By David Spector
In New England’s late summer and fall, whole hillsides of leaves famously change color; meanwhile, another plant color change occurs on a tiny scale. Among the wildflowers now twinkling along New England roads are many species of asters. As with other plants in the daisy family, each aster “flower” is a composite of dozens of tiny flowers, called florets, of two types.
Hitchcock Center’s Executive Director Billy Spitzer is featured on Unscripted with Chris Forneay on Valley Free Radio.
By Monya Relles
Over a long weekend in August, my parents and I met in Vermont to hike Mount Mansfield, the highest mountain in the state. The section we walked, struggled and scrambled up is a steep path, part of Vermont’s Long Trail, and the summit offers breathtaking views of the sloping Green Mountains.
The ridge is a delicate alpine zone and “Leave No Trace” principles — which focus on minimum impact while enjoying the outdoors — are posted all along the hike, beginning to end. A Green Mountain land steward at the top told me that in 2004 the mountaintop was practically bare rock. In contrast, the weekend I climbed it, it was awash with life: from petite mountain sandwort flowers to an abundance of low-bush blueberries to a pretty house finch perched near the summit. But I just couldn’t help thinking: Can’t we do even better than this?
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Hitchcock Center for the Environment
at Hampshire College
845 West Street | Amherst MA 01002 | 413.256.6006 | 413.253.2809 fax