“Thanksgiving Day 2024 and reflecting on the end of a glorious summer” by Bob Bowles

A magical place in Copeland Forest
A magical and enchanted location deep in the wetland swamps of Copeland Forest with mushrooms, mosses, lichens and many special wetland plants. Bob Bowles

Thanksgiving Day 2024 and reflecting on the end of a glorious summer

Bob Bowles looks back at his time spent exploring Copeland Forest and cataloguing his observations.
by Robert (Bob) Bowles

It was really more than just summer — it started in very early spring and lasted into two weeks of October, until the daytime temperatures dropped to single digits and overnight temperatures just above freezing.

I taught my last class of the Ontario Master Naturalist Winter Program on Thursday, March 10, but with no staff to continue into the spring and summer program which also ended up with no fall program as well. I realized that I would have the whole spring and summer off with no classes and only a few small contracts, so lots of time during the spring and summer of 2024.

I had read several reports on the 4,400 acres of forest in the Horseshoe Valley Provincial Forest — known as Copeland Forest — and was concerned about the habitat and species we were losing in this amazing habitat due to recreational pressure.

I started off on snowshoes in February and ended in hip-waders in October. I logged more than 250 hours strolling across Copeland Forest, recording plants and other interesting species as I waded through swamps, marshes and fens, climbed up and down steep, wooded escarpments and walked over 85 single and double-track trails in Copeland Forest. I recorded over 500 plant species in nine different locations, confirming and recording their presence on a large electronic spreadsheet.

I visited the forest wherever my interest took me over 50 days during the summer and early fall. I found many rare species that gave me joy and many invasive species that gave me grief, areas of heavy recreational use that needed to be changed and many wetland areas that needed to be protected. I walked railway tracks through the wetlands and waded across Craig Swamp, a trip that I don’t want to repeat and ended up getting lost three times over the summer in deep forests and wetlands that had no reference marks to take location bearings. I started to carry a global positioning system (GPS) with me on every trip after my crossing of the swamp and getting lost, which lasted to almost sunset.

It was a glorious, carefree summer with no timelines and no set goals or places to visit. I wanted to cover the whole area to the fullest of my satisfaction. Some areas, I visited several times to take water levels and record species. In fact, it took me seven trips to finally figure out the old route we call the Orchid Trail, now grown over in several areas and with no obvious path in one large section.

I ended the summer with a series of six workshops on asters and goldenrods found in Copeland Forest since this group of plants is one of the most difficult to identify individual plants to species. I was able to find and identify almost all the species on my target list for this difficult group of plants.

At one location deep in the heart of the wetlands surrounded by many species of mushrooms, mosses, lichens, and wetland plants, I found a large five-point antler dropped by a large white-tailed buck last winter early in the year. It was in perfect condition, but I could see green algae had started to grow on the calcium and small rodents had nibbled some of the tips to obtain calcium in their diet. It was a wonderful and enchanted location in the wetland, and I sat on the trunk of a fallen tree for almost an hour giving thanks for the many wonderful features in these wetland swamps and upland forests.

A female Rose-breasted Grosbeak finally decided to check out what I was doing in her habitat and moved to a location just above my head so she could peer down and watch me. She left and a few other small birds moved past me in the forest, but for most of the time all was still and quiet. I finally rose and found my way back to civilization with trees cut and cleared, recreational paths throughout and housing development on all sides. I can’t wait until this winter or next spring when I can visit this magical location in a new season.

John Muir may have found a Calypso Orchid at Holland Marsh and a Honey Locust Tree in Hamilton during his glorious summer of 1864 when he explored our area in Ontario, but I found several species of orchids, Bog Buckbean and Black Chokeberry in my glorious summer of 2024 in Copeland Forest, 160 years later.

Bob Bowles is an award-winning writer, artist, photographer and naturalist, founder, and co-ordinator of the Ontario master naturalist certificate program at Lakehead University.