Tree Farmer - March/April 2010 - (Page 16)

Spent in the Woods By A LiFe Gould Jon My dad, A. Harvey Gould, spent more than 75 years working in the woods — though he did stop using a chainsaw when he turned 90. He died last March after a lifetime filled with the hard work, challenges, and benefits of Tree Farming. Dad was born in 1914 in East Hartford, Connecticut, where he lived through most of his teen years. Dad’s father moved to the east coast of Florida with his second wife in 1928. At the age of 18, Dad followed, to help run (and eventually purchase) his father’s variety store in Titusville. In his off time, Dad hunted duck and fished the St. Johns, Indian, and Banana Rivers and surf fished along the beach. He was especially captivated by the wild and undeveloped nature of nearby Merritt Island and its diverse habitat and wildlife. He purchased a couple of hundred acres of savannah and hammock land on the island, and through a period of years planted a 20-acre citrus grove. The grove contained several varieties of orange and grapefruit trees, which he grew from seed and budded in a small nursery behind our house. He continued to buy land along the island — river and beachfront property — and built a small house on a remote beach near Cape Canaveral. In the late 1940s, Dad planted his first few hundred pine seedlings on Merritt Island with minimal site preparation and no firebreaks. It wasn’t long before a wildfire wiped out the young pines. At first Dad was discouraged, but after a few years decided to try again. He prepared about 20 acres of ground, and in January 1954 I helped him hand plant 10,000 slash pine seedlings obtained from the Florida Department of Forestry. Firebreaks were established and maintained by disking, and undergrowth competition was controlled by mowing. These pines grew well in the rich, moist soils, and within a few years made quite a plantation forest. When Dad became a certified Tree Farmer in 1955, many of the slash pines were already 6-8 feet tall. When I left for college in 1960, this was a beautiful pine plantation, convincing many people that pines — once prevalent on Merritt Island but lost to wildfire, uncontrolled Tree Farmer MARCH/APRIL 2010

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of Tree Farmer - March/April 2010

Tree Farmer - March/April 2010
Contents
Cover Story
Create a Recreational Trail
A Life Spent in the Woods
Ties to the Land
Public Policy
Wildlife Matters
From your Committees

Tree Farmer - March/April 2010