Human beings typically like order in general. Nature usually prefers order as well, much of the time. However, things can get out of order with seemingly no explanation — even if a perfectly good reason exists for the disruption — and sometimes that disorder can create something unexpected.
Sunday Morning Photograph January 30 2022: Out of Order in the Swamp.
During a leisurely walk at the Noxubee National Wildlife Refuge in eastern central Mississippi yesterday morning, Saturday, January 29, 2022, I was noticing how orderly the trees were in the swampy portion for the most part — when I then saw what appears to be the remnants of several trees at different angles converging in a central location of sorts.
I am not completely sure why this caught my eye like it did; but I then stopped for a moment and began to wonder what had happened. Perhaps the disarray was cause by the windy conditions of inclement weather? Maybe some animals gnawed at the wood of the affected trees? Could either disease or rot have portended their demise?
The reflection in the murky water below only emphasized the somewhat controlled chaos.
At the official Internet web site of the Noxubee National Wildlife Refuge — which is part of the Fish and Wildlife Service of the United States — is the following statement:
What was once intensively farmed and over-grazed land, the Noxubee Refuge is now home to an array of wildlife and a healthy bottomland hardwood forest.
In other words, human beings took the natural land and disrupted it — some people might even say ruined it — and nature responded accordingly. The response by human beings was to protect the land by returning it to nature; and that officially happened on Friday, June 14, 1940, when approximately 42,500 acres of land was declared to be part of this natural wildlife refuge — leaving nature relatively undisturbed once again.
Final Boarding Call
An article pertaining to my experience at the Noxubee National Wildlife Refuge is forthcoming.
Please click here for a complete list of the Sunday Morning Photograph series of articles at The Gate.
All photographs ©2022 by Brian Cohen.
