Populus
Foliage of Populus tremula
Scientific classification
Kingdom:	Plantae
(unranked):	Angiosperms
(unranked):	Eudicots
(unranked):	Rosids
Order:	Malpighiales
Family:	Salicaceae
Tribe:	Saliceae[1]
Genus:	Populus L.
Type species
Populus tremula
Species
See text

Populus is a genus of 25–35 species of deciduous flowering plants in the family Salicaceae, native to most of the Northern Hemisphere. English names variously applied to different species include poplar (/ˈpɒp.lər/), aspen, and cottonwood.

In the September 2006 issue of Science, it was announced that the Western Balsam Poplar (P. trichocarpa) was the first tree to have its full DNA code sequenced.^[2]

Description[link]

The genus has a large genetic diversity, and can grow from anywhere between 15–50 m (50 to 165 ft) tall, with trunks of up to 2.5 m (8 ft) diameter.

Male catkins of Populus × canadensis

The bark on young trees is smooth, white to greenish or dark grey, often with conspicuous lenticels; on old trees it remains smooth in some species, but becomes rough and deeply fissured in others. The shoots are stout, with (unlike in the related willows) the terminal bud present. The leaves are spirally arranged, and vary in shape from triangular to circular or (rarely) lobed, and with a long petiole; in species in the sections Populus and Aigeiros, the petioles are laterally flattened, so that breezes easily cause the leaves to wobble back and forth, giving the whole tree a "twinkling" appearance in a breeze. Leaf size is very variable even on a single tree, typically with small leaves on side shoots, and very large leaves on strong-growing lead shoots. The leaves often turn bright gold to yellow before they fall during autumn.^[3][4]

The flowers are mostly dioecious (rarely monoecious) and appear in early spring before the leaves. They are borne in long, drooping, sessile or pedunculate catkins produced from buds formed in the axils of the leaves of the previous year. The flowers are each seated in a cup-shaped disk which is borne on the base of a scale which is itself attached to the rachis of the catkin. The scales are obovate, lobed and fringed, membranous, hairy or smooth, usually caducous. The male flowers are without calyx or corolla, and comprise a group of 4–60 stamens inserted on a disk; filaments short, pale yellow; anthers oblong, purple or red, introrse, two-celled; cells opening longitudinally. The female flower also has no calyx or corolla, and comprises a single-celled ovary seated in a cup-shaped disk. The style is short, with 2–4 stigmas, variously lobed, and numerous ovules. Pollination is by wind, with the female catkins lengthening considerably between pollination and maturity. The fruit is a two to four-valved dehiscent capsule, green to reddish-brown, mature in mid summer, containing numerous minute light brown seeds surrounded by tufts of long, soft, white hairs which aid wind dispersal.^[3][5]

Ecology[link]

Poplars of the cottonwood section are often wetlands or riparian trees. The aspens are among the most important boreal broadleaf trees.^[3]

Poplars and aspens are important food plants for the larvae of a large number of Lepidoptera species - see List of Lepidoptera that feed on poplars. Pleurotus populinus, the aspen oyster mushroom, is found exclusively on dead wood of Populus trees in North America.

Classification[link]

A group of four poplars on a hill through the seasons, April, September, October, February (Germany).

The genus Populus has traditionally been divided into six sections on the basis of leaf and flower characters;^[4][6] this classification is followed below. Recent genetic studies have largely supported this, confirming some previously suspected reticulate evolution due to past hybridisation and introgression events between the groups. Some species (noted below) had differing relationships indicated by their nuclear DNA (paternally inherited) and chloroplast DNA sequences (maternally inherited), a clear indication of likely hybrid origin.^[7] Hybridisation continues to be common in the genus, with several hybrids between species in different sections known.^[3][8]

Selected species[link]

Populus nigra in autumn

• Populus section Populus – aspens and White Poplar. Circumpolar subarctic and cool temperate, and mountains farther south (White Poplar warm temperate)
  • Populus tremula – Common Aspen, Trembling Aspen or Eurasian Aspen (Europe, northern Asia)
  • Populus adenopoda – Chinese Aspen (Eastern Asia)
  • Populus alba – White Poplar (Southern Europe to central Asia)
    • Populus × canescens (P. alba × P. tremula) – Grey Poplar
    • Populus spp. X– Pacific Albus (North America)
  • Populus davidiana – Korean Aspen (Eastern Asia)
  • Populus grandidentata – Bigtooth Aspen (Eastern North America)
  • Populus sieboldii – Japanese Aspen (Eastern Asia)
  • Populus tremuloides – Quaking Aspen or Trembling Aspen (North America)
• Populus section Aigeiros – black poplars, some of the cottonwoods. North America, Europe, western Asia; temperate
  • Populus deltoides – Eastern Cottonwood (Eastern North America)
  • Populus fremontii – Fremont Cottonwood (Western North America)
  • Populus nigra – Black Poplar (Europe) Placed here by nuclear DNA; cpDNA places in sect. Populus. (Including Populus afghanica.)
    • Populus × canadensis (P. nigra × P. deltoides) – Hybrid Black Poplar
    • Populus × inopina (P. nigra × P. fremontii) – Hybrid Black Poplar

Leaves of Populus lasiocarpa

• Populus sect. Tacamahaca – balsam poplars. North America, Asia; cool temperate
  • Populus angustifolia – Willow-leaved Poplar or Narrowleaf Cottonwood (Central North America)
  • Populus balsamifera – Ontario Balsam Poplar (Northern North America) (= P. candicans, P. tacamahaca)
  • Populus cathayana – (Northeast Asia)
  • Populus koreana J.Rehnder – Korean Poplar (Northeast Asia)
  • Populus laurifolia – Laurel-leaf Poplar (Central Asia)
  • Populus maximowiczii A.Henry – Maximowicz' Poplar, Japanese Poplar (Northeast Asia)
  • Populus simonii – Simon's Poplar (Northeast Asia)
  • Populus suaveolens Fischer – Mongolian Poplar (Northeast Asia)
  • Populus szechuanica – Sichuan Poplar (Northeast Asia) Placed here by nuclear DNA; cpDNA places in sect. Aigeiros.
  • Populus trichocarpa – Western Balsam Poplar or Black Cottonwood (Western North America)
  • Populus tristis (Northeast Asia) Placed here by nuclear DNA; cpDNA places in sect. Aigeiros.
  • Populus ussuriensis – Ussuri Poplar (Northeast Asia)
  • Populus yunnanensis – Yunnan Poplar (East Asia)

• Populus section Leucoides – necklace poplars or bigleaf poplars. Eastern North America, eastern Asia; warm temperate
  • Populus heterophylla – Swamp Cottonwood (Southeastern North America)
  • Populus lasiocarpa – Chinese Necklace Poplar (Eastern Asia)
  • Populus wilsonii – Wilson's Poplar (Eastern Asia)

• Populus section Turanga – subtropical poplars. Southwest Asia, east Africa; subtropical to tropical
  • Populus euphratica – Euphrates Poplar (Southwest Asia)
  • Populus ilicifolia – Tana River Poplar (East Africa)

• Populus section Abaso – Mexican poplars. Mexico; subtropical to tropical
  • Populus guzmanantlensis (Mexico)
  • Populus mexicana – Mexico Poplar (Mexico)

Cultivation[link]

A fastigiate Black Poplar cultivar of the Plantierensis Group, in Hungary.

Many poplars are grown as ornamental trees, with numerous cultivars used. They have the advantage of growing very big, very fast. Almost all poplars take root readily from cuttings or where broken branches lie on the ground.

Trees with fastigiate (erect, columnar) branching are particularly popular, and are widely grown across Europe and southwest Asia. However, like willows, poplars have very vigorous and invasive root systems stretching up to 40 m from the trees; planting close to houses or ceramic water pipes may result in damaged foundations and cracked walls and pipes due to their search for moisture.

A simple, reproducible, high frequency micropropagation protocol in Eastern Cottonwood Populus deltoides has been reported by Yadav et al. 2009 [3]

The Poplar in India[link]

In India, the poplar is grown commercially by farmers, mainly in the Punjab region. Popular poplar varieties are as follows:

1. G48 (grown in the plains of Punjab, Haryana, UP)
2. w22 (grown in mountainous regions, i.e. Himachal Pradesh, Pathankot, Jammu)

The poplar is grown from "kalam" (cuttings), harvested annually in January and February, and is commercially available up to 15 November.

This most common use of poplar is in plywood. Yamuna Nagar in state of Haryana has a large plywood industry reliant upon poplar. It is graded according in sizes known as "over" (over 24 inches in girth), "under" (18-24 inches), and "sokta" (less than 18 inches).

Punjab Agriculture University in Ludhiana has published a package of practices for poplar cultivation.

Uses[link]

Although the wood from Populus is known as poplar wood, a common high-quality hardwood "poplar" with a greenish colour is actually from an unrelated genus Liriodendron. Populus wood is a lighter, more porous material.

In modern society poplar is not readily associated with many uses beyond biomass. This poor reputation is undeserved,^{[says who?]} as its flexibility and close grain give it a balance of properties that have made it highly desirable for a number of applications (similar to those for willow) since antiquity. Notably the Greeks and Etruscans made shields of poplar, and Pliny also recommended poplar for this purpose.^[9] Poplar continued to be used for shield construction through the Middle Ages and was renowned for a durability similar to that of oak, but at a substantial reduction in weight.

Manufacturing[link]

• In many areas, fast-growing hybrid poplars are grown on plantations for pulpwood
• Poplar is widely used for the manufacture of paper.^[10]
• It is also sold as inexpensive hardwood timber, used for pallets and cheap plywood; more specialised uses include matches and the boxes in which camembert cheese is sold.
• Poplar wood is also widely used in the snowboard industry for the snowboard core, because it has exceptional flexibility, and is sometimes used in the bodies of electric guitars and drums.
• Poplar wood, particularly when seasoned, makes a good hearth for a bow drill.
• Due to its high tannic acid content, the bark has been used in Europe for tanning leather.^[5]
• Poplar wood can be used to produce chopsticks.

Energy[link]

There is interest in using poplar as an energy crop for biomass or biofuel, in energy forestry systems, particularly in light of its high energy-in / energy-out ratio, large carbon mitigation potential and fast growth.

In the United Kingdom poplar (as with fellow energy crop willow) is typically grown in a short rotation coppice system for two to five years (with single or multiple stems), then harvested and burned - the yield of some varieties can be as high as 12 oven dry tonnes every year^[11]

Art[link]

Poplar was the most common wood used in Italy for panel paintings; the Mona Lisa and most famous early renaissance Italian paintings are on poplar. The wood is generally white, often with a slightly yellowish color.

Some stringed instruments are made with one-piece poplar backs; violas made in this fashion are said^{[by whom?]} to have a particularly resonant tone. Similarly, though typically it is considered to have a less attractive grain than the traditional sitka spruce, poplar is beginning to be targeted by some harp luthiers as a sustainable and even superior alternative for their soundboards:^[12] in these cases another hardwood veneer is sometimes applied to the resonant poplar base both for cosmetic reasons, and supposedly to fine-tune the acoustic properties.

Land management[link]

Lombardy Poplars are used as a windbreak around agricultural fields to protect against wind erosion.

Agriculture[link]

Logs from the poplar provide a growing medium for Shiitake mushrooms.^[13]

References[link]

Wikimedia Commons has media related to: Populus

Wikispecies has information related to: Populus

lez:Къавах

James Edward "Ed" Haley (1885 — February 3, 1951) was a blind professional American musician and composer.

Biography[link]

Ed Haley was born in August 1885¹ on the Trace Fork of Big Harts Creek in Logan County, West Virginia. His father, Thomas Milton Haley, was a well-known fiddler in the Guyandotte and Big Sandy Valleys. His grandfather, Benjamin R. Haley, was an active Unionist in the Big Sandy River Valley during the American Civil War, as well as a fiddler. Ed's mother, Imogene Mullins, was a daughter of Andrew Jackson and Chloe (Gore) Mullins, and a descendant of "Money Makin' Sol" Mullins, the famous counterfeiter of eastern Kentucky. Ed was an only child.

Ed Haley contracted measles when he was about three years old, and subsequently lost his eyesight. Local tradition blames his father for his blindness. Reportedly, Milt dipped Ed head-first into ice cold water when he was crying from fever.

In September 1889, Milt Haley was accused along with Green McCoy of shooting Al Brumfield and his wife in Harts, Lincoln County, West Virginia. In mid-October, 1889, Haley and McCoy were captured in Martin County, Kentucky. They were returned to West Virginia and murdered by a mob at Green Shoal on October 24, 1889.

Ed Haley's mother died around 1892. Thereafter, he was raised by his maternal grandfather, Jackson Mullins, and uncle, Peter Mullins, on Trace Fork. In 1898, according to county commission records, he was placed in the care of Harrison Blair, a neighbor.

Uncle Peter Mullins supposedly gave Ed Haley his first fiddle when he was a child. Ed showed great skill with the instrument and traveled throughout the Guyandotte and Big Sandy Valleys as a young man with other local musicians. He was basically gone from Harts by 1910 but returned to visit family and friends for the remainder of his life.

Ed grew up to be a professional fiddler who traveled widely throughout West Virginia, Ohio, eastern Kentucky and southwestern Virginia. He had a huge repertoire of old-time music that included breakdowns, jigs, waltzes and show tunes, which he performed at square dances, fairs, street corners, fiddle contests and courthouse squares.

In the late teens, Ed married Martha Ella Trumbo, a blind piano teacher from Morehead, Kentucky. Her parents had been involved in the Martin-Tolliver Feud in Rowan County, Kentucky in 1884. Ella was educated at the Kentucky School for the Blind in Louisville, Kentucky. She played mandolin and accordion with her husband for many years.

The Haleys lived briefly at Frogtown in West Ashland, Kentucky. Later, they raised a family in Catlettsburg, Kentucky. They spent their final years in Ashland.

Ed Haley died of a heart attack on February 3, 1951 at home in Ashland, Kentucky. His wife died in November 1954 in Cleveland, Ohio. Both are buried in Ashland.

Recognition[link]

Ed Haley was one of the best known fiddlers in his region of Appalachia. He traveled frequently and performed in a variety of venues. He played over WLW in Cincinnati and made occasional studio recordings for friends, such as for Doc Holbrook in Greenup, Kentucky. He seldom recorded commercially because he was worried that record companies would take advantage of a blind man. Late in life, he made recordings for the family on a Wilcox-Gay disc-cutting machine brought home from the service by his son Ralph. The recordings feature Ed, Ella, Ralph (on guitar) and daughter Mona (vocals). Ralph eventually distributed the recordings among his five siblings. Eventually about a one-half to one-third of those recordings were released to Rounder Records. It is estimated that two thirds of Haley's recordings are still missing, lost, destroyed or unreleased by family members.

Beginning in 1990, Bluegrass and folk musician John Hartford began researching the story of Haley's life and music. Generally, Hartford spent the last years of his life promoting Haley and his significance in the world of music. He learned a number of Haley's tunes and recorded them on the Grammy-nominated albums, "Wild Hog in the Red Bush" and "Speed of the Old Long Bow: A Tribute to Ed Haley". Hartford performed Haley's arrangement of "Man of Constant Sorrow" for the O Brother, Where Art Thou? movie. Hartford and Brandon Kirk, a Harts-area historian and genealogist, collaborated on a Haley book project from 1995 until Hartford's death in 2001. The manuscript is still unpublished.^[1]

Releases[link]

In 1975, Rounder Records released 14 vinyl LPs of Haley's work. In 1997, after several years of promotion by John Hartford, Rounder released many of Haley's songs on two double CD sets: "Forked Deer" and "Grey Eagle", which featured expanded annotations by John Hartford and Brandon Kirk.

References[link]

1 1900 Census Schedule for Logan County, West Virginia (Chapmanville District). Also, family genealogical notes taken directly from Mr. Haley and his wife.

• Wilson, Mark and Meade, Guthrie T. Ed Haley: 1883-1951 - East Kentucky/West Virginia, Old-Time Fiddlers' Hall of Fame.

Notes[link]

External links[link]

• Ed Haley at Allmusic

Shawn Lane
Background information
Born	(1963-03-21)March 21, 1963 Memphis, Tennessee, United States
Died	September 26, 2003(2003-09-26) (aged 40) Memphis, Tennessee, United States
Genres	Instrumental rock, jazz fusion, world fusion
Occupations	Musician, composer, producer
Instruments	Guitar, piano, keyboard
Years active	1977–2003
Labels	Warner Bros.
Associated acts	Jonas Hellborg/Jeff Sipe, Black Oak Arkansas, Savage Innocence, D.D.T., The Willys
Website	shawnlane.com
Notable instruments
Vigier Excalibur

Shawn Lane (March 21, 1963 – September 26, 2003) was an American musician who released two studio-albums and collaborated with musicians, such as Ringo Starr and Jonas Hellborg. After studying the piano, he rapidly mastered the guitar, which he played with exceptional speed. The magazine Guitar World wrote, "Few, if any, guitarists can play faster than Lane could, and his arpeggio sweeps and precision-picked lines blasted more rapid-fire notes than the average human mind could comprehend."^[1]

Youth[link]

Born in Memphis, Tennessee, Lane began playing piano with his sisters at the age of eight, but did not play guitar seriously until he was ten. At age thirteen he began to practice heavily. At fourteen, he became the lead guitarist for Black Oak Arkansas (BOA), which over the next four years opened shows for REO Speedwagon, Ted Nugent, the Outlaws, Cheap Trick, and Blue Öyster Cult. BOA playing at Bill Clinton's inaugural as Governor of Arkansas.

At age fifteen Lane saw Allan Holdsworth play guitar with the progressive band U.K., which inspired him to develop his own style of playing guitar.^[2] Lane also played in Savage Innocence with singer Jim "Dandy" Mangrum, guitarist Keith Plunk, keyboardist Billy Batte, drummer Chris Craig and bassist Kinley Wolfe. As the original members dropped out, Lane replaced them with players from his high school days. Lane began to play a style close to jazz fusion. During the 1980s and early 1990s, Lane played in The Willys, a band consisting of singer/bassist Rob Caudill, keyboardist Sam Bryant and drummer Russ Caudill.

Adulthood and piano[link]

From age eighteen to twenty six, Lane studied music, composed music, and played piano.^{[citation needed]} Much of the material on Lane's first studio album, Powers of Ten, was written on his home piano.^[2][3] He quickly developed his technique on the keyboard as well, taking influence from pianists such as Franz Liszt, Art Tatum and Georges Cziffra.^[4]

His demo tapes won him a recording contract with Warner Bros. Records. Except for one cover song, Lane wrote all the material and played all the instruments on his debut album. The album sold well and earned several magazine awards.^[5] Following its release in 1992, Guitar Player magazine named him "Best New Talent" and Keyboard Magazine placed him second in the "Best Keyboard Player" category. During the production of the album Lane continued to play live shows and do session work. He also performed on the Mark Varney Project's Centrifugal Funk album along with Brett Garsed and Frank Gambale. To promote the album, he formed The Powers of Ten band with Barry Bays on bass, keyboardist Doug Scarborough, Todd Bobo on saxophone and drummer Sean Rickman; they opened for Robben Ford's US tour.^{[citation needed]}

Lane released two more solo albums following his debut, Powers of Ten; Live!, recorded live in 1993, and The Tri-Tone Fascination in 1999.

Collaborations[link]

When Lane met bassist Jonas Hellborg in 1994. Lane and Hellborg played with drummer Jeff Sipe in HLS (Hellborg, Lane, Sipe). Between 1994–1995, Lane played with D.D.T., a band consisting of Paul Taylor, Luther Dickinson and Cody Dickinson; the latter three would then form the North Mississippi Allstars. In September 1995, Hellborg, Lane and drummer Anders Johansson played with Chinese pop singer Wei Wei and the trio appeared as an opening act at many of China's largest musical venues.^{[citation needed]} Lane played the Warsaw Summer Jazz Days festival on 19 June 1998 with Hellborg and Felix Sabel-Lecco. Later, Lane and Hellborg formed an East-West fusion band with Indian musicians V. Selvaganesh and V. Umamahesh. While in Memphis, Lane would play with the Time Bandits, with singer Regina Parker, steel guitarist Tony Sutton, drummer Steve Sutton and bassist Adam Sutton. In February 2003, Lane and Hellborg toured India with drummer Andrea Marchesini. Shawn played the Swedish Jazz Celebration Festival, Stockholm, on 29th March 2003 with Hellborg, V. Umamahesh, V. Umashankar and Ramakrishnan. Lane's last concert performance was at Smilefest in North Carolina with Hellborg and Jim Britt on May 31 2003. In September 2003 Shawn Lane was preparing for a new album with Hellborg and Ginger Baker.^{[citation needed]}

Health and 2003 death[link]

Lane had psoriasis throughout his life. After age twelve, he also also suffered from psoriatic arthritis, which caused stiffness in his guitar playing only after 2000. His psoriasis was treated with hydrocortisone, which caused his weight to increase.^[2] In 2003, Lane was told that he would have to remain on medical oxygen the rest of his life.^[6]

Lane died in a hospital in Memphis on September 26, 2003 of lung-related illnesses.^[3][6] His body was buried at the Memorial Park Cemetery in Memphis.^[7]

Discography[link]

Solo albums[link]

• 1992: "West Side Boogie" (promotional single)^[8]
• 1992: Powers of Ten, Warner Bros
• 1999: The Tri-Tone Fascination, Eye Reckon Records
• 2001: Powers of Ten; Live!, Eye Reckon Records

Instructional

• Shawn Lane - Power Licks - REH837, 1993, (VHS)
• Shawn Lane - Power Solos - REH838, 1993, (VHS)
• Shawn Lane - Power Licks & Solos, 1995, Warner Brother Publications

With Jonas Hellborg[link]

• 1995: Abstract Logic, Bardo Records
• 1995: Two Doors, with Michael Shrieve, CMP Records
• 1996: Temporal Analogues of Paradise, Bardo Records
• 1997: Time Is the Enemy, Bardo Records
• 1999: Zenhouse, Bardo Records
• 2000: Good People in Times of Evil, Bardo Records
• 2002: Personae, Bardo Records
• 2003: Icon: A Transcontinental Gathering, Bardo Records
• 2004: Paris: DVD release of the 2001 concert at New Morning, Bardo Records

Other appearances[link]

• 1984: U.S. Metal Vol. IV - Unsung Guitar Heroes, Stratosphere II, Shrapnel Records
• 1989: Looking for shelter, Michael Bradley & Mark Lindsay
• 1990: Highwayman 2 - The Highwaymen (country supergroup), Columbia Nashville
• 1990: Son of the South - Toy Caldwell, Blue Hat Records
• 1991: Worrall - Rick & Steve Worrall with Jimi Jamison, A&M, re-release on Yesterrock Records
• 1991: Centrifugal Funk with Frank Gambale Brett Garsed, Legato Records
• 1991: When Love Comes Down, Jimi Jamison, Scotti Bros label
• 1992: Guitar on the edge, Vol 1, No.1, Legato Records
• 1992: Guitar on the edge, Vol 1, No.2 with David Ormonde Thomas, Legato Records
• 1992: On the way home, David Ormonde Thomas, Ethereal Thunder Productions
• 1993: A Little On The CD Side, Vol. 7, Musician Magazine, PRO MST 9107
• 1994: Guitar's Practicing Musicians Vol 111, Guitar Recordings
• 1995: Red Reign, Steven Patrick, Emerald Stare Records
• 1996: Guitar Zone, CMP Records
• 1996: Exploring the Frontiers of Rock, Jazz and World Music, CMP Records
• 1996: New Spirits in Jazz - part 2, EFA Records
• 1997: Fission, Jens Johansson, with Mike Stern, Heptagon Records
• 1997: Calvin Russell, Calvin Russell (musician), Last Call Records
• 1998: One road man, Chris LeDoux, Capitol Nashville Records
• 1999: Parker Card & The Sideman Syndicate, Parker Card, with Eric Gales, Orchard Records
• 2000: Mood Du Jour, Doug Scarborough, Hapi Skratch Records
• 2003: Polaris, North Mississippi Allstars, ATO Records
• 2004: Richard Hallebeek Project, with Brett Garsed, Liquid Note Records
• 2004: Shawn Lane Remembered Vol 1, Lion Music
• 2004: Shawn Lane Remembered Vol 2, Lion Music
• 2009: The World's Greatest Fusion Guitarists, Tone Centre
• 2010: 'Infinity' featured on the soundtrack to Daniele Luchetti "La Nostra Vita"

References[link]

External links[link]

• Official website
• Steppin Out
• Article in All About Jazz by Souvik Dutta

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Mors Kochanski is a Canadian bushcraft and wilderness survival instructor, naturalist and author.

Mors Kochanski
"The more you know, the less you carry"
Born	(1940-11-10) 10 November 1940 (age 71) Saskatchewan, Canada
Nationality	Canadian
Occupation	Survival and wilderness skills instructor and author
Known for	Bushcraft and survival techniques
Website
MorsKochanski.com

The Kochanski family immigrated to Canada from Poland in 1938 and Mors was born two years later (1940), the fifth of six children. His mother named him "Morris", but because of a misunderstanding due to her Polish accent, the midwife wrote 'Mors' on the birth certificate. His father had fought for the Polish Army during the First World War and his experiences left him with a strong desire to see his children educated so that they might benefit from serving as officers, as he felt they would inevitably be conscripted for military service during a war in their lifetime.

Mors was brought up on a relatively isolated farm in Saskatchewan, where he spent a most of his time assisting his father, a carpenter (who in Poland had specialised in the construction of windmills) and working on the farm. In his early school years, he walked or rode 7 miles to and from school on a bush road, a daily journey that was a significant part of his education and the foundation for a lifetime interest in nature.

In 1954 his parents moved to Prince Albert, and freed from his farm chores he made the public library his second home. Mors took particular interested in two books:

•An old Boy Scout manual (though he only lasted a year as a scout, disappointed by what he perceived as a lack of seriousness on the part of his fellow scouts and the scout master’s aversion to camp craft skills)

•The Ashley Book of Knots. He enlisted the help of the head librarian to order his own copy, which, at around $15 in 1952, took a long time to save enough money to purchase (ten years later, his daily wage as a surveyor was $12 a day.) So began a lifetime of collecting books on natural history, camping and survival skills, resulting in a personal library of thousands of titles.

Mors was a Sea Cadet for three years, chose the Navy as a career and received a scholarship to the Canadian Services College, Royal Roads. While enrolled, he traveled by ship through the Panama Canal in the summer of 1959. He was hospitalized for five weeks during his studies, (predominantly due to a case of the mumps) which contributed to an honourable discharge in his second year after failing too many subjects on the way to his Chemical Engineering degree.

From 1960 to 1964 he took Arts and Sciences at the University of Saskatchewan, but enrolled in courses that were of interest to him rather than part of any formal curriculum, including anthropology, psychology, geology and writing. After four years, his lack of participation in a recognised degree program resulted in a suspension from the university due to “a complete lack of direction”.

From that point on he resolved to become a specialist in outdoor subjects (especially wilderness living skills and the lifestyles of wilderness peoples) though he had many different jobs before he found his opportunity to become an instructor, including:

• Draftsman (updating the street plans of the City of Prince Albert after the installation of gas mains) • Concrete technician (construction of water-excluding cribbing for a potash mine) • Geologists’ assistant (for an engineering firm searching for an optimal location for a potash mine and exploring the feasibility of a solution mining approach in Saskatchewan) • Engineering technician (involving a potash solution mine project) • Surveyor (for the construction of roads in Saskatchewan) • Social worker

It was also around this time that he received his pilot’s license.

In 1968, Blue Lake Centre (near Hinton, Alberta) began operating outdoor education programs and Mors, now 28 years of age, offered his services. At the same time, he met his friend and mentor, Tom Roycraft, who was at the time the senior civilian survival instructor at a Department of National Defense survival school.

During the 1970s Mors became an associate professor at the University of Alberta Faculty of Physical Education, editor of the magazine ‘Alberta wilderness arts and recreation’ and freelanced for various agencies ranging from Boy Scouts to bush pilots over the next thirty-five years.

In 1986, he was approached to write a book on survival and wilderness skills for the Canadian Boreal forests which was originally titled “Northern Bushcraft” which became a Canadian bestseller. (the publishers later shortened the title to 'bushcraft')

The original title 'Northern Bushcraft' was in reference to an earlier publication 'Bushcraft' by Richard Harry Graves, which covered survival and wilderness living skills in the Australian environment.

Mors has acquired an international following and has instructed for both military and civilians in Canada, the US, the UK and Sweden and is well known for saying "The More you know, the less you carry"

List of Publications:

Wilderness Arts and Recreation Magazine (editor and author, with Tom Roycroft and Don Bright of Edson, Alberta) - beginning in 1976.

Bushcraft – originally released as Northern Bushcraft in 1988. A guide to outdoor skills and wilderness survival. (Lone Pine Publishing)(Northern Bushcraft - 1988 ISBN 1-871890-30-6) (Bushcraft - 1998 ISBN 1-55105-122-2)

Bush Arts – a guide to hand crafting with materials from the boreal forest. Lone Pine Publishing, 1989 ISBN 0-919433-49-9

Wilderness Skills Series and A Plant Walk with Mors Kochanski - (DVD series produced by Karamat Wilderness Ways)

Booklet series (17+ tiles, inc. Basic Wilderness Skills in Deep Snow, Survival Kit Ideas, etc.) – published by Karamat Wilderness Ways

References[link]

• Northern Bushcraft (1988) ISBN 1-871890-30-6
• Bush Arts (1989) ISBN 0-919433-49-9
• Bushcraft (1998) ISBN 1-55105-122-2

External links[link]

• Mors Kochanski TV appearance 1975
• Mors Kochanski TV appearance on ABC's 'on the road again' 1980s
• Mors Kochanski Website