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White-tailed Deer

fluorescent orange guyThis past Monday was the beginning of antlered deer hunting season in PA. Statewide the general firearms season runs until December 12, 2015. So, if you’re going to be in the woods or on the trails Saturday it’s certainly a good idea to wear the required fluorescent orange, even if you’re not hunting. Here’s a handy graphic to help you remember that hunters are required to wear 250 square inches of fluorescent orange on their head, chest, and back combined that is visible from 360 degrees. Even if you’re not hunting, make sure hunters can see you.

Deer_NicholasPA is home to the white-tailed deer, or Odocoileus virginianus. The name, white-tailed, reflects the underside of a deer’s tail which is covered with white hair. When a deer runs it often holds its tail erect so that the white undersurface is visible.  This photo doesn’t really give you a view of the white underside, but you can see how a deer holds its tail up (Charlie took this photo on the Nicholas Easement).

White–tailed deer are ruminants and like cattle have a four chambered stomach. Deer eat without chewing their food thoroughly. Later they lie down, regurgitate what they have eaten and chew more thoroughly.

White-tailed deer are herbivores.  In winter white-tailed deer eat between four and seven pounds of woody browse (twigs and shoots) each day as well as dried leaves, fallen acorns and fungi. That’s a lot of woody browse.

rFJ3uDdtkdRbt6DWvniWom0FUPEyYNReoLRWRAhbK0cBecause of their diet of tough fibrous twigs, leaves, acorns and other vegetation, a deer’s age can be determined by checking the wear on their teeth. Wildlife biologists will examine jaw bones of harvested deer to determine the age of harvested deer. These numbers then help them estimate age class structure.

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Turkeys

Turkey (11)For many Thanksgiving Day involves a turkey dinner. While many of us head to the market and buy our birds, the pilgrims would have hunted for their birds.

This hunting by the settlers had all but eliminated wild turkeys by the mid-1800s. Wild turkeys were missing from large areas of their native range by unrestricted hunting and habitat destruction. In Pennsylvania, a few managed to hang on in the Ridge and Valley region of the central portion of the state.

The creation of the Pennsylvania Game Commission, the implementation of restrictions on hunting and the forests’ gradual recovery from the widespread clearcutting of the late 1800s and early 1900s paved the way for the turkeys’ restoration.

By 2000 Pennsylvania’s wild turkey population was estimated at 400,000 birds and flocks are a common sight throughout the state, even in some suburban areas. The bestTurkey (31) turkey habitat in northcentral Pennsylvania is composed of extensive woodland interspersed with open areas or farm fields where young birds can feed on the grasshoppers and other insects that they need for proper development. Habitat is the key to healthy wildlife populations.

Turkeys have shown more tolerance for fragmented habitat (woodlots) and human disturbance than previously believed, but they still depend on forested habitats and do best with limited human activity. Habitat diversity — varying habitat types and differing ages — is the key to good turkey habitat. Turkeys seem to do best with a mix of forested, actively farmed and reverting-farmland habitat types.

In spring, turkeys eat tender greens, shoots, tubers, leftover nuts and early insects. As the weather warms up, they eat more insects, including grasshoppers, walking-sticks, beetles, weevils, dragonflies, ants and larvae. But even in summer, a majority of the diet (perhaps 90 percent) is vegetable. A wide variety of plant species are eaten, as well as a number of plant parts, including fruits, seeds, seedheads, tubers, roots, bulbs, stems, leaves, flowers and buds.

Acorns2In fall, turkeys eat mast (beechnuts, acorns); fruits (dogwood, grape, cherry, gum, thornapple); and seeds (grasses and sedges, ash, corn, oats, weeds). During winter, they rely on seeds, nuts and fruits left over from autumn, and on green plants, crustaceans and insect larvae found in and around spring seeps where groundwater emerges along a hillside or in a flat. Temperature of this water is above freezing, so the seeps remain open all winter, providing food for turkeys and other wildlife.

A turkey often scratches for its food, kicking forest duff and leaves behind. If the bird finds an acorn, it picks up the nut in its beak, straightens its neck, and swallows. The nut is stored in the bird’s crop, a flexible “bag” in which juices and body heat work to soften it. Then the nut passes into the gizzard, an enlarged, thick-walled section of the food canal that contains small stones and gravel called grit. Strong muscles use the grit to grind down the acorn.

Conservation Project, Interesting Facts

Peaking Now

Sugar Maple_AutumnThe TV weather folks give reports on more than just the weather, they also give daily updates on when and where the fall foliage colors are peaking. But, the peak varies from place to place and by the day. However, the most brilliant fall colors tend to occur where sugar maple grows which is why the best fall colors tend to occur in the northern portion of our region where sugar maple is a common tree. The color displayed by sugar maple varies from pale yellow to bright red, but most commonly varies from golden yellow to orange. Sugar maple is the tree that provides maple syrup and bowling alleys in addition to a feast for the eyes.

Pignut Hickory_FallIt’s not just sugar maple that colors the hillsides in the middle of fall foliage season, many other trees are at the peak of their color now. In the southern part of our region the hickories are now displaying their glowing yellow color. There are four common hickories in northcentral Pennsylvania: bitternut, named for the flavor of its nuts; pignut, so called because its small very hard nut were deemed fit only to feed to hogs; mockernut, the thick hulls of its nuts conceal a small nut thus mocking anyone who thinks they’ve found a large nut; and shagbark which derives its name from its usually very long loose scaly bark.

Enjoy the peak of fall colors they’ll soon fade to the grays and browns of late fall.

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Fast Changing

Red Maple_fallThe season progresses more rapidly as September passes. Many of the birches and walnuts are leafless as other species of trees begin to turn color. This is the time for the reds to make themselves obvious as red maple leaves turn color. Red maple is aptly named since the leaves turn red in the fall and the new growth from last spring, the samaras (poly-noses) bearing the seeds and the winter buds are red. Red maple grows almost everywhere in our area from the highest ridges to lowland wetlands.

Also showing its now red leaves is flowering dogwood, that small tree which is often planted as an ornamental in landscaping. Those trees usually display pink Flowering Dogwood_fallflowers in the spring, but the wild flowering dogwoods growing in the woodlands in the southern part of our area are almost universally white flowered, although sometimes with a pinkish tinge. At the same time the leaves change from green to red, flowering dogwood’s fruit ripens to a brilliant red. The fruits are eaten by chipmunks, gray squirrels and many species of birds.

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Changing of the Leaves

ButternutSome leaves begin changing in mid to late August, but as the season progresses into September more and more trees begin changing color. Among the first to change are black walnut and its close, but much less common, relative butternut (photo on the right). These species tend to set leaves late in the spring and lose their leaves early in the autumn but they grow rapidly nonetheless. The leaves of both species normally turn pale yellow or tan and fall soon after.
Black, yellow and white birch leaves (below) also normally turn color early in the fall and also become yellow, but a much brighter yellow than either walnut or butternut. In our area, black birch is Birch, Blackby far the most common of the birches, growing in both moist and dry sites and frequently seeding in on sites disturbed by logging or wind throw. Here, yellow birch is confined to cool moist sites, usually in deep valleys or high elevation wetlands. White birch is close to the southern limit of its rage in northcentral Pennsylvania where it is most commonly found as scattered individuals on ridgetops or where severe forest fires killed most other trees.
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Colors, We’ll See Colors

There are signs of autumn everywhere. For many the true indication is the turning of trees’ leaves from green to various shades of red, yellow, orange and brown.

Birch, BlackLook at the hillsides and you may see the first yellow leaves appearing on the birch trees; black, yellow and white birch are among the first trees to change color – frequently beginning to change in mid to late August and reaching their peak in early to mid-September.

And what causes the trees to change color? Some people believe it’s a frost – but it’s not. What causes tree leaves to change color is actually the shortening days. And the colors are the result of pigments in the leaves:
• Chlorophyll, the pigment that gives leaves their green color. It is where photosynthesis occurs whereby plants use sunlight to manufacture sugars. Toward the end of the growing season chlorophyll is broken down and no more is produced.
• Carotenoids that produce the yellow, orange, and brown colors in other plants like corn, bananas, carrots, and daffodils. These pigments are also present in leaves throughout the summer.
• Anthocyanins, are reddish pigments which color cranberries, apples, cherries and strawberries. These pigments form in the leaves in late summer and fall as the leaves prepare to fall from the tree and sugars are trapped in the leaves.

When all the chlorophyll in the leaves is destroyed the carotenoids and anthocyanins are revealed and with that the fall coloration is created.

Warm, sunny days and cool, but not freezing, nights usually produces the most glorious red and orange colors. That’s because during the day a lot of sugars are produced in the leaf but the cool nights and closing of the vessels between the leaf and twig keep the sugars in the leaf. A lot of sugar and a lot of light produce bright anthocyanin pigments. Because the yellow and brown pigments are always present in leaves, the yellow and gold colors don’t vary much from year to year.

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Limestone Run is One Example of Water Quality Improvement

Limestone RunWhile there are a couple days left in August, we’re going to wrap-up Water Quality month. Over the past weeks, we’ve shared information about various measures of water quality. Now, we want to share some information about the projects being done in the Limestone Run Watershed of Montour and Northumberland Counties.

The map at the top of the page shows the whole watershed – from its headwaters in Montour County to where it enters the West Branch Susquehanna River in Milton, Northumberland County. The properties highlighted in yellow (or green depending on your screen) are all properties that had some type of project done to improve water quality. On some it was a major construction project with lots of concrete to keep manure out of the stream. On other sites it may have simply been planting trees and shrubs along the banks of the Limestone Run to shade the water and allow the plants’ roots to hold the soil in place.

Pfleegor2Others have had in-stream habitat structures installed. The in-stream structures allow for a holistic approach. The structures are constructed from log and rocks to stabilize the stream banks, stop the erosion, and restore over-widened stream channels back to a more stable width. These structures reduce if not eliminate the accelerated erosion issues, while at the same time, the in-stream structures are also providing enhanced aquatic habitat in the streambed.

The in-stream rock and log structures have been used by PFBC for over 40 years to reduce velocity on the stream banks and re-direct the flow back toward the center of the channel. They are installed to function at normal flow conditions, and continue to function even during high flow events. The structures immediately remove the velocity from the toe-of-slope (where land and water meet) and allow the stream banks to stabilize. To further assist during high flows, the banks are re-graded to create a more gentle slope.

Pfleegor excavatorGenerally the stream channel is over widened due to a lack of deep-rooted vegetation and/or cattle access. The deep roots of vegetation hold the soil in place. When those roots are lacking, the soil is more likely to move, or erode away. The structures are placed to stabilize the toe-of-slope to allow deep-rooted vegetation to establish. This allows us to aggressively accelerate the stabilization process. This reduces the overall amount of sediment the stream system receives, and begins to improve aquatic habitat immediately.

Pfleegor_before_electrofishingThree of the sites, Schnure, Pfleegor, and Smith are sites that Susquehanna University’s RK Mellon Freshwater Laboratory visited before construction to get a baseline on the fish species and macroinvertebrates. NPC has applied for funding to have the Susquehanna team sample the sites again 1 year after the instream structures are installed and then at 2 years after.

Thanks to Montour County Conservation District, Northumberland County Conservation District, U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, PA Fish and Boat Commission, PA DEP, this summer’s interns (Brandon, Shane, and Richard), and the landowners for getting so much work done this summer!

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Streams Where There Normally Are None

Weaner 2015 (6)Charlie visited the Weaner Conservation Easement the other day. He commented that, “there were streams in places I’ve never seen a drop of water before.” Yes, it was a wet June in northcentral PA.  The airport at Montoursville measured 7.81 inches of rain during the month.  The average is just over 4 inches.

This made me think of a blog post Allyson Muth wrote in May 2015 about forests being sponges and trees giant straws.  Below is an excerpt, and you can read the whole thing by clicking here:
Forest soils are giant sponges. The top layer, the duff layer, is covered in leaves and vegetation that intercept falling water and slow it down – preventing raindrops from hitting the soil and dislocating soil particles to move away, as sediment, in flowing water. Forest soils have lots of macropores (big holes made by worms, insects, dead tree roots, live tree roots) that allow water to move quickly into the ground. And they have micropores (small holes) that hold onto the water and keep it available for plants and animals to use it. Water infiltrates until it saturates the soil or fills the holes completely. It then begins to move through the soil, until it hits bedrock or clay or another surface that it can’t get through. Water then flows sideways downhill until it comes out in streams or gets held in groundwater reservoirs. It takes a long time for water to move through that system. The soil organisms also help filter the water, removing pollutants and excess nutrients that could harm stream life. Many, many urban centers (Boston and New York City, for example) use forested watersheds to provide their clean drinking water with minimal treatment. The forest soils absorb, hold, and filter water, releasing it steadily over time.

At the same time, forests can be thought of as big straws. Trees move a lot of water through their trunks and out their leaves as they photosynthesize and breathe. In the last two weeks, most all of our trees have leafed out (the black walnuts are still breaking bud in our neck of the woods). The giant straw is coming online. Without additional rain, the trees pull that water from the sponge of the soil, which means that stream flow drops. Groundwater will continue to flow into those streams keeping it at base flow levels, but perhaps not as much moisture is passing through the soil. Trees move the water out of the soil and into the atmosphere, contributing to moisture in the air, and hopefully cloud formation that will bring more precipitation and keep us green and vibrant.

Both the giant sponge and big straw are vital to the water cycle and its continuity. As more forests are paved over, as more agricultural lands converted to development, we lose the ability for those soils to work in our favor, keeping streams clean and flowing, providing drinking water, slowing down and absorbing storm water, and ensuring a continuous water cycle from which we benefit, including hot dogs.

Conserv. Easem. Visit, Conservation Project, Interesting Facts

Ferns Galore

Brandon, NPC’s summer intern, and I inspected the Joshi and Lyons Farm easements. The trees’ leaves were almost full sized and many of the spring ephemeral wildflowers had already finished blooming. But the ferns were just coming into their own. Ferns are very primitive plants that do not have flowers, but instead bear their fertile spores on modified leaves. We saw a number of different species and almost certainly missed a few more.

Cinnamon Fern

Cinnamon Fern

Cinnamon fern – was named for its spore bearing fronds which resemble a cinnamon stick in both shape and color.

Interrupted fern – the spores are borne in the middle of the blade – hence the name.

Sensitive fern – this species is extremely sensitive to frost, the fronds are killed by the slightest of autumn’s frost.

Interupted Fern

Interupted Fern

New York fern – is evergreen and grows in clumps.

Christmas fern – is also evergreen and grows in clumps; its fronds are frequently used in seasonal decorations.

Hay-scented fern – the crushed fronds smell like new-mown hay; the fronds grow from a spreading dense root mat, forming extensive colonies which inhibit tree reproduction.

Sensitive Fern

Sensitive Fern

Bracken fern – is a plant of dry acidic soils whose fronds tend to be borne horizontally rather than vertically as in most other ferns.
~Charlie

 

 

Bracken Fern

Bracken Fern

 

 

 

 

 

Christmas Fern

Christmas Fern

 

 

 

 

 

Hay Scented Fern

Hay Scented Fern

 

 

 

 

 

New York Fern

New York Fern

Conserv. Easem. Visit, Conservation Project, Interesting Facts

Foamflower (and snakes)

Charlie and the snakeCharlie never knows what he might find on his conservation easement stewardship visits. The photo to the right was taken on the way back from a stewardship visit, but I think you get the idea.

Charlie was pretty quick on the brakes when he saw this snake. He was out of the car with his camera at the ready before I even had my door open. After the snake’s photo session, Charlie “scooted” it off the road to make sure it was merrily on its way before getting back in the car.

This photo is from the first of five stewardship visits Charlie made this week. He spent time at sites you helped conserve in Union County, Tioga County, and Lycoming County.

Foamflower BHere are a few photos he took (possibly crouched down like with the snake). They are both from foamflower. Usually, the Scott easement stewardship visit takes place when the trilliums are in bloom. But this year Charlie and Brandon (our summer intern) were a week too late for the trilliums. Instead they were treated to the somewhat less spectacular (Charlie’s words) blooms of foamflower. Foamflower grows in moist shady environments, typically in fairly dense woodland. From a distance the white spikes of the flowers easily catch the eye, and a closer look reveals their true beauty.

Foamflower AFor more information on foamflower, or other wildflowers, visit the Lady Bird Johnson Wild Flower Center’s website.