There is nothing that thrills me more than to work with another photographer. Everyone sees differently and I love to see where their lens takes them. In this case Julie Clark could not have surprised me more with these elegant infrared photographs of our day at Paint Rock.

An extraordinary team of student researchers and faculty is making great progress on the census of trees in the Paint Rock Forest research plot. We anticipate they will have to identify, measure, tag and catalogue more than 100,000 trees and shrubs before the census is complete. We’re well on our way to meeting our goal of completion of the first census by the end of 2020.

There are challenges: ticks, testy yellow jackets, blustery rattlesnakes, and trees so tall it’s nearly impossible to figure out what they are. But I’m not sure I’ve ever seen a group of young researchers so focused, and so happy to be doing what they’re doing.

Every trip to the Paint Rock Forest Research Center is a huge step forward, especially since we have John and Kendra Abbott on the team. They brought Bill Bomar this trip who is the Executive Director of the University of Alabama Museums. Dawn Lemke from Alabama A & M is a great and delightful addition. Returning were Rick Condit, Patty Gowaty and Stephen Hubbell to give this plot and project a thorough inspection and GPS marking. Chris Oberholster with Birmingham Audubon was able to make it on Thursday. Steve Northcutt with the Nature Conservancy met Steve Hubbell Friday and see the designation for the plot.