been deep innawoods without cell/wifi reception for a while, which has been nice. but walking around with the map reminded me to share this good, free resource with frens who may not be aware of it, i'll briefly show you how you can use it: ngmdb.usgs.gov
Clicking "TopoView" will bring you to a large map, you can pinpoint an exact location and it will compile recorded topographic maps that include that point. I picked a random spot in the Adirondacks (fig 1), and selected a map PDF (fig 2). You can zoom quite close (fig 3)
On the homepage you can also select "Map Catalog". Picking the same spot on the map as the last example, and checking "Use Area on Map" (fig 1), you can see lots of different reports. You can sort by geologic criteria if you need something specific, check out the range (fig 2)
If you are researching an area for a place to buy property, this is enormously useful to you. You can search for depth to water table reports to find out how difficult it may be for you to get a well drilled, for example
Back on the homepage, using "MapView" you can scroll to a specific area and view publications by their coverage area. For this example, I chose the same area, and found a surficial geologic map of that region
If you're going out into the wilderness, you should have a paper map. This is a great resource to get free topographic maps which are useful for land navigation/orienteering. It is also a great resource for researching an area for a homestead
Finally, now that you have a map, check out fren Pigwood's excellent Land Nav thread if you're going innawoods:
The American Chestnut was once the most important and valuable tree in eastern North America.
Now, it is nearly extinct.
This is the story of how an invasive species killed off this special tree, and in the process helped exterminate self-sufficient agrarian life in Appalachia:
The American Chestnut (Castanea dentata) is a hardwood tree native to eastern North America. It is considered the finest chestnut tree in the world. Growing up to 17 feet wide and up to 120 feet tall, old chestnuts were among the most stunning specimens in the eastern forests
When European settlers arrived in the New World, the American chestnut was likely the most common tree they encountered. In some areas of Appalachia, nearly 1 in 2 trees in any given forest was an American chestnut.
Have you ever felt an unexplainable, deep connection or kinship when looking at a bear?
Or perhaps you have wondered why the bear is the source of so much ancient folklore and mythology?
This is because bears are our spiritual brothers.
Let's dive in 🐻:
Bears, like humans, have large brains compared to their body size. In fact, bears have the largest and most complex brain of all land mammals.
They have excellent long-term memory and navigation skills, and are able to learn and retain information very quickly.
Even more fascinating, however, is their ability to use tools.
Tool use is uncommon among mammals, but bears are an exception. They throw rocks and use sticks and trees to scratch themselves.
Polar bears have even been seen hurling blocks of ice at walruses to knock them out.
There is a popular “conspiracy theory” about some mountains being the stumps of prehistoric trees. While I personally believe this to be true based just on pure hope, here’s why giant prehistoric trees likely are very real:
Before modern “trees” were covering the earth, there were Prototaxites. These were giant fungus, possibly lichen, that grew to modern tree heights in the early Devonian period. Without natural predators, they were able to grow much larger than the fruiting fungus you see today
The earliest known tree is the Wattieza, resembling the modern tree fern. It lived in the middle Devonian period and, like fungus, reproduced with spores. Spore-bearing trees (progymnosperms) found that they could grow tall and use wind to spread their spores. Artist rendering: