River Birch (Betula nigra) peels like sunburn, makes a great fire starter

Of all the horrors

in Gary Paulsen's "Hatchet," the 13-year-old boy trying to start a fire with a twenty-dollar bill was one of the most wrenching scenes for me to read. Eventually, he found some birch bark, which worked better as tinder than legal tender does.

"Hatchet" won the 1987 Newbery Honor for a wilderness survival novel in which a boy winces and protests when Mom insists that he bring along that hatchet she gave him for his birthday, for reasons he cannot fathom (kinda like the girlfriend giving a gun rack in "Wayne's World" to a guy who doesn't even have a gun). Ah, Mother is vindicated! That hatchet may be the single most important tool to help this kid survive, alone, after a plane crash that leaves the pilot submerged in a lake with the plane and any supplies. But I digress.

Birch Bark Tinder

When collecting birch bark, take the papery parts that have already separated from the trunk of the tree. This is dead material, and you don’t want to strip live material that is fastened to the trunk. You may notice that the paper-like bark has different layers. The outer-most layer is similar to flaky sun-burnt skin… so thin that you can almost read through it. Deeper layers tend to be thicker, and more difficult to separate.

River birch will work!

I love the ghostly white bodies against a blue sky or dull gray overcast. Sorry my photo doesn't do the crowd of ghosts any justice.

Camera: my Samsung phone