Take A Moment To Remember All The Trees

Anybody who writes can’t hug all trees. Unless everything you scribe simply goes online, you will need trees, after all, to make paper for newspapers or books or magazines.
“And baseball bats,” my game-loving father-in-law quickly adds.
So yes, while I see the need for paper and love paper, I have also been dismayed at the loss of many small forests that once dotted the greater Bristol region, even 15 years ago. As well, I have been sickened by our national forests being prone to poor land-use practices.
Nine years ago, I saw that firsthand – and maybe that’s when I started hugging a few trees – after hiking near High Knob. In a search for the isolated Chimney Rock of Scott County, Va., I discovered some timbering crew had been out, knocking down logs and then leaving them scattered.
This mish-mash, where the crew must have grabbed what it wanted and laid the rest to waste, turned my head toward conservation issues.
Much of these issues, of course, are common sense. And many great examples can be found in “Conserving the Commonwealth,” a new book by Margaret T. Peters.
“Conserving the Commonwealth: The Early Years of the Environmental Movement in Virginia” (University of Virginia Press, $27.50) explores how Virginia’s leaders helped preserve spaces of open land, waterways and historic sites, as well as creating parks.
“The Commonwealth of Virginia is blessed with some of the most beautiful natural and historic resources in the nation,” Peters writes. “From the Tidewater in the east, with its stunning rivers and Chesapeake Bay, to the rolling Piedmont, dotted with historic towns, to the dramatic mountains, the Shenandoah Valley, and the southwestern highlands, Virginians can lay claim to as rich a landscape treasure as can be found anywhere in the world.”
No doubt, much of Virginia’s beauty comes from all of the great parks scattered around the state.
The first state parks opened in the 1930s, following a lobbying effort on the part of the Garden Club of Virginia, whose members “recognized that ridding travel corridors of trash could encourage an appreciation for a clean environment,” Peters writes.
Today, no Virginia resident lives more than an hour’s drive from one of the 34 parks or 40 natural areas in the state, Peters writes. In turn, farmers and landowners have, thankfully, placed more than 500,000 acres across Virginia under conservation easements, helping to preserve open spaces and forests.
An appendix in “Conserving the Commonwealth” shows Washington County, Va. boasts more than 2,800 acres in conservation easements, compared to nearly 11,000 acres in Russell County, little more than 1,000 acres in Smyth County and about 100 acres in Wise County.
Every little bit helps. And, yes, so do hugs. Seriously. Go hug a tree.
And, while you’re at it, say a little prayer for the one that gave its life so you could read these words.