The Committee to Save the Bird Homestead will present the Beauty and Power of Trees, a nature walk on the Meeting House and Bird Homestead grounds December 30 at 3 p.m. Naturalist Alison Beall will lead the program. Now that the leaves are down, the structure of trees can be seen more clearly.  

 

The Committee to Save the Bird Homestead will present the Beauty and Power of Trees, a nature walk on the Meeting House and Bird Homestead grounds December 30 at 3 p.m. Naturalist Alison Beall will lead the program. Now that the leaves are down, the structure of trees can be seen more clearly. 

The Bird family valued and studied trees. Alice Bird Erikson, who spent most of her life at the Bird Homestead, was a talented nature illustrator. In 1942, she produced beautiful color lithographs of trees found in the American landscape for a book entitled “Trees of the Countryside” (Alfred A. Knopf). “Born to a family of scientists, [she] has grown up trained to observe and to appreciate the wonders of nature,” notes the book jacket.

 

Trees enhance the beauty of any property. They are also environmental powerhouses. They give off oxygen, sequester carbon, serve as habitat for wildlife, provide natural cooling with shade in summer, help cleanse the air of pollutants, and absorb water in the flood plane.  

 

Ms. Beall is Curator Emerita of the Marshlands Conservancy, where she spent 35 years educating students and the general public about the environment.  She is a member of the Bird Homestead Advisory Council.

 

Starting December 30, members of the public may sign up with the Bird Homestead to have Ms. Beall make a free visit to their yards to identify unknown trees and shrubs and explain their environmental value. Participants in the walk may also bring twigs with them for identification.

 

The walk will start at the Meeting House, 624 Milton Road. Dress warmly and wear boots or hiking shoes. For further information, contact preservehistory@earthlink.net or 967-0383.