The first time I saw one of these in action, it was in the construction zone one Route 1 behind Cook Campus of Rutgers. The machine kind of hugs the tree and then saws right though its base. I was so in shock that such a machine would exist that I actually stalled my car staring at it all sorts of slack jawed and upset.
Well, we met again today. I didn't stall the car, but I may have yelled at the trucks, not that they listened as they chopped down my beloved pitch pines (which win the tree of the day award for a record fourth time as best I can tell from my own blog) along the Garden State Parkway southbound. And why was I driving southbound on the soon- to- be- wider- GSP South?
I spent the last two days in Atlantic City at the American Camp Association Tri-State meeting (which oddly enough involved people from all over the country). It was a great conference. I attended a slew of sessions about marketing and youth development and media and this crazy awesome lady. I got to have a lot of great conversations about how to build relationships with parents and how teens are interacting with media and each other and how interfaith communities can be about conversation and not conversion.
But let's be honest. In addition to learning all sorts of interesting things that are relevant to my job at camp, my work with the youth in my church and my life in general, I really enjoyed the drive. I rarely have an excuse to take the Parkway south through the Pinelands National Reserve. This time of year (not summer) it's peaceful and empty. No rush hour traffic. Hardly any traffic at all! I've probably mentioned before how much I love seeing the various stages of forestation in this region that, if humans would stop meddling, would be driven by fire ecology (although the human meddling part probably leads to some of the fires the pitch pine so desperately needs to propagate). I love that it's green even though nothing else is yet. I love seeing the vast stretches of wetlands around the Bass and Mullica Rivers, too.
I do not love feller bunchers, although I have to admit the name is kind of fun.
This morning I left home as the sun arose in a glorious way, with a few thin dark purple clouds stretched in front of the deep orange sphere. It was a beautiful day to make that drive with the windows down, that incredible smell of pine mixed with salty air. Goal for the (hopefully not so distant) future: visit Bass River State Forest (for the pygmy pines), Apple Pie Hill (the highest point of the Pinelands) and Brendan Byrne State Forest (because I've passed it a million times, every time I go to Virginia or anywhere else west or south of where I live), possibly all in one glorious Pine Barrens loving day...
So that's my green for the day. Despite my name being an Americanization of a Gaelic word, I did nothing to celebrate St. Patrick's Day. My bad. No beer of the day, not even Guinness or green beer (which I've never had, actually). Love those Pine Barrens though.
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