Where: Mass Audubon Headquarters, Lincoln | Who: A Vermont ex-pat, lifelong skier, musician, photographer, motorcycle enthusiast, budding native plant gardener, and pun master | Favorite part of the job: Working with wonderful colleagues to make nature accessible to everyone
“Solemnity is what they express—fit representatives of the night.”
—Henry David Thoreau
The shy but stocky Barred Owl does indeed cut a solemn figure, with its soulful, dark brown, almost black eyes and stripes of mottled brown and white crossing its body.
Many nighttime travelers in the New England woods have been asked, who cooks for you, who cooks for you all? by a Barred Owl. Its deep, resonant voice carries well in the moist, forested woodlands that the species prefers during the breeding season. They prefer natural tree cavities and human-made nest boxes for their nesting sites, preferably high enough up to avoid predators like weasels and raccoons.
Barred Owls are quiet and elusive, but since they don’t migrate at all, they don’t tend to move around all that much, generally adhering to a territory of no more than a few square miles their entire lives. Although their territories may sometimes overlap, Barred Owls do their best to avoid their cousins, Great Horned Owls—their greatest predator.
In Your Words is a regular feature of Mass Audubon’s Explore member newsletter. Each issue, a Mass Audubon member, volunteer, staff member, or supporter shares his or her story—why Mass Audubon and protecting the nature of Massachusetts matters to them. In the Spring 2020 issue, we interviewed three counselors from Mass Audubon’s Wildwood Camp. You can also read Nina and Dustin’s stories. If you have a story to share about your connection to Mass Audubon, email [email protected] to be considered for In Your Words in a future issue!
Jackson Lieb walking a Wildwood trail at sunset
When I was 10, my friend Evan was going to Wildwood for the
first time and was nervous about not knowing anyone there, so he invited me to
go with him. I loved it so much that this will be my ninth summer, first as a
camper and then as a Leader-in-Training (LIT), a Leader-in-Action (LIA), a
Junior Counselor, and finally as a full-fledged counselor.*
I loved being out of the school environment in a place where
I could run around and be a kid, but the biggest thing for me was that there
were new people every year who didn’t know me. Each summer that I returned to
camp was a chance to create a better me. Having the freedom to remake yourself
over and over is a great way to experiment and explore who you are at a time in
your life when everyone’s trying to figure it all out. You don’t always get to
do that at school where people may have known you for years and already have
expectations about who you are.
At first, I didn’t think much about the nature camp aspect.
I just thought that all camps were like that. But over the years I’ve come to
enjoy Wildwood’s emphasis on teaching kids about nature more and more. Having
staff naturalists leading programs every day is so helpful because I don’t
always have the answers to kids’ nature questions—plus, I get to learn about
nature, too. I want to run for political office someday, and protecting the
environment is a big reason why.
One time, when I was a camper in Leopold (boys ages 9–10)
and we were sleeping in the cabins, I woke up to a HUGE spider right near my
face. I was convinced it was poisonous, but I also thought it was just a cool
spider and wanted to know what it was, so I convinced my counselor to go wake
up the staff naturalist to come identify it for us—at 2:00 in the morning!
Jackson Lieb playing a game of tag with campers on a hot day using a super soaker
LIT and LIA were the most fun I’ve had in any Wildwood program. I loved the leadership aspect and felt like we grew even closer as a group than we did as regular campers. Toward the end of the program, we climbed Mount Ascutney and sat at the top for over an hour, just looking out at this magical view in silence. There was a real sense of community and camaraderie after spending several weeks learning and growing together. The beauty of the natural setting definitely enhances the Wildwood experience, but for me, it’s really all about the people and the connections I’ve made.
Jackson Lieb is studying business and political science at the University of Massachusetts Amherst and will return to Wildwood this summer for his 10th year, and second as a counselor.
*Wildwood’s Leaders-in-Training and Leaders-in-Action programs are now known as the Environmental Leadership Program, Years 1 and 2, respectively. The Junior Counselors program will be replaced with a Counselors-in-Training (CIT) program this summer.
