Speaker 1: Hey, thanks for being a part of the conversation. This
is Forest Stories. I am the Poet in the Forest,
a children's series that I pinned out in the nineteen nineties. Now,
none of it would be possible if it wasn't for
this forest right here in South Charlotte, North Carolina. I
talk about it so much that I thought maybe it's
time that you get to know what has inspired me
for thirty years. Thanks for being a part of the conversation.
Welcome back to the forest. It's been a few days
since the tropical storm, Debbie. I haven't been back to
this darker side of the forest, meaning less walked upon,
less visited. As I'm moving through the trees right now,
the grape vines are just out of control, crazy, But
you can see the path of the water where it
built up and what has been damaged. But what I
want to take note of is the actual creek itself,
the slow moving creek that makes its way to the lake.
To my left is a fallen limb. Got a couple
of them here, but nothing that seems to be too damaging.
As my wife would say, you have to leave them
on the ground because something has to feed the soil.
And it also has to block future storms from destroying
the land. The tall grass that's always been so available
to walk through is still here. It doesn't look bent
over or pushed aside by the winds or the rain
of tropical Storm Debbie. As I make my way to
the creek, I see that we've lost a large tree
snapped in half. Once again. You leave it here for
the animals, for the insects, for future storms. I'm at
the creek right now. You can see where the water
itself added up, But I don't see as much erosion
as I've seen with other storms that have come through
this area. But you have to watch things like this
because you don't want it to flow over the banks.
You want to be able to recognize what the behavior
of the creek is and how it's going to maintain
its presence in a safe area. Now, of course I
fear comprehend snakes out here. I'm doing something really stupid.
I've got shoes with no socks on. Well, here's an
area that we haven't talked about in forest stories. The
creek that I tried to create with its river rock
to help relieve some of the stress of the erosion
coming down the other side of the hill. Remember it's
a ninety five foot drop from the front to the back,
to this lake, to this creek. I would say at
this point in time, the way that nature has taken
care of this forest, the water hasn't done that much damage,
just the broken trees and the limbs that lay on
the ground. Hey, thanks for being a part of the conversation.