This pair of Canada geese and their goslings were spotted in the pond that leads up to the Pawpaw Trail.

The bright rump of a white-tailed deer, the snow white chinstrap of a Canada goose: both are common sites in Piscataway Park, present here year-round. Even when the animals themselves are elusive, the tracks of a deer’s graceful step or a goose’s awkward-on-land waddle can be found in our muddy fields. But as deer over-graze forests and landscaped lawns, as geese damage agricultural crops and overload waterways with their droppings, some have come to consider the creatures a nuisance, and management methods have become hot topics for neighborhoods and natural resource groups alike.

But the white-tailed deer and Canada goose have played significant parts in Maryland’s history. Evidence of deer hunting, for instance, abounds: Indians hunted deer for food, clothing, and tools, turning hide, sinew, and bone into aprons, thread, and needles. European colonists hunted deer for meat and for buckskin, supplying themselves with clothing and Great Britain’s leather industry with imported hides. And African-American slaves in the Chesapeake hunted often, supplementing rations with wild game, raised fowl, and cultivated vegetables.

While habitat loss and over-hunting once contributed to sharp declines in deer and in geese, populations of deer and resident Canada geese—distinct from those migratory flocks that nest in northern Canada—have in recent decades rebounded, becoming perhaps too abundant. In this region, humans have reshaped the landscape, expanding suburbia’s lawns and gardens, golf course ponds, and bans on hunting and, in so doing, creating new homes for deer and geese alike, filled with food, shelter, and an unfortunate dose of human/creature conflict. Our own Conservation Pond is filled with a number of resident geese, and little groups of downy goslings have this month been spotted all over the park, from the livestock pastures to the pond that leads up to the Pawpaw Trail.

Despite their commonness, these animals are no less gratifying to see in the park, foraging for food in forests and fields or raising their next generation of young. On your next visit, take a moment to appreciate the ordinary, whether it is the white-tailed deer, the Canada goose, or something else whose regular appearance on your outdoor walks does nothing to diminish its worth.

Trail Treks is a monthly column that explores the walking trails in Piscataway Park. This year, we will highlight the Pawpaw Trail, which is located at the western end of our grounds and leads through a mature forest. Look for more reflections from the Pawpaw Trail as 2012 progresses.

The jack-in-the-pulpit, left, is just one of the spring ephemera that blooms in Piscataway Park. Right, a redbud and pawpaw tree are in bloom.

After a short winter, April has brought with it an early welcome to wild signs of spring. The once dull Pawpaw Trail is now alive with soft greens and pinks, as new growth shoots forth from the forest floor and tall trees begin to leaf out.

Spring ephemera are the first signs that warmer weather is here, although these signs do not last for long. A favorite ephemeron in Piscataway Park is the native jack-in-the-pulpit, a low-growing plant that bears green hooded flowers. Found in the leaf litter at the crest of the Pawpaw Trail, a look upwards reveals the thick pink blossoms of the redbud tree and the burgundy flowers of the pawpaw, which will in summer bear oblong edible fruit. A favorite food of squirrels and raccoons, the pawpaw played an important role in naming “Accokeek,” which is often translated to mean place of the wild fruit. Both redbud and pawpaw trees are native to North America, along with the eastern bluebirds that have taken to flitting through the Native Tree Arboretum, with their bright blue wings and ruddy red breasts.

A female eastern bluebird guards her nest. (Photo taken by member and volunteer, Bonnie Simpers.)

The northern edge of the arboretum follows a portion of the Ken Otis Bluebird Trail, a line of 20 wooden boxes that provide the eastern bluebird with places to nest. Over the past century, the eastern bluebird has had to contend with habitat loss and the introduction of competing species like the house sparrow and European starling. By providing bluebirds with habitat and monitoring their nest boxes for predators and other problems, the Foundation has joined the efforts of the Maryland Bluebird Society—our local North American Bluebird Society affiliate—to bring the bluebird back.

What can be found on the Pawpaw Trail today? What was there yesterday, and what will be there tomorrow? Take a closer look—at the small leaf of a newly emerged plant, the brown bark of an elderly tree, the feathers of a passing bird—and let each tree, plant, and wild creature remind you to conserve this life and the land that is their home.

Trail Treks is a monthly column that explores the walking trails in Piscataway Park. This year, we will highlight the Pawpaw Trail, which is located at the western end of our grounds and leads through a mature forest. Look for more reflections from the Pawpaw Trail as 2012 progresses.