It is winter – time to snuggle down with a good book. My taste generally runs to books that teach me something, make me think, help me be a better person. People and plants have done that for me, too, by teaching me something I needed to know at a particular point in my life. One friend, whose name you may recognize as a former NPC board member, educator, and naturalist, is the late Tom Paternostro. What he explained to me has stuck ever since the very beginning of the conservancy for which I write. His lesson, simply put, was Attention, Education, Appreciation, and Action. If you need people to do something, you really have to get their attention first; give them interesting facts and information about it; increased appreciation of it will occur in those who listened and understood; finally, they may see the usefulness and necessity of an action or commitment on their part.
A few of Sue’s books on natural historyin PA and FL.
Those four words have guided me in many endeavors, especially as I share with you information on plants and trees living in our area. “Hey, look at this plant! Here’s where and how it grows! These are its benefits to us and other organisms! Love them and do what’s right for them!”
So, when spring has sprung, get out there and do something: join a conservancy, weed out an invasive, raise your own plants and flowers to eat and admire, compost and enrich your soil, don’t harm pollinators, don’t waste food and other resources, make a discovery, stop activities harmful to life…grow where you are planted!
But, until then, it is wintertime. Snuggle down with a good book!
I like lichens, always have, always will… for lots of amazing reasons that I’d be happy to share with you! First of all, I really enjoy looking at them and studying their diverse shapes and sizes and colors and growth habits and where they grow and uses and, well, everything! Aren’t they lovely to look at, as they decorate tree trunks, upright or fallen? They brighten the dark winter bark, especially after a good wetting – fog, rain, snow – because moisture causes the topmost layer of “skin” to become more transparent, allowing the green algae layer to show through. They aren’t as crispy and brown then. Think of all the vertical paint they provide on rock faces that you’ve seen along the road. Lichens have special pigments caused by acids (four hundred are known) that provide a variety of colors – reds, oranges, yellows, browns, and of course, the green from algae.
Foliose lichens
Lichens have many different shapes and lifestyles. They are usually described by lichenologists (people who study lichens) as Foliose (flat, leaf-like lobes); Crustose (tightly adhering and crusty); Fruticose (branching with shrub-like tufts); Leprose (powdery); Gelatinous (jelly-like); Filamentous (stringy, matted hair); Byssoid (wispy, teased wool); Structureless. This doesn’t surprise you because you’ve seen them all, right? They are everywhere – from cold Arctic to hot, dry desert – growing on bark, wood, rock, soil, peat, glass, metal, plastic, cloth. They can even be found inside rocks, growing between the grains or mineral crystals. It has been estimated they cover six to eight percent of the earth’s surface, all the while pumping out oxygen for us air-breathers!
Crustose lichens
And that’s a segue to another reason lichens are so wonderfully interesting. They have a mutualistic relationship with algae which grows inside the main body or thallus of the fungus. Both parties benefit, a win-win situation. The fungi benefit from the carbohydrates produced by the algae (and sometimes cyanobacteria) as they photosynthesize to make food for growth AND the algae benefit by being surrounded with fungal filaments that protect and retain moisture for them in harsh environments. If cyanobacteria is present, it can fix atmospheric nitrogen to complement the food making process. A well-known lichenologist Trevor Goward has written, “Lichens are fungus that have discovered agriculture.”
There maybe upwards from 13,000 to 20,000 different species of lichens in the world, with North America boasting 3,600. Some of them may even have more than one species of fungus and algae on board. They can morph in shape and lifestyles (chimeras). Their long life span and slow, regular growth rate can be used to date events (lichenometry). There are lichens in England with a diameter of 18 to 19 inches that began life in 1195 A.D. and specimens in Sweden that are 187 inches across that may have been alive for 9,000 years.
Fruticose lichens
Lichens can be used for food, clothing, insulation, colorfast dyes, soft drink colors, extracts in toothpaste, deodorants, salves, fixatives for perfumes, potpourri, and medicines. Modern medical research is verifying many of the old lichen remedies. Supposedly fifty percent of lichens have antibacterial properties. One drawback of ingesting lichens is their higher absorption rate and accumulation of Strontium 90 and Cesium 137 from radioactive fallout, which is anywhere from ten to one hundred times more than most other plants in temperate and northern regions.
The snow fell at varying depths
throughout the region and is now melting at varying rates. The stream partners
took advantage of the snow being gone (for the most part) in southern Northumberland
County.
The photo above is a great example
of something we often see at stream bank stabilization sites. You’ll see there’s
a blob of grass in the stream channel. That was once the streambank.
The water eroded away the stream
edge at the bottom of the streambank. The stream flows there year round –
washing away soil. As the soil washes away from the bottom of the streambank an
overhang starts to develop. Eventually the overhang falls into the stream
channel when enough of the bottom of the steambank washes away from the bottom
that the overhang is unsupported.
The site has some high banks and
also some areas where material (soil and stones) are depositing.
The PA Fish and Boat Commission staff are working to develop a design for the site. The Conservation District is working to gather the information needed for permits. If all goes as planned, this site will be “the” stream partnership work site for a week in June.
Quite often while hiking in the woods, I will find clubmoss popping up out of piles of leaves or snow. I have always liked the Lycopodiaceae Family, especially the Lyco part; perhaps I feel a sympatico connection with the name, as an old Lyco graduate. My first introduction to clubmosses came during a botany class field trip. It was the beginning of a beautiful relationship with all things “plantly.”
Plants in the Clubmoss family originated during the Early Devonian Period about 380 million years ago and reached their peak during the Carboniferous, growing to one hundred feet in height and three feet in diameter. Their fossil remains, well, remain here in PA, above or below or mixed in the coal seams. Today, these herbaceous plants rarely grow taller than six inches with their rhizomes creeping above or just below the leaf litter. They are NOT mosses, but a step above because they have a vascular system with xylem and phloem which transports nutrients, water and photosynthesized food throughout.
Ground Pine with rhizomes snuggled down under leaf blanket .
Princess Pine (Dendrolycopodium obscurum) may have received its common name because the small plants look like immature trees with shiny needle-like leaves growing tightly to their branches. They put up an amazing yellowish-tan fertile shoot called a strombile that holds spores, and then you know it is not a baby tree! It may take up to twenty years for a new plant to grow from a released spore whose size is only 0.0013 inches. Thankfully, they can also spread by their underground runners. Repeatedly walking near the plants can compact the soil and damage or kill new plants beginning to grow underground. It can even keep the spores from germinating.
Another clubmoss found in our area is Common Running Clubmoss or Ground Pine (Lycopodium clavatum). Their horizontal stems run almost on top of the ground, covered by leaves or other small plants. Tiny green leaves are spirally arranged on the stems and shoots, giving them a rather furry look. Each leaf will have a single, unbranched vein in it that runs almost its entire length. Their fertile shoots start thinner at the bottom and widen as they ascend, giving them that classical club shape for which clubmosses are named.
Princess Pine with last year’s strombiles.
The dry spores of clubmosses have had many uses, from treatment for wounds and nosebleeds to powder for chafed skin. They have been utilized in a study to test the behavior of aerosol-released biological agents, in fingerprint powder, pill coverings, and as an ice cream stabilizer! When mixed with air, the spores are highly flammable which made them useful as photographic flash powder in the past. It is still used for theatrical special effects in plays and magic shows. People have been pulling large amounts of the thirteen different kinds of clubmosses growing in PA out of the ground for years to make Christmas decorations like wreaths and garlands.
While Punxsutawney Phil predicted
6 more weeks of winter, the northcentral stream partnership is preparing to
“open” the stream season in 5 weeks. We are in the phase of the season where
all kinds of things are happening at the same time. It can seem confusing or
overwhelming the first time you participate in the project planning.
Even through early January the ground was snow free for site visits.
Throughout December and January
the Pennsylvania Fish and Boat Commission and the Department of Environmental
Protection Watershed Manager visited possible sites with staff from the County
Conservation Districts. The weather prevented a couple of visits from happening
when they were originally scheduled, so the group will be continuing to visit
possible project sites throughout February.
The group pays attention to things
like the height of the eroded stream banks, the size and shape of the rocks on
the stream bottom, how much vegetation is growing along the stream, where the
fences are (if there are fences), and how wide the stream is. All of that and more go into deciding if a site
“fits.”
While it may just look like Austen is taking a stroll in the stream, he’s actually checking out the stream bottom. By walking along, shuffling his feet, digging his toe in, etc. he can “feel” the stream bottom. You’ll see sediment trailing off his back foot. He’s also considering how much sediment might be trapped on the bottom or between rocks on the bottom.
Once the group decides a site “fits”
the stream partnership’s program, a design is sketched out on site. By sketched
I mean usually a black or red marker is used to make notes on a printed out
aerial photo of the site. That field design is taken back to the office and finalized.
The finalized design is used to start the permitting process and generate a
supplies list. All of these things – design visits, design finalization,
permitting, supplies – are happening at the same time for anywhere from 5 to 15
sites.
Additionally, conversations to
determine what projects need to get done this year and when to schedule the
projects are taking place. Things that go into the scheduling include farming
operations and access to the fields, if a site lays wet or dry, vacation plans
for any number of people, and when other projects the Conservation Districts
are working on will be active.
The permit applications for the
first couple of projects in March will be submitted in the next week or so, and
then things will really start ramping up. Stay tuned for more updates on water
quality improvements in the region!
And if you’re concerned about
instream work happening in March, the Pennsylvania Fish and Boat Commission
staff are equipped with insulated waders and there are enough people to rotate
in and out of the stream that hypothermia shouldn’t be an issue.
The snow can help provide a little contrast so photos of the bank erosion and falling streambanks.Thank you to Woodlands Bank for supporting the NPC blog!
Are you planning to plant some trees,
shrubs, or flowers this year? Contact your County Conservation District office
to find out if they’re having a tree sale. A lot of the Conservation Districts collect
tree orders in February with the trees arriving in April.
Photos of some of the plants at the Columbia County Conservation District’s 2021 plant and tree sale. It was a rainy day, perfect for the plants. Photo courtesy of Columbia County Conservation District.
Planning now helps ensure you are
going to be able to get the species you want. Some of the more popular trees
and shrubs can sell out.
Sugaring season begins in late
February. Sugaring is a lot of work. It’s also generational work. The sugar
maple trees planted today won’t be ready to be tapped for at least 15 to 20
years, maybe more. Are there projects in your woods that you are getting started
so the next generation can enjoy the results?
On the left a tap dripping sap into a bucket, and on the right a bucket hanging on a tree with a cover keepting debris out of the sap. Both photos coutesy of Bob Stoudt.
Montour Preserve and several state
parks offer sugaring programs. Check out their events page to see if there are any
programs near you.
Winter can be a great time to walk in the woods. The snow and ice and cold need to be considered but can be overcome. A traction system for your shoes can be one way to make your wintering outings in the woods safer. There are a variety of brands out there, but most of them pull onto your boots and use chains, springs, and pieces of pointy metal to help you get traction on slippery snow and ice. While it’s almost the end of February, the snow and ice can hang on in shaded areas in the woods.
One type of winter traction system that pulls on over your “regular” boots.
You have probably seen a lot of evergreen trees called Arborvitae. It is a name used in the horticulture trade for the more than three hundred cultivars of Thuja occidentalis being sold for wind screens, privacy hedges, ornamentals and such. Did you know that the original, non-genetically modified, non-cross-bred Thuja occidentalis is native to North America, growing wild from the Arctic treeline to the southern Appalacian Mountains of Tennessee? Cool! (They DO actually grow better in places with cooler summers.)There are no known original stands of them in Pennsylvania, and are considered extirpated, which occurred, perhaps, during the lumber boom. There are many different re-imaginings of them growing here now, where people have planted all sorts of varieties – by their houses, in cemeteries and parks. Enough that some have become naturalized.
The closed green female cones of a September Arborvitae are beginning to dry and turn brown.
Arborvitae is not a true cedar, but a member of the Cypress Family, CUPRESSACEAE, that contains junipers, bald cypress, northern and Atlantic white cedars. Arborvitae’s scale-like leaves are flat against the fan-like, horizontal branches on which they grow. The tree’s trunk and large branches are light, reddish-brown with easily shredded bark. They are naturally adapted to wet forests, but grow on upland alkaline limestone soils as well. Often stunted in less favorable locations, this tree can slowly grow up to sixty feet tall and live for fifty to one hundred fifty years. One of the oldest trees in Eastern North America is an Arborvitae that is alive and well and living in Southern Ontario at the ripe old age of 1,316! They have the amazing ability to keep growing when parts of them have been killed or damaged. It also helps when they live on cliffs away from deer who strip their green branches for winter browse.
The open and empty, woody female cones of a December Arborvitae. The tiny male cones can be seen on the very tips of branches. Look for a tan coloration.
In 1588, this tree received the common name “arbre de vie” or Arborvitae – “Tree of Life” – because it was so helpful in preventing and treating Scorbut (scurvy), the winter illness from which many French sailors and explorers in the New World died. We know today that the leaf and bark teas made from the green Arborvitae twigs hold healing amounts of vitamin C and several essential amino acids. Externally, the leaf oil distilled from twigs is antibacterial and antiviral. Research and experimentation are on-going. The lightweight wood of Arborvitae splits easily and is used for poles, shingles, cross-ties and posts. It is very rot resistant. This fact maybe another reason for the longer lives of The Trees of Life.
Have you ever noticed mosses still growing as you take
walks during our winter season? They seem to be everywhere – between slabs of the
sidewalk, on brick foundations, tree trunks or under them, cliff sides, rocks,
on dirt and rooftops. They have always amazed me, so underfoot, and many times,
so unappreciated! Having diverged from green algae about 500 million years ago,
they evolved to become an extremely important part of all land ecosystems. They
promote soil formation with the addition of dead tissues, grow where other
plants having roots cannot, hold moisture to use and pass on to other
organisms. Mosses are Bryophytes, members of the Phylum Bryophyta, along
with the other ancient plants, Liverworts and Hornworts. All are nonflowering
(using spores to reproduce), have stem-like rhizoids (rather than true
roots), diffuse water and nutrients through cell walls (instead of having a system
of veins). Many plant scientists consider them the “coral reefs of the
forest” for the benefits they provide, even though small and having leaves
only one cell thick. Mosses play important roles storing and filtering
nutrients and water that forests need to survive and grow.
Moss is a perfect nursery for Hemlock seedlings that can dry out quickly and die.
Mosses contain chlorophyll to make their own food, using
sunlight and the process of photosynthesis, in order to grow and reproduce.
They “exhale” oxygen into the atmosphere as a by-product. They
provide food, water, shelter and cover for many small invertebrates, like
insects. Humans have not been shy about reaping and using mosses for many of
their requirements: fuel, insulation for dwellings and clothing, bedding,
diapering, bandaging, roofing, gardening. One thing we do not use moss for is
food. The complex carbohydrates of most mosses would take more energy to digest
than we would gain from eating them! However, research has discovered them to
be anti-bacterial, anti-fungal, and anti-viral. Folks living in London,
England, are using different kinds of mosses in structures they call artificial
trees. Where they are positioned throughout the city, the moss containers
absorb particulates, carbon dioxide and nitrogen oxides from the atmosphere
while producing oxygen and keeping the surrounding air cooler. It is possible
that mosses may provide yet to be discovered solutions to problems caused by
climate fluctuations. They are much better equipped than other plants due to
their worldwide distribution and their ability to soak up and hold
moisture.
A downside for the mosses in this arrangement is a slow
growth rate, a quarter inch to two inches per year depending on the species. We
will need to be judicious in our harvesting of mosses. When all of the moss is
stripped from a log or rock, it can take twenty years for it to recover.
Leaving one-third to one-half of the moss in patches can shorten the recovery
time to ten years. Log moss is one of the ten most sought-after, non-timber
products in Pennsylvania. Both the PA Game Commission and DCNR prohibit
removal of plants from their lands.
Winter can be a great time to visit potential stream projects. With no leaves on the trees and other vegetation dead or dormant it’s easier to see the streambanks and what’s going on. Snow on the ground or ice on the stream stop the visits.
So far, the stream team has been able to get out to quite a few sites. At this site in Union County (above), Austen was able to “check out” the substrate on the stream bottom. By walking around he can use his feet to feel what’s underneath the water. Does he kick up a lot of sediment? Is it stone or muck? How big do the stones feel? How much wiggle room do the stones have?
You can see at this Union County site he had a small trail of sediment behind him as he walked up stream.
At the site shown above in Northumberland County, the snow-ice on the ground didn’t hinder design, but the skim of ice at the edges didn’t allow all the final design to happen.
While we crossed the stream in the shallower spots, the water was cold enough and deep enough Austen didn’t check out the subtrate here. The team developed a general concept and will be back in March to do a “final” design for permitting and ordering supplies.
The PA Dept. of Agriculture has added this particular berry-making plant (Berberis thunbergii) to its noxious weed list as of October 8, 2021, banning its sale or cultivation. Nurseries and landscapers will have a two-year period to phase out its use in this state.
Japanese barberry’s widespread distribution in our forests where it can thrive anywhere from deep shade to sunny edges + the fact that in some places it has become a dominant understory plant since our large deer population appears to eat just about everything else and leaves it alone to reproduce + the research that has shown increased populations of the black-legged or deer ticks, known transmitters of Lyme disease, occur in areas where it abounds = three good reasons why this plant became a good candidate for the noxious weed list!
Birds are great spreaders of seeds.
You can identify Japanese barberry during the winter when its red berries stand out against its brown twigs and sticks and by carefully checking for its armament. It is armed – with single, pointed spines growing near where the leaves used to be, on opposite sides of twigs. This plant differs from another non-native species, European barberry, Berberis vulgaris, also found growing in PA, that has three-pronged spines. Our very own native American Barberry (Berberis canadensis) also has three-pronged spines – or rather – HAD three-pronged spines. It is one of about 104 species of plants that have been judged “extirpated” or no longer existing within PA. American barberry does grow wild in West Virginia southward to Georgia, however.
Twig showing berries and single spine.
Just because barberry is considered a noxious weed in some places doesn’t mean it hasn’t had a long and interesting history of usefulness to mankind. The ancient Egyptians used it in a syrup with fennel to prevent the plague. Dried and fresh roots were used to make a colorfast yellow dye for cloth, leather, and wood. Berries were made into jams and jellies or without sweetener, provided an acidic kick to the taste of salads. Berberine, a constituent of these plants, actually fluoresces under ultraviolet light, making cells under a microscope easier to study. It is used in medicines for everything from heart failure to burns and eye infections. Can’t judge a plant wholly by its aggressiveness!
