Greetings, outdoorspeople!
- Weekend forecast: Saturday; high 76; partly cloudy/ Sunday; high 81, mostly sunny
- Recommended adventure: Explore the Upper Springs Mountain Loop this Saturday, May 29. Benton MacKaye Trail Association hike leader George Owen will be guiding a hike along the 4.6-mile loop trail, a moderate trek providing visits to the southern terminus of the Appalachian and Benton MacKaye trails. But if that date doesn’t work for you? The association typically schedules four to five guided hikes per month, ranging from easy to difficult. See more dates or reserve your spot for an upcoming hike here.
- Most interesting thing we recently learned: Rachel Carson, considered the godmother of the environmental movement, was born 113 years ago tomorrow, May 27. Her book “Silent Spring” exposed the hazards of the pesticide DDT – among them the fact that birds ingesting the chemical tended to lay thin-shelled eggs, causing them to break in the nest and resulting in population declines. Ultimately, DDT was banned in the U.S.
- In honor of Carson, here is a story from our archives, “Back from the Brink,” in which we look at local bird species that almost went extinct, including a couple that made a comeback as a direct result of the DDT ban.
– Sunny Montgomery, smontgomery@timesfreepress.com