Breathe from the Top of the Pine Trees

Jane Hadley and Robert Speer

WRITTEN BY: ELLEN STERNS, FUND DEVELOPMENT OFFICER

Anyone who has the pleasure of knowing Jane and the Hadley family is immediately drawn to their kind nature and their love for our natural world. Jane is a skier, a hiker, a mother, a gardener, a naturalist, a conservationist, and an environmental leader in our community. Our Conservation and Engagement Coordinator, Cheyenne, was lucky enough to sit down with Jane to learn more about her love for Nature in New Brunswick and why she has worked hard to advocate for the protection of these special places.

Jane grew up on a dairy farm in Upper Woodstock, in the heart of Carleton County. Her family home was nestled between a towering Appalachian Hardwood forest and New Brunswick’s beloved Wolastoq/Saint John River.

Speer Hillside Nature Preserve
J. Dutcher

As a child, she was told and retold a story that one cool autumn afternoon, her mother, with Jane in her arms and brother at her side, wandered up the hillside to play in the leaves. Jane believes she was not yet one at the time and was told her brother fearfully exclaimed: “You can’t do that! Something will happen to her!” Her mother persisted, and Jane was plunged into the leaf pile as if being blessed by Mother Nature herself.

Jane recounts her childhood like a storybook she once loved deeply. To her, spring meant picking fiddleheads along the water’s edge. In summer, her brother would help her build river dams and catch minnows in plastic buckets and tin cans. In autumn, as the trees burst with their last beauty, Jane would wander up the long blustery driveway crunching the leaves that had fallen from the arching maples above. Finally, with winter came snow-kissed white birch along the embankment of the river. Jane fondly remembers her grandmother referring to them as her “White Ladies”.

Jane’s grandmother, who had taught in different areas of Carleton County, lived with her family for a time. She remembers her grandmother’s lessons, and her stressing the importance of understanding the natural world around us.

Jane’s parents also shared an appreciation for wildlife. Her father knew every tree by name – butternut, yellow birch – and could never hide his excitement at the discovery of a hidden bird nest. Before school, her mother would say to her: “Go out and breathe from the top of the pine tree”, as if a big breath of fresh air would bring a peaceful and productive day.

Jane remembers Sunday afternoons dedicated to finding bloodroot and dutchman’s breaches, new plants that popped up in the springtime, and wildflowers that encircled their little patch of heaven in summer.

Speer Hillside Nature Preserve
C. Wisniowski

In high school, Jane spent her summers volunteering for the late Dr. Katherine Connell. She acted as an assistant, climbing over banks and wading into bogs to collect, and eventually press a vast array of wildflowers native to Carleton County. Katherine’s collection, including plants that Jane collected and documented, is on display at the Connell herbarium at the University of New Brunswick.

Jane’s unforgettable experiences led her to a Biology degree at the University of New Brunswick, several memorable summers working for Parks Canada and a deep emotional connection with nature.

As she reflected on her time in Fredericton as a young woman, she spoke specifically about her time helping school children explore the UNB Woodlot. For Jane, the forest never lost the sense of safety and familiarity her mother taught her at a young age. Jane continues to breathe from the top of the pine tree.

Jane’s dedication to the Nature Trust rests on the hope that future generations of New Brunswickers will have an opportunity to enjoy the gifts nature has to offer. She told us: “If we don’t protect more land for the future, it will be gone.” Jane’s unconditional love for the natural world prompted the recent donation of the setting of her storybook childhood, the Speer Hillside Nature Preserve 26.9 hectares (66.4 acres). The property is speckled with eastern hemlock, butternut, basswood, and ironwood. As you venture through this magical space, showy orchis, American lopseed, and wild ginger line the forest floor.

Thanks to Jane and her brother Robert, the fiddleheads, the minnows, the maples, and their memories will be protected, forever.

Ostrich Ferns/Speer Hillside Nature Preserve
C.Wisniowski