which is ideal for this first of eighteen properties I’ll be visiting over the next three weeks.  We’ve entered Third Haven Woods, a 500 acre tract protected since 1977 by The Nature Conservancy along the edge of a thin country road on Maryland’s eastern shore.  It’s a remnant of the forest that once covered the Delmarva Peninsula.  The towering oaks, maples, pines, and tulips – some four feet in diameter - provide the canopy under which we wander.  Many flora and fauna flourish under this protective canopy including skinks, mud minnows, blueberry bushes, dogwoods, migratory birds, and the Delmarva fox squirrel, a recovering, once-pervasive species that has been federally protected since 1973. What’s best about this place is what it lacks.  There are...