You’ll read this week a story about the status of leaf peeping in our fair state.
To sum up reporter John Purcell’s findings, some experts think leaf lovers are in for a truncated, lackluster season of fall colors because of a hot, dry summer. This hopefully won’t be an economic
problem for the state (the early fall season tends to be a booming time for tourism), but it is a disappointing appraisal nonetheless that comes on the heels of one of the worst local apple harvests in memory. Fall, the much-beloved season of so many northeasterners, is a little less ideal this year.
Of course, a minor hiccup in the cycle of natural colors is not the end of the world. What is more troubling is the years-long trajectory that is increasingly relegating nature to off-the-beaten-path corners of the countryside in favor of strip malls, cookie cutter housing developments and parking lots. The natural world, it would seem, is becoming something you drive to rather than something observed every day.
A 2010 report by a group of leading academic minds entitled “Wildlands and Woodlands” found in the New England states, forest cover has declined precipitously since 1950 after experiencing a dramatic, century-long revival once settlers stopped cutting down everything in sight. It’s much the same story elsewhere. The problem is, what once took man and beast months can take a logging crew a few days — the forests may not be in a state of danger, but it is heading that direction, and quickly.
It is hard to imagine it today, but when Europeans first set foot in the New World what was to become the eastern United States was home to massive, towering trees that rival the redwoods in California (many of which were also recently lost to logging, by the way). White pines routinely grew to well over 200 feet tall. In a matter of years, nearly all of these were felled to make ship masts. At the rate we’re going, it is unlikely anything like them will ever been seen again in this part of the country.
Today, there are only scattered patches of old growth forests in New York (indeed, in the entire northeast) that were never touched by human hands. It is important these resources are protected, but it is equally vital we build the spirit of preserving nature into our everyday lives. Nature need not be a special interest, it is something that can become commonplace with a little forethought.
We reported recently in our Saratoga County edition on the Meadow Vista housing development outside of Saratoga Springs. Besides being home to 21 domiciles, this area contains a public preserve of forestland with walking trails. When we spoke to planners from the city and developer Charlew Builders, we were told this project is quite outside the norm because as a conservation subdivision, few builders are willing to go to the trouble or give up potential revenues to incorporate true open spaces into their designs.
That is quite understandable, but what is also clear is developers don’t need to take an all-or-nothing approach to their projects. They should be encouraged by municipal planning boards to incorporate natural features into their endeavors, or at the very least create green space beyond islands of grass in a parking lot (these do count towards a project’s open space percentage, believe it or not). And beyond being encouraged, they should be rewarded for taking such measures.
If we are unable to reconcile our desire for newer things — new homes, new places to shop, new places to park — with the world that surrounds us, a poor showing for leaf colors will be the least of our worries.