Reading Shaver’s Creek

Ecological Reflections from an Appalachian Forest

Ian Marshall

• Publisher: Penn State University Press
• Year: 2018
• Print ISBN: 9780271080208
• eBook ISBN: 9780271081601
• Topic: Biowissenschaften
• Subtopic: Ökologie

What does it mean to know a place? What might we learn about the world by returning to the same place year after year? What would a long-term record of such visits tell us about change and permanence and our place in the natural world? This collection explores these and related questions through a series of reflective essays and poems on Pennsylvania's Shaver's Creek landscape from the past decade.

Collected as part of The Ecological Reflections Project—a century-long effort to observe and document changes to the natural world in the central Pennsylvanian portion of the Appalachian Forest—these pieces show how knowledge of a place comes from the information and perceptions we gather from different perspectives over time. They include Marcia Bonta's keen observations about how humans knowingly and unknowingly affect the landscape; Scott Weidensaul's view of the forest as a battlefield; and Katie Fallon describing the sounds of human and nonhuman life along a trail. Together, these selections create a place-based portrait of a vivid ecosystem during the first decade of the twenty-first century.

Featuring contributions by nationally known nature writers and local experts, Reading Shaver's Creek is a unique, complex depiction of the central Pennsylvania landscape and its ecology. We know the land and creatures of places such as Shaver's Creek are bound to change throughout the century. This book is the first step to documenting how.

In addition to the editor, contributors to this volume are Marcia Bonta, Michael P. Branch, Todd Davis, Katie Fallon, David Gessner, Hannah Inglesby, John Lane, Carolyn Mahan, Jacy Marshall-McKelvey, Steven Rubin, David Taylor, Julianne Lutz Warren, and Scott Weidensaul.

Table of contents

• COVER front
• Copyright Page
• Table of Contents
• Acknowledgments
• Introduction
• Notes to Introduction
• Site 1: Twin Bridges
• On Orange Teeth and Busy Beavers: Scott Weidensaul (2006)
• Dams and Lushness: David Gessner (2012)
• The Insistence of Forests: Hannah Inglesby (2014)
• In Search of Signs: Michael P. Branch (2014)
• Site 2: The Sawmill Site
• The Mill and the Hemlocks: Scott Weidensaul (2006)
• Looking into the Past: THe Rudy Sawmill: Jacy Marshall-McKelvey (2012)
• Nothing Remains the Same: Marcia Bonta (2015)
• The Saw (Perpetual) Mill: Julianne Lutz Warren (October 2015)
• Site 3: The Chestnut Orchard
• Which Side Are You On? Michael P. Branch (2014)
• Reflections on Ecology from the Chestnut Grove: Carolyn Mahan (2014)
• The Chestnut Plantation: John Lane (2016)
• Almost Lost: Katie Fallon (2016)
• Site 4: The Dark Cliffy Spot
• The Dark Cliffy Place: A Fiction Fragment in Imitation of Cormac McCarthy: David Gessner (2012)
• Song for the Unnamed Creek: David Taylor (2013)
• Naming a Place, Placing a Name: Michael P. Branch (2014)
• Reflections on Ecology at the Dark Cliffy Spot: Carolyn Mahan (2014)
• Site 5: The Bluebird Trail
• Battleground: Scott Weidensaul (2006)
• Plotlines, Transitions, and Ecotones: Ian Marshall (2007)
• Caught in the Web: John Lane (2016)
• A New Sound: Katie Fallon (2016)
• Site 6: Lake Perez
• The Lake on Ice: Ian Marshall (2007)
• Wet Earth: Todd Davis (2008)
• Spring Melt: Todd Davis (2008)
• Lake Perez: Reflections: Julianne Lutz Warren (October 2015)
• Fog on Lake Perez: John Lane (2016)
• Site 7: The Lake Trail
• Clockwise Around the Lake: Ian Marshall (2006)
• Circumambulating the Lake: David Gessner (2012)
• The Work of Walking: David Taylor (2013)
• A Place for Exuberance: Hannah Inglesby (2014)
• A Little Quiet, Please: Marcia Bonta (2015)
• Site 8: The Raptor Center
• Earning Intimacy at the Raptor Center: David Taylor (2013)
• Eagle Acquaintances: Hannah Inglesby (2014)
• The Raptor (Eye) Center: Julianne Lutz Warren (October 2015)
• I Remember a Bird: Katie Fallon (2016)
• Bibliography
• About the Contributors