When we talk about old-growth and virgin forests, we often think of the massive redwoods and sequoias out West. The eastern United States was heavily logged in the 19th and early 20th centuries, so that the trees we see in this part of the country today are relative youngsters - decades rather than centuries old.

But not everywhere. Remnants remain of the forests that practically blanketed the East when European settlers arrived. Some are on steep slopes, in deep ravines or other remote, hard-to-reach places. Others are relatively easy to get to.

One's right here in Maryland - about 40 majestic acres of largely untouched eastern hemlocks and white pines at Swallow Falls State Park, near Oakland in Garrett County.

Joan Maloof, a biology professor at Salisbury University, has made a career of studying trees and forests. She's passionate about old growth and is working now to develop a network for protecting them. She's written a first-person guide to some of these overlooked pockets of biodiversity and wonder.

Among the Ancients, Adventures in the Eastern Old-Growth Forests takes the reader to one stand in each state east of the Mississippi River. Maloof recounts their history and the people who've fought to preserve them, and she details their current condition. Some are pristine, others threatened and abused. Maloof reflects in her chapters on the values of forests.

"Imagine an organism that can live three times longer than the longest-lived human," she concludes in her chapter on Swallow Falls. "We need to recognize that in trees, and honor it."

She gets personal as well, describing how the old woods touch her and shape her own outlook on life. Her visit to Cook Forest State Park in southwest Pennsylvania, for instance, makes her imagine she's one of the seven dwarves in the cartoon classic "Snow White."

She writes: "...the chipmunks were scampering along beside me, the birds were chirping and hopping on the trail in front of me, and patches of moss were glowing green from teh slender beams of light that made their way through the canopy far overhead. I felt almost as if I had been drugged. I was so filled with joy I had a cheek-splitting grin on my face."

If you'd like to meet the author, Maloof will give a reading at the Barnes & Noble at 1819 Reisterstown Road in Pikesville on Wednesday (July 13) at 7 pm.  To hear her now, tune in here to listen to an interview public radio's Marc Steiner did with her recently.  And you can read more of Joan Maloof's insights and observations on her blog here.

(Cover photograph courtesy Ruka Press)