HALFWAY TO SPRING / THE SNOW MOON,

AN ICY, SNOWY DESERT - As arctic winds roar south over Manitou Mountain (my nickname for our Overlook), coursing down through frozen mountainside quarries, bending low Milkweed and Monarda - their sere, dried flower-husks scraping patterns in the crystalline snow of the Woodstock Valley - deep winter comes to Waghkonk. Animals large and small, some with claws and some with paws, cast far and wide for a desperate meal, their stories told in fast-fading traces on wind-blown white, like lost memories past, as some live and some don't. Others, maybe taking a simpler path, slow down their world and wait for the green. “Got us a real, old-time Catskills winter", an old-timer might say, or even someone walking down Tinker Street, tightly holding hat to head. Many Beeches and some Oaks have tried to keep their last-season's dried leaves on their otherwise-bare branches but seem to be losing that battle to the polar jet. Snow that wasn't frozen is being piled into gleaming, sometimes corniced, snow-dunes, reminding us once again how much a northeast winter landscape can be like an icy, snowy desert, which - like most deserts - always harbor hidden life, however dormant and half-frozen. Some small (and not-so-small) insects and mammals half-hibernate and hide under bark and leaf, as well as carefully chosen caves and hollow logs, waiting for warmth. I guess we're not all that different and this winter many local humans might be happy to replicate their strategies.

SEASONAL ROLLERCOASTER - It’s true - our seasonal rollercoaster continues - a few days mild and dry, a few days cold and snowy. As usual, these back and forth conditions lead to a freeze-thaw cycle - everything that thawed today might be ice tomorrow. This might be good for the coming Maple Sugaring season, but stepping wrong on ice is definitely hazardous (in particular, watch for patches of ice covered by snow). Please use some form of ice-gripper wherever you think it might be icy and if you can’t avoid walking there (I recommend either low-impact YakTrax for rooty, rocky trails in the Valley or Kahtoolahs for more serious trails in the hills). Trekking-poles can be a big help, too. Drivers have to be extra careful at night to look for black ice - re-freezing water from snow-melt on roads - and slow down accordingly. Also VERY IMPORTANT - clear all snow from your car so it doesn’t blow back on the car behind you. It’s very dangerous and actually illegal to not do so.

HALFWAY TO SPRING - We are at the halfway point between the Winter Solstice and the Spring Equinox. The Celts celebrated this time as Imbolc (February 1-2), the years First Cross-Quarter Day. It is a time for celebrating the visible lengthening of days. Also celebrated as Groundhogs Day or Candlemas. The Mayans noted this moment on the Great Wheel as did Native Americans at Cahokia and at Anasazi.

THE SNOW MOON - February can still be as challenging as January for all creatures. In North America and the other coldest parts of the Northern Hemisphere, this is traditionally the time of the greatest snowfall (though Climate Change is throwing its monkey-wrench into it, as it is with everything). Even though the days are noticeably longer, and they bring more light, it is still at a low enough angle that it doesn’t have much effect for melting and warming. Many tribes in the northeast called this month the Snow Moon, but it is also appropriately called the Hunger Moon because many creatures (people included) could go hungry in these harsh conditions. It was also called the Bear Moon because this is when Black Bear cubs are usually born, their mother still asleep. The cubs know where to find her milk (even though their eyes aren’t open yet) and they all wait in the den for a few more weeks.

OVERGROWTH OF UNDERBRUSH - Personally, like many of us, I enjoy mild winters. They allow me to explore our backwoods more readily, without snowshoes and it’s easier for me to guide hikes or do paid trail-work with no snow. But there is a price for us to pay for this - and it could be a high price. Traditionally, this area recharges its ground-water with snow-pack. It was not uncommon up until the ‘80s to find snow under north-facing ledges in May or even June - no more. We’ve been lucky in most recent years with mild winters to get bailed out by heavy spring rains. We’ve all watched the horrifying videos of great fires in California and in Australia, scorching their landscapes, burning homes and destroying forests and their wild inhabitants. Last year we had close calls here with numerous brushfires. Catastrophic fires can happen here. They have occurred in this region before - and could (and probably will) occur again - with much worse consequences than in the past. The fire-towers of the Catskills were built because of the ever-present threat of forest fires, which did constantly scour these rolling hills in the 19th- and early 20th centuries, leaving a burnt, charred landscape. One difference between then and now is that at present there are many houses built in among the formerly wild woods. The old-timers could (and did, many times) let wild-fires burn until they went out. Now, with so many homes in the forest, the peril is two-fold - both to the myriad buildings and to the firemen that risk their lives to protect them. The sources of my concern are the immense amounts of underbrush collecting in the woods and the out-of-control over-growth of highly flammable Mountain Laurel, both of which create a “ladder” for brush fires to climb and become crown fires, potentially destroying much of our forest - and the homes (of people and of wildlife) within it. Unless the forest-floor is cleared of underbrush, and the Mountain Laurel is reduced greatly - all of which Native Americans once did - we face the likelihood of major fires returning. Our lack of snow-pack thus far this year and what that usually means in terms of drought and fires leads me to hope and pray heartily for lots of spring rain to charge our water-table. Unfortunately, though, unless we remedy the situation, it’s only a matter of time before we have a disaster - if not this year, then another. Every level of government should work together to find a way to prevent this disaster from occurring. Native cultures knew how to care for their forests - that’s what we need to learn to do. For more on this, please contact me for a copy of “A Catskills Wildfire?”. Thanks.

IT’S THE JOURNEY, NOT THE DESTINATION - I love my journey with you all, us spiraling around the Sun, Homeward-bound on our beautiful, blue orb. I’m not sure exactly what our destination is but I believe the journey itself - and how we conduct ourselves on that journey - is what is important. And winter is the time that is the greatest challenge to all of us, the time when our conduct in how we treat each other - and ourselves - is the most important. It is a challenging time for us all, some more than others. The challenge for the strong is to help those that are weak and the challenge for the weak is to let those that are stronger at the moment help them. We all need to be a little extra patient with each other in this time. Again, I believe it’s not the destination that’s important but how we get there - the Journey.

Thanks to everyone for all of your continued encouragement and support. Please visit Dave Holden on Facebook and at www.woodstocknytrails.com. If you like Instagram, stop by at rangerdaveholden. My email is woodstocktrails@gmail.com and my cell is (845)594-4863. Have a happy and safe late-winter. Probably still a good idea to take a flashlight on walks in the woods and continue to dress for winter, in layers. Take Care, "Ranger"Dave Holden