A Walk in the Woods
By Birch K
So today we went the Reinstein Woods Nature Preserve,
which happens to be my favorite nature preserve. A nature preserve is “a
protected area of importance for wildlife, flora, fauna, which is reserved and
managed for conservation." We got an hour-long tour. It was essentially a real
long walk along wooded trails. It was a gorgeous day and my group had a lot of
fun.
We began at an open play area which used natural materials
like logs. From there, our guide Gabe told us what it meant to be a reserve on
more technical terms. He asked us to imagine what this are looked like 300
years ago. Basically the land was not colonized so there were only Seneca
Nation folks in the area. One hundred years later the place was farmland, and
then in 1932, the land was purchased by a man named Victor Reinstein. So, he
then planted around 30,000 trees, dug a pond and marsh system, planted native
species and let the space flourish. Later it became a state-owned preserve and
now folks like us are able to visit a relatively wild place.
My group took a route through some heavier woods around
a pond and to the recreation center. We all enjoyed something unique about the
trip. Nautica and Win were enthralled at entire ponds covered in an invasive
lily species. Gabe was kind enough to fish one out for us. I enjoyed
watching people who came to work at MAP less than a year ago answer Gabe’s
questions. For example, when he asked my group what an invasive species is,
without missing a beat Laydia correctly answered. Later on, my group talked and
learn about how to identify mint’s relatives (square stems), invasive reeds
(fuzzy stem fibers) , and how do I identify poison ivy (*you’ll know in
about 20 minutes). I found it really funny that we are trained to think
of places like this as a waste of space and resources. I loved being there with others to learn on
an hour-long walk. You can walk and feel like you are by yourself yet you're
among hundreds of healthy plants and insects. You can take the deepest breaths possible
because it's all fresh air.
*I’m kidding, they look like little mittens and you can avoid the rash by washing with soap
View more images from our trip HERE.
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