Actually, I wouldn't be issued a tree-hugger's card. Truth is, my past would likely prohibit me from admission into that society. Sadly, for most of my sixty-two years I paid little attention to trees and forests other than for shade, firewood, and camoflauge cover from which to ambush deer.

Then I bought a little piece of forest of my own, where my home is the only encroachment on forty acres of pine and hardwood. There is evidence here that the place was logged sometime in its history, but the towering oaks, hickory, and pines argue that it was long ago. Owning a forest, however small, has been a powerful influence on my attitudes.