NATURE NOTE – Number 54 October 14, 2022
Introduction:
NATURE NOTES have primarily focused on the Blue Ridge Mountains Council area where our scouts are normally exposed to nature. But we often read about nature in other parts of the world, such as deforestation in Brazil, or decreasing Polar bears in the far North. These areas are quite different from our area. But what about an area that may be more like our natural environment?
Our Current Topic: The forests of Europe.
I’m certainly not an expert on European nature, but having lived there years ago, and having spent some time there more recently, I have observed interesting things about “our” plants and animals, and “their” plants and animals. Looking back, I wish I had paid more attention to what I saw, but let’s look at some of these things here. First is the climate. Europe is much further north than Virginia. Its latitude is in line with Labrador or Newfoundland, which might make you expect it to be much colder than it is here, but it is not. Sure, as you go into Scandinavia or the high Alps it is, but France, Germany, Great Britain, and Eastern Europe are not that different from the weather here. This is caused mostly by warming currents and winds off of the Atlantic Ocean.
So if the climate is similar, do you find similar plants and animals to what we have here? Yes, in general, you do. The species will vary but the genus, such as oak, maple, pine, spruce are there. Some plant species are almost identical, such as what we call Sycamore and Basswood. In Europe, they are called Plane Tree and Linden. Both are common, and in Berlin there is a famous street called “Unter den Linden”, or under the Linden (Basswood), which line the street. Other trees, such as White Oak are there as well, but they have a slight difference in appearance. The European White oak has leaves with rounded lobes, but it is somewhat smaller. They have a lot of beech. The same with maple. Not quite “our” maples, but easily identified as maple. In parts of Europe you see many evergreen trees in the forest, such as pine, spruce and fir that can be identified as such, but a little different than ours. Many of these are in very intensively managed forests you can see along highways, often planted in rows like corn. You see recently cut logs that have resulted from forest thinning that will be processed into wood products. France and Germany in particular have had a long history with forest management. Much of own forestry techniques were adopted from European forestry schools back in the 1800’s. Many had to be adjusted to fit our soils, terrain, and species, but it was a start. Certainly not all European forests are managed for timber production. Parks are very common throughout Europe that, like ours, provide for nature experiences such as hiking – which the Europeans do lot of. Or, as they say in Scotland “hill walking”. There are parks there that equal our own national and state parks in terms of accessibility, scenic views, protection, and the necessary gift shop. They are well used and well maintained. A factor that has to be considered whenever you discuss Europe is the population. Germany has a population density of 600 people per square mile. Virginia has 202 per square mile. In England it’s 700 per square mile. That means land, whether it’s forests, parks, or agricultural is at a premium. You seldom see a tract of land that is not being actively used for something. In some parts of Europe, particularly in England, forests are not very common. They were cleared centuries ago for fuel and building material and never replaced because of the need for farm land as the population grew. Germany and France however have replaced and protected many of their forests so that now, roughly a third of Germany and France are forested. Other countries look like this: England 13%; Scotland 19%; Hungary 13%; Poland 30% and Sweden 70%. For comparison, about 70% of the U.S. is forested.
This impacts the wildlife you find in Europe. Since wildlife often favor land that is not frequently disturbed, the diversity is not what we have here, but it is there. Many species of birds are common. You see “our” Mallards and other water birds, but most birds are a different species, even though you can see that they have close relatives in North America, such the Bull Finch and the Cardinal, their Goldfinch and our Goldfinch, their warblers and our (more colorful) warblers. A couple of notes here on birds. We all know what our Robin looks like. The Europeans have a Robin too. It’s smaller, but has a “red” breast similar in color to our Robin. Europeans named it hundreds of years ago. So when European settlers came to North America and found all kinds of new birds that needed naming, what did they name that bird with the red breast? A Robin! Totally unrelated to the European bird. They also imported some birds to the new World, such as the House Sparrow and the Starling, both of which are now considered a nuisance bird here. Mammals such as squirrels, rabbits, deer (much smaller), wild boar and a few bear are there and are hunted under laws similar to ours. Parts of Europe, mainly in the Balkans and Poland have large, relatively undisturbed tracts that may be similar to what the earliest settlers and invaders of central Europe found to be dark and scary places as reflected in names such as the Black Forest and fairy tales such as Hansel and Gretel.
Opportunities:
Not sure how this information can be used with your local scout troop or pack, other than in conversation about nature in general. Their frame of reference is here – the Piedmont or the Blue Ridge Mountains – or maybe a trip out west or to the Smokies. But has anyone ever asked them about what nature is like in other parts of the world? Again, rainforests, polar bears and elephants may have entered their minds through various media, but this is an opportunity to ask them to THINK about nature elsewhere in the world. Europe is probably as close to eastern North America as you are going to get in terms of similar nature. And since nature and the environment are global, maybe stretching their frame of reference is good. Finally, I’ll add this: several years ago, a Roanoke scout went to Hungary for several months with his family and asked me if I would be his Bird Study Merit Badge counselor while he was there. After checking the requirements, I said “sure”. His required list of 20 European birds was a little different than what I usually saw, but it worked. Nature is everywhere.
You keep reading NATURE NOTES and I’ll keep trying to write them. Contact me with your thoughts at
Bob Garst
