Another Family Story

By Arlene (Hamel) Nussbaum
    I would like to share the story about how The Wilderness Center became an important part of our family.
John and I were born and raised in the Cleveland area with the Cleveland Metro parks, which formed an "emerald necklace" around the city from east to west. So nature trails and lots of green space were right at our door steps.
    Marriage and jobs brought us down to the Jackson Township area in 1973 and that old saying rang true, "You don't know what you've got till it's gone." Where were the parks down here?
One cold January Saturday in 1974 we were roaming around the area and just happened to come upon The Wilderness Center. Ahhhhh, NATURE!!! We went into the little "farm house" nature center and were greeted by the director Jerry Felland, who explained that they were in the process of finishing the new Interpretive Building by spring and would welcome volunteers gladly. Wow, those were the magic words, since we lived in an apartment and were looking for a worthwhile pastime.
    John and I gladly traveled down to the Center about every Saturday to spend the day painting, staining and helping to move into the new building. We became one of the family there, so to speak. So much so, that our volunteer hours added up quickly and we were honored with the Distinguished Service Award in 1976. John served on the Board of Directors until his death in 1999.
    It was such a wonderful place to volunteer for us nature lovers that when our son, David, was born, we brought him along. You could say that he grew up at The Wilderness Center. I did have my doubts, however, when one summer day, we borrowed a baby backpack carrier from the bookstore and we took him out on the trail for the first time. He cried almost the whole time on the trail, much to our dismay! Thank goodness his attitude changed as he grew up; he loved exploring nature with us and he wanted to volunteer right along with us at the bookstore, doing mailings and trail work. He couldn't wait for the Pancake Breakfast and the Enchanted Forest to arrive so he could help out. I remember sewing up a firefly robe in size small for him. Now he is a true outdoorsman.
    As for me, being a retired first grade teacher, I continue volunteering at special events and as a docent, leading hikes and doing some indoor programs for school groups. I really appreciate TWC still being here for the students, as I see them get excited about nature. I also serve as secretary for the Board of Directors.
TWC is a wonderful organization with a great future. I am proud to be a part of it and support it with my membership and donations to the Annual Giving Campaign.

One Family's Story

   I've asked you to tell us about your experiences at The Wilderness Center, either as a child yourself or bringing your children or grandchildren here. So here's my family story of becoming involved at The Wilderness Center.
    I remember the first day we came to TWC. It was Sunday, October 23, 1983, a beautiful fall day. We wanted to go somewhere to hike, and my husband Dan remembered hearing about The Wilderness Center as a child in Dover. Our daughter Amanda was about 4 months old, so we loaded up the stroller and diaper bag and headed down from North Canton, where we lived at the time.
We went in the old Interpretive Building and we were greeted by a volunteer. He answered our questions and gave us a trail map. We set out on the Pond Trail, where we quickly discovered that umbrella strollers weren't the best thing to use. But we muddled along, spending time at the pier on the lake and up in the observation tower. After our hike, we went back into the Interpretive Building and the greeter gave us a newsletter and a membership application. We joined right away, and the rest, as they say, is history.
We came down here often; whenever we had out of town guests, TWC was always on the agenda. It became a tradition to visit on the Friday before school started, bringing along a picnic lunch or stopping at the ice cream stand in Brewster. We usually hiked the Pond Trail, bringing bread to feed the fish at the lake. The kids actually hiked the trail twice, as they ran ahead to see what was next, then run back to tell us about it.
    I began volunteering in the office when my youngest went to school. During the summer, I sometimes helped out, and the kids came with me. They grew up volunteering in the bookstore, at Enchanted Forest, the Pancake Brunch, and at many other events. Amanda still loves to volunteer at Enchanted Forest, and last year she brought her boyfriend to Moonlight Serenade, which they both agreed was very cool! My other two children live elsewhere now, but they have fond memories of TWC.
As a family, we found TWC to be an oasis, a place we could go to be together without distractions. We liked that TWC was preserving land for the future, and that school children attended programs there. In the past 27 years, TWC's mission has expanded, but preserving land and educating children are still at the core. Thank you for supporting us, and please remember us in your estate plans.
                                                                                               Tammy Seikel, Development Director

Winter Woods Walk

              The Wilderness Center holds 9.1 acres very close to where I live. With deep snow on the ground, I thought this might be a good way to get outdoors and my son and I decided to try our hand at winter-tree identification.

              With deep snow, it’s easy to get around “above” the groundcover, underbrush, and deadfalls, but it is harder to identify trees without buds, flowers, or leaves. We would rely mostly on branch structure, crown density, and ever-variable bark, though topography, proximity to water, and field conditions such as old fencerows and reverting fields are very informative.

              The land is mostly mid-land, neither upland nor lowland, with a creek running through the property and there are clearly two dominant tree-regions as the land descends, perhaps one part was an old pasture cleared by burning, the other mostly likely logged. We would eliminate any tree that we thought might be human planted, and wouldn’t include honeysuckle or similar brush.

              What can we tell about the shape and general characteristics of the trees and about their setting. We were trying for thirty species and would visit The Wilderness Center in Wilmot the next day to compare. Here is what we found in the small plot:

Apple (unspecific)

Ash, White

Boxelder

Cherry, Black

Cherry, Pin

Chestnut, Chinese

Cottonwood, Eastern

Dogwood, Flowering

Elm, Slippery (or Red)

Hackberry, Northern

Hawthorn (unspecific)

Hickory, Bitternut

Hickory, Pignut

Holly (unspecific)

Horsechestnut (Common or Buckeye?—wait for spring)

Locust, Black

Maple, Red

Maple, Silver

Maple, Sugar

Mulberry (Red or White?)

Oak Pin

Oak, Red

Oak, Shingle

Oak, White

Sassafras

Sycamore, American (only one and we may have strayed beyond TWC land)

Tuliptree

Walnut, Black

              At The Wilderness Center in Wilmot we didn’t find Northern Hackberry, Bitternut Hickory, Pignut Hickory, Silver Maple, Pin Oak, and only one, dying Pin Cherry (and of course we didn’t count the human-planted Sumac and Juniper).

              We did find in addition though:

Beech, American

Cedar, Red

Hickory, Mockernut (wait for spring)

Hickory, Shagbark

Hophornbeam

Hornbeam, American (Ironwood)

Oak, Black (wait for spring)

Oak, Swamp White

Osage-orange

Pine, Red

Pine, White

Spruce, Norway

Tupelo, Black (Black Gum)

Willow (Black, maybe White?)

deer and tree rubs—and today, a flock of bluebirds examining the thawing ground. These were short walks with barely enough time to get either cold or wet. Our tallies likely contain inaccuracies but the birds were chattering everywhere. Spring will reveal dormant clues when we’ll return and check our survey.

Submitted by: David Wiesenberg -February 2010

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