My Grandfather

Last class I briefly discussed my grandfather's involvement with the Adirondack park (I don't know why I never brought it up earlier, I think I just forgot.), and I want to further explain the details of his work. My grandfather's name is Bill (we call him Big Bill), and as a retired private school headmaster he now produces maple syrup in New London, New Hampshire and works on several environmental committees including one on land management in the Adirondack Park. Before I go into what I know about his work, I want to describe the unique and enviable relationship that I have noticed between my grandfather and the wilderness on his land.

Growing up, my family and I would make an annual trip to New Hampshire to help Big Bill set up for the "Sugar Season", which usually lasts from late January to April. We start by tapping metal spiles into the center of 60 or so Maple trees that are scattered around a small wooden hut called the "Sugaring Shack". Once the spiles are in about two inches, we hang metal buckets to the spiles that collect the sap that begins to drip out. One of my earliest memories from helping Big Bill is him teaching me to crouch down and catch the sweet drips of sap in my mouth before hanging the bucket. Next we would connect all the spiles to the Sugaring Shack using long rubber tubes that fed directly into a giant wood fire boiler that boils down the sap into syrup. On the side of the boiler is a tap that will dispense the syrup, freshly made and boiling hot, into mugs that we would bring to taste the product of our work.

To this day, I have never met another person with such an affinity for nature and a knowledge of how to sustainably use it. Every day during sugaring season, Big Bill will get up early in the morning and work for hours with his trees until he is called back home for a late dinner. His land rests on several hills that are steep and icy, but even at age 75 he climbs them with ease, often helping his much younger helpers to find the easiest paths.  Part of his daily routine is making sure that his trees stay healthy by stripping away dead branches and maintaining the land around them. To me, Big Bill epitomizes the romanticized relationship between man and nature that authors such as Bill McKibben have championed in their writing.  I have found, from helping him, that my grandfather has established a symbiotic relationship with his land; the trees give him sap and profit and he in turn maintains the land promotes its sustainable use. Though he lives outside of the Adirondack Park, he embodies the qualities that I know are essential for human coexistence with any wilderness.

Unfortunately, I know very little about his involvement with the Adirondack Park. Big Bill doesn't often talk about his own work/hobbies, instead preferring to hear about anybody else's (another quality that I admire in him). I know that he is on a committee for sustainable land uses that deals with area within the Adirondack Park, but nothing beyond that. He is very excited that I am taking this class, and I have since wrote him a letter requesting more information regarding his work with the Park. I will let the class know when I hear back from him; I am intrigued to hear what he will say because I'm sure it will be pertain to much of the material that we have learned this semester. It is probably apparent from this post, but I have a huge amount of respect for my grandfather and much of my love/fascination with nature is due to growing up with him as a sort of guide.