I already knew that the Oak Ridges Moraine Land Trust’s StarCliff Nature Reserve is a spectacular place to experience God. But in case I was in doubt, it was confirmed the other day when visiting the property. I’m not sure if the shrine (pictured below) that is mounted on the sugar maple that acts as a fence post (tangled and rusted barbed wire threads through it and other ones in a row to create a now-derelect fence) along one of the property’s boundaries is just marking the century-plus old tree–it would be a terrific spot for meditative prayer and devotions–or the small nature reserve. StarCliff is a remnant natural space on the Oak Ridges Moraine and in the region, so it’s certainly fit for being considered as a shrine. Perhaps, though, it’s there for both those reasons and more. Whatever the reasons, it’s a humorous, but serious–especially to some of my Christian siblings in Roman Catholic and Orthodox denominations–reminder of the significance of nature, and the StarCliff Nature Reserve in particular, as a shrine where we can meet uniquely with God.

When there, because the leaves had mostly fallen from the native trees, save for the leaves of the American beech trees, which keep their now-dead leaves through most of the winter, and because the non-native and invasive common buckthorn shrub/tree has green foliage for another two or three weeks, I was able to observe many more common buckthorn saplings and seedlings than I am able to during the spring through fall, when the majority of the property stewardship is carried out. I was also able to see many more European wayfaring trees (in reality a shrub) than I previously realized were growing there (whether they’re invasive in the ecoregion, it is not certain, but I am monitoring their presence) and an autumn olive shrub that had not been noted earlier. As a result, A Rocha will be able to be more effective in helping the Oak Ridges Moraine Land Trust maintain and restore the essential biodiversity of the unique ecosystem at StarCliff. A place reserved for meeting with God.