A tree hugger gives thanks for nature’s gifts

As an inveterate tree hugger, I have a long list of things to be thankful for this Thanksgiving. I’m thankful, of course, for family and friends, but I’m also grateful for:

• Green spaces, including national parks, national forests, state parks, city parks, nature centers, wildlife refuges, state wildlife management areas and on and on. They not only protect wildlife, but they also provide retreats for people to enjoy nature and refresh weary minds. We need more such places.
• The park rangers, naturalists, wildlife biologists, volunteers and others who safeguard and watch over these places.
• Clean air, water and soil — we cannot live without them.
• The birds that come to my feeders and the animals, trees and wildflowers that inhabit the woodland and meadow in my backyard. I’m even thankful for the frisky squirrels, which I love to watch, even though they try to rob the bird feeders.
• All of Georgia’s native plants and animals, even snakes, spiders and other creatures that some people find repulsive. “Native” species belong here and all serve a purpose, although their roles in nature are not always apparent. I am not thankful, though, for invasive, non-native species that jeopardize our native flora and fauna.
• The seasons: spring, with riots of wildflowers and singing songbirds; summer, with lush greenery and wild babies; autumn, with dazzling leaf color and ripening fruit; winter, with serenity and the beauty of leafless trees.
• Georgia’s amazing natural diversity, from white-water mountain streams and fall line sandhills to longleaf pine forests and coastal salt marshes.
• Bees, wasps, flies, beetles, butterflies, bats, birds — pollinators that help more than 80% of the world’s flowering plants to reproduce.
• The Okefenokee Swamp.