62 Nebraskaland • July 2024
THE LAST STOP
Steve Brey walked through the Cass County forest,
eyes scaling up and down seemingly every tree he saw.
"Bur oak," he mumbled, taking a few more steps before
pointing once more. "Ash." Then, "Walnut."
Watching him methodically identify trees was like
listening to a guitarist playing a song at your request by
memory.
The lack of effort was amazing.
I had originally talked Steve, since retired but at the time
a Nebraska Game and Parks Commission horticulturist,
into visiting this patch of woods for a story on how
hunters can become better hunters by knowing which
trees are which, pinpointing when squirrels and even
deer will visit particular areas because of the mast they
produce.
So on this day he helped me identify trees by leaf and
bark formations, tying placards to their branches for easy
identification later. There wasn't a tree we passed —
common or otherwise — that he couldn't identify, and I
shot photographs of everything on our path.
Yet this photograph is the one I constantly return to
from that day. Of an expert gazing at his surroundings,
50-plus years of his mastered craft effortlessly emerging
from every look from his eyes.
While there was no guitar in sight, the sound of music
seemed to resonate from the woods all around him.
Horticulturist Steve Brey scans the trees in a Cass County Forest. JEFF KURRUS, NEBRASKALAND
By Jeff Kurrus
A FOREST SONG
