New book celebrates Shaver’s Creek

PETERSBURG — With hiking trails, lake activities, summer camps and special events, Shaver’s Creek Environmental Center and the surrounding Stone Valley Recreation Area have long been a favorite spot for local nature lovers. A new book published by Penn State University Press takes a unique approach to the study of this location that is special to so many people.

“Reading Shaver’s Creek: Ecological Reflections from an Appalachian Forest” is a representation of writings from the first 10 years of an ongoing 100-year project conceived of by Ian Marshall, professor of English and environmental studies at Penn State Altoona. The Long-Term Ecological Reflections Project invites nature writers from all over the country to come to Shaver’s Creek and observe eight specific sites and record their observations in essays, poetry or fictional pieces. The writings are collected and published on the Shaver’s Creek website.

According to Marshall, “The idea is to get a whole bunch of people going to the same sites over 100 years and to see how people from different academic backgrounds see the same place. How do people from different regions of the country see the same place? And, of course, how does a place change over time?”

Marshall said the idea originally stemmed from a conference he was attending in 2005, when he heard about Oregon State University’s ecological reflections project based in the Cascade Mountains. At the time, Marshall was a frequent visitor at Shaver’s Creek, where his son was volunteering every week as part of a home school curriculum.

“I told Mark McLaughlin, the director, about this Oregon State project, and he said, ‘Well, that sounds pretty cool. We could do something like that here,’’ Marshall said. “So, we decided that as I was hiking out there every week, I would find some interesting spots and we would designate them as sites. I picked out eight sites, and did a pilot set of writings. Then, we started inviting nature writers that we had connections to.”

Some of the sites include the raptor center, the twin bridges, a site Marshall calls “the dark cliffy spot” and Lake Perez.

Marshall said the impetus for the project was not only influenced by Oregon State.

“Henry David Thoreau was sort of doing the same thing back in the 1850s. For the last 10 years of his life, he would go out on a daily walk, and he was keeping track of everything he saw. For instance, when did the blossoms first come out on the huckleberry bushes? When did the first berries appear? When did the ice on the river break up? …. And he would record this year after year.

“He had no way of knowing what the value of his observations would be 150 years later, but scientists have started using his old notes and journals to track climate change. That’s something Thoreau would never have been aware of while writing all this down. So, who knows what the value of this project will eventually be.”

The book is edited by Marshall and includes observations about each site from 13 additional contributors. Some of the writers are local, and some have come from as far away as Nevada and Alaska. The book also includes black-and-white photos by Penn State photographer Steven Rubin.

A book launch party featuring many of the contributors is being planned for late March or early April at Shaver’s Creek, Marshall said.
Marshall said “Reading Shaver’s Creek” is aimed at a general readership. “People who know Shaver’s Creek will be really interested in this book. It’s all local ecology. Anyone who knows the outdoors in this whole area will enjoy it.”

The book sells for $19.95 and will be available beginning Friday, Feb. 16, through online sites such as Amazon.com, at Shaver’s Creek and directly from Penn State University Press at www. psupress.org.