Forest on the Fringe

by Bill Haywood

Introduction

Sapien spent his life working in the woods. It couldn't have been done if the trees were regarded as merchandise and everything else as weeds and brush. It couldn't have been done if the land and the vegetation that colonized it were a possession. Possessions are purchased and, as such, they become a debt that one day must provide a measurable return. The rain, mud, cold, snow, and heat, compounded by the strenuous work and exacerbated by heat rash, frost bite, poison ivy, nettles, thorns, mosquitoes, ticks and flies would make the cost of possession much too high and neglect much too easy.

As time passed, the woods drew Sapien in. Slowly his culturally instilled, capitalistic motivations disappeared much the same as the dawn mist disintegrated before the rising day. Sapien began to view the physicality of the woods as being alive.

Constantly immersed in the pool of stone, soil, herbs and trees, Sapien blended into the ecology of the Oak-Hickory Forest and became a component of it. Each of the woods entered into needed help. Each had an exploited past, was existing in a deteriorated present and faced a financially manipulated future. Sapien worked in the woods so that the woods could renew itself. He worked in the woods to give the plant community an opportunity.

Sapien, now, never leaves the woods.

About the Author

Bill Haywood has been a professional forester for over thirty years. During the past eighteen years he has earned his living working as a self-employed forestry contractor. Renewing degraded natural woodlands for private landowners routes him across the Fringe Land between the upper Mississippi and the Missouri/Big Sioux Rivers.

This vocational journey has left him with a deep appreciation for the natural communities that once competed for possession of the territory. What a beautiful land!

Getting Copies

This book is available now, and may be purchased through Paypal. The price is $19.50 for the first copy, postage paid to addresses in the USA.

(one copy for $19.50)

Discounts are available for the purchase of two or more books. Contact Bill at bf.haywood@gmail.com.