Among the Ancients: Adventures in the Eastern Old-Growth Forests by Maloof Joan

Author:Maloof, Joan [Maloof, Joan]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Independent Publishers Group
Published: 2011-05-16T21:00:00+00:00

In the 1800s, Edward Beall purchased one square mile of land along the Wabash River in southern Illinois; half was covered by forest that had never been logged. By the time Beall moved there, he was a widower and accompanied only by his daughter, Laura. Unlike most men of his era, he chose not to allow any logging on his property other than what the sharecroppers needed for firewood or repairs to fences and cabins. I imagine Beall and his daughter shared a love for the forest, because when he died and left it to her, she didn’t allow it to be logged, either.

Laura Beall never married. She lived to be a very old woman, and when she died, in 1961, she left no will and no heirs. The property was sold at auction in 1962, and the purchaser planned to log the large, valuable trees. By then the forest was already recognized as one of the last remnants of old growth in Illinois, and the public outcry at its imminent destruction caused state authorities to step in and halt the cutting—just a week before it was to begin. The new owner was not happy with the state’s interference, and a lengthy legal battle began. Eventually, the state prevailed, paying a few thousand dollars more than the purchase price to take over the land. In 1965, Illinois dedicated Beall Woods as a National Natural Landmark and opened it for all to enjoy.

Stories like this gladden me, of course, but I wonder how many forests we cannot visit because no one was able to save them. I think of the forest in Kentucky that Lucy Braun pleaded for and the Primeval Forest in North Carolina, both gone.

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