It seems like Western New York forests are under constant attack, in wars that they can’t win. In the early 1900s, chestnut trees were exterminated from our woodlands by chestnut blight. Dutch elm disease wiped out impressive stands of elms from the 1950s through the 1980s. Ash trees have been all but eliminated by the emerald ash borer over the past 15 years, about the same time beech trees began their decline due to beech bark disease. The hemlock woolly adelgid keeps making itself known in the region. As our forests reel from those diseases and pests, and are forever changed, more pestilence is piled upon them. Another threat being posed to WNY forests is oak wilt. Until only recently, oak wilt was almost unheard of in New York. There was a small outbreak in Glenville in Schenectady County in 2008 that was contained and then found to have recurred in 2013, which was also contained. Then, in 2016, some was found in Islip on Long Island. Then along came some local findings. In...

  The Erie Canal towpath was once the interstate for itinerant workers — hoboes, if you will — who traveled from town to town in search of their next farming or handyman gig. While doing so, they frequently stopped over on my family’s farm. It was an attractive spot to set up camp because of the fresh water they could drink from a brook that runs through our woods, the same brook from which they ignited bubbling gas for cooking (there is a good reason the community is called Gasport). While there, they often killed time by carving their names and other things in the bark of the beech trees that were common in our woods. The smooth gray bark, so easy to cut with a pocketknife, has always been inviting to amateur artisans, not to mention young lovers who wanted their names forever inscribed in Mother Nature for all the world to see. The hoboes, the romantics, and anyone else interested in making a statement left their calling cards on the beeches — old-fashioned graffiti that remai...

  While on your springtime hikes, especially along roadsides, public trails, and other well-worn areas that Mother Nature is always trying to reclaim, you might catch a glimpse of a diminutive blue flower that can easily escape detection, especially later in the spring when the grasses grow. This beautiful sprite is birdseye speedwell. Many people might need to put on their reading glasses to really appreciate the flower – at most, they are only a quarter of an inch wide. Under close inspection you will notice the subtle light blue petals are streaked with purple. There are four petals in total – 3 larger ones up top and the fourth, smaller lobe on the bottom. The plants from which they rise can be 4” to 12” in length, though not even close to that in height as they grow off runners close to the ground and can create small mat-like colonies. Many gardeners look at speedwell as a weed for that reason, as it will create patches of added green in otherwise manicured grass. But, they...