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State Game Lands 115 in Liberty Township, Montour County

When Tom and Beth Stubler wanted to spend more time fishing on the St. Lawrence River and visiting their daughters and granddaughter they decided to divest themselves of some properties they owned. This included a two-thirds interest in approximately 600 acres in Montour County on the line with Northumberland County.

Tom stopped by the Northcentral Pennsylvania Conservancy (NPC) office one day to see if NPC would be interested in accepting a donation of their interest in the property in Liberty Township. The property adjoins State Game Lands 115, so Tom thought NPC might be able to get some of the acreage into public ownership.

The current SGL 115 map updated to show the Stublers donation.

As members of NPC Tom and Beth knew NPC works with the Pennsylvania Game Commission and Bureau of Forestry to increase the amount of land available for the public to use, and to improve access to public land to make it less difficult to use. Plus, Tom saw this as an opportunity to give back.

“As a kid, that’s all I hunted was State Game Lands,” Tom explained. “My family didn’t own any land to hunt on, so I hunted on State Game Lands and appreciated having a place to hunt. When I realized we might be able to help increase the amount of State Game Lands available it was a no-brainer. If I can give another kid a place to hunt that would be great.”

NPC’s staff reached out to the Montour Area Recreation Commission (MARC) for more information about the location and to the Pennsylvania Game Commission to determine their interest. MARC was able to provide some very helpful information in understanding how the property fit on the landscape and the local recreational needs. The Pennsylvania Game Commission was interested in looking at the property and discussing how a project could proceed.

NPC set up a site visit that included the Pennsylvania Game Commission, MARC, Tom, and NPC. After seeing the property and how it fit in with the adjoining State Game Lands the Pennsylvania Game Commission was interested in working with NPC and the Stublers to get the acreage into public ownership.

After several meetings with the owner of the remaining one-third interest, the Pennsylvania Game Commission realized it would be most efficient for them to work directly with Tom and Beth on the donation instead of NPC receiving the donation from Tom and Beth, then working with the other landowner, before finally conveying the acreage to the Pennsylvania Game Commission.

The other owner wasn’t interested in selling his interest. He wanted one-third of the actual acreage. This meant discussing and understanding what areas of the property had the most sentimental value to the one-third owner, the various types of habitat on the property, what habitat areas have the most potential for the Game Commission’s wildlife management goals, how the road system connected, and thinking through the best way to set-up public access points and parking areas. That’s a lot. Everyone agreed it made the most sense for the Pennsylvania Game Commission to work directly with the one-third owner.

The Pennsylvania Game Commission accepted the two-thirds interest from Tom and Beth Stubler and worked through the process of surveying the property and preparing for a sub-division to separate about 200 acres off the parcel for the one-third landowner.

While NPC never took title to the property, Tom and Beth are convinced the project never would have happened without NPC’s staff helping them connect with the Pennsylvania Game Commission and helping to coordinate some of the early meetings and conversations. NPC’s “matchmaking” skills helped make this project a reality.

Most of the land is a forested mix of oak, hemlock, hickory, and maple. There are of blueberry, mountain laurel, and rhododendron in the shrub understory. A small stream meanders through the property. The Game Commission has started implementing their management plans for the property and neighbors to the property tell NPC how much they are enjoying hiking the old roads on the property.

Montour Area Recreation Commission held a historic hike on the property recently.
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It’s National “Roast Chestnuts Day!”

Yes, that’s really a thing.

What do you know about American Chestnuts??

If you could go back in time and look at the forests in the region when Europeans made contact with the Native Americans you would find the American Chestnut tree, castanea dentata, making up about 30% of the forest.

An American Chestnut seedling in a research plot.

The trees grew tall and straight for building materials and the nuts were a nutritious food source for people and livestock. Because the wood resisted rot, fence posts, log cabins, and other structures were built using the food. People collected the nuts to eat and also pastured livestock with trees, so the animals could forage on the nuts.

The trees grew to over 10-feet in diameter. Google “American Chestnut tree historic photo” and look at the size of some of those trees.

In the early 1800s ink disease started to affect the tree in its southern U.S. range. Then, at the turn of the century, a blight began killing off trees throughout the entire eastern range.

Today, you’ll find in the forest American Chestnut trees that will grow for a couple of years before the blight takes its toll. You’ll also find landowners who have been working with researchers and the American Chestnut Foundation to develop a tree that is mostly American Chestnut, but has enough Chinese Chestnut DNA to resist the blight.

You can read more about the American Chestnut Foundation, and watch some videos about the research underway by following these links. And if you don’t want to Google, this USDA website has an historic photo to help you imagine the size these trees could reach.

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Underfoot: Virgin’s Bower

By, Susan Sprout

The four-petaled, pure white flowers on this perennial vine may have been responsible for the common name of this plant, along with the fact that it grows upward, winding itself over bushes and trees to form a shaded shelter or bower. Virgin’s Bower, Clematis virginiana, is a member of the Buttercup Family. There are over 250 different species of Clematis in the world; this one is a native of North America. It ranges from Manitoba to Nova Scotia southward and from New England to Georgia. There are two other native Clematis in PA. Both have purple blooms rather than white.

The cascading seed heads of Virgin’s Bower.

This time of the year, you won’t find any pretty white blossoms or three-part leaves. What remains is very recognizable, however, along roads or low areas near streams where it likes to grow. It will be sprawled over the tops of small trees and thickets that have lost most of their leaves. The female flowers have morphed by now into cascading, snowball-like clusters of silvery-gray, feathery hairs, each holding a dry, one-seeded fruit that doesn’t split open at maturity – it just hangs on and floats away in the winter wind. Of course, Virgin’s Bower has received another common name from this characteristic, Old Man’s Beard! Itchy! Scratchy! Not the beard part of the plant, but rather, the fresh green foliage, which can cause dermatitis and blistering of the skin! And that, in turn, is very strange because the early settlers used the plant to treat itch and skin diseases! 

Feathery haris each holding a single seed of Virgin’s Bower.
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Trees Along Streams

NPC has been working with the PA Department of Conservation and Natural Resources (DCNR), local landowners, county conservation districts, and other partners to plant trees along streams.

Trees were planted along streams in Columbia County, Union County, and Centre County this fall.

The sign installed as part of the riparian buffer plnating project along Roaring Creek at the Southern Columbia School District’s campus

While most of the trees went in on private properties. Through outreach by Native Creations Landscape Services Southern Columbia Area School District and Berwick Area School District signed up for trees along the streams on their properties.

Southern Columbia Area School District has property along Roaring Creek. Students joined in helping with the planting and teachers are excited to have an area to take students to look at trees and learn about not just the tree species, but the “jobs” trees have.

Trees along streams aren’t just pretty. The trees roots help hold soil in place and prevent it from washing away. Think about standing in sand and wiggligng your toes. Your toes can dig down into the sand and the sand sticks between your toes. As roots grown down and out, you’ll see that they can hold soil on the streambank and help reduce the dirt/sediment washing into the creek.

Trees also provide shade over the stream. Cooler water is needed by trout and the macroinvertebrates/water bugs the trout eat. Those leaves hanging over the stream drop into the stream in the fall and provide food for macroinvertebrates.

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In your woods – December

December is here! You may think there isn’t a lot to do for your woods during this non-growing season.

Well, you can still update and review your land journal. If you don’t have a land journal, buy a notebook and start a land journal. Note when you see things like the first buds on a specific tree, or certain birds (like robins). Jot notes when you notice a project that needs done whether that’s making sure to re-paint a specific area of boundary, or treat a specific area for an invasive.

When thing to track in your land journal is when you see certain plants. Tracking the blooming of your wild columbine over time can be a fun way to decide where to walk on your property and when.

December is also a good time to review your legacy plan and have conversations with family and friends to ensure they know what your plan is. December usually includes family gatherings since many religions have celebrations. Use these gatherings as an opportunity to explain your legacy plan and describe what you’d like to happen with the woods.

December is a good time to go for a walk in the woods and listen. What do you hear? Is the wind blowing? Are there leaves tumbling on the ground? Can you hear any birds? Is there water? Can you hear the creek, run, or spring gurgling? With the leaves down can you hear cars or neighbors that you can’t in the summer. Just go for a walk and listen.

Trees have historic ties to December celebrations. Yule logs were first used by the Vikings during the winter solstice. A tree was cut in the woods, runes carved into the tree, and the tree then drug to the home fireplace. The cut end, the wide end, was put in the fireplace and the yule log was then burned for 12 days. The concept traveled to other countries with the Vikings and then with cultures influenced by the Vikings and you’ll find variations across the globe.

A drawing of a Yule Log being taken home (image by DeAgostini/Getty Images)
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Underfoot: Eastern Hemlock

By Susan Sprout

Growing up, I was lucky to have two Eastern hemlock trees in my yard, much taller that our two-story house. One had lower branches for easy climbing; the other, with high branches, provided places for swings. Kid heaven! I learned the meaning of words like “evergreen” and “conifer” from them.

Eastern hemlocks

As I travel the back roads near my home now, I try to imagine what an entire forest of trees resembling the current state champion hemlock in Cook Forest State Park would look like. It is 125 feet tall, 5 feet in diameter and has a spread of 70 feet. Penn’s Woods was covered by magnificent old-growth forests of pine, hemlock and different kinds of hardwoods at the time of its settlement similar to this state champion tree. The loss of these giants is well-documented in histories of the lumbering industry in this area. I still like to see them in my mind, dominating the cool, moist, north-facing slopes.

Unlike many trees, hemlocks grow well in shade with their long, slender, horizontal branches drooping to the ground. Half-inch long green needles with two white stripes underneath run up both sides of the bumpy twigs. Cones are light brown and oval with short stalks holding tight to the ends of branches. Although heavy cone producers when they reach fifteen years, the life of their seeds is low due to infertility, lack of even temperatures, and the moisture required for germination. Hemlocks are very slow growers and may only get an inch and a half in height in their first year with a root of one-half inch, making them very sensitive to the drying effects of higher temperatures. They are considered fully established at three to five feet tall. Seedlings seem to grow well in rotten logs, stumps, and mounds that provide a better moisture supply, many times creating pure stands of hemlocks the same size and age.

Hemlock cones

These native giants are under attack by a very tiny insect that attaches itself under the small leaves along their stems and causes a loss of nutrients to the whole tree. Hemlock Woolly Adelgid females lay white, woolly masses of sacks containing from fifty to three hundred eggs in two generations per year. These insects insert their long, sucking mouthparts directly into the food storage cells of the tree which responds by blocking off the tiny wounds to disrupt the outflow of sap. This, in turn, cuts off the flow of nutrients to the needles and twigs, leading eventually to their death.  Dieback to major limbs can occur within two years and generally progresses from the bottom of the tree upward. Originally introduced from Japan in the 1950’s, Hemlock Woolly Adelgid has spread to eighteen eastern states from Georgia to Maine and now covers nearly half the range of native hemlocks, appearing to spread about ten miles per year. 

We need our hemlocks because they make the damp, cool, shady environment required by many of the forest plants. They also keep it cool for small streams and their inhabitants. They provide wonderful shelter and nesting sites, nooks and crannies for dens, and food in the form of seeds and greens for browse. As young landscape plantings, they soften the rigid outlines of houses and sheds and cut be trimmed to create hedges. And, after all, they are our Pennsylvania State Tree!

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Underfoot: Rattlesnake Plantain

By, Susan Sprout

The beautiful and very unique leaves of Rattlesnake Plantain caught my attention as they peeked out from the leaf litter along a trail at the WMWA.

Rattlesnake Plantain

This native terrestrial orchid is a member of the second largest plant family on earth with over 28,000 species. Sixty are native to Pennsylvania, many of them rare and threatened in the wild. I found these plants growing on a slight incline among mixed hardwoods and conifers. They do well in dry, sandy to moist soils, but cannot thrive in water-logged soils that do not drain – hence on an incline! Physical characteristics lead to the naming of many plants. In this case, fine, downy hairs on stems, rhizomes, and leaves gave the scientific name, Goodyera pubscens. The checkered, silvery pattern on the leaves that look like the scales of a snake’s skin and the shape like the sole of a human foot gave the name Rattlesnake Plantain (Latin – planta). 

Once a year, sometime between May and August, a mature plant (four to eight years of age) will send up from its basal rosette of leaves, a leafless stalk of small white flowers that look similar to those in the photograph of Nodding Ladies’ Tresses in an earlier post during the week of September 27. After flowering, the fleshy rhizome of the plant will grow one to three offshoots which will live on after the original rhizome dies. Rattlesnake Plantain’s seeds are minute and abundant like dust. Charles Darwin thought if all the seeds of a single orchid would live and grow into plants, the great-grandchildren of that single orchid plant would “cover the earth in one continuous carpet.” He was not aware that those plentiful seeds need some help to grow. With no energy reserve in the tiny seeds, orchids require a special relationship with a mycorrhizal fungus or symbiont (AKA body buddy) that will provide the carbon needed to grow. The more, the better the growth! Some established orchids will continue to get nutrients from fungi as adults which can also help them tolerate stress.

The creeping rhizomes grow in a colonia pattern

There are two other species of Goodyera that grow in Pennsylvania, Dwarf and Checkered. Both are rare. The leaves of Rattlesnake Plantain have white, silvery lines on both sides of the center mid-rib. That is what helped me Identify them!

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Liberty Iron Furnace Hike

A couple years ago the Northcentral Pennsylvania Conservancy facilitated a donation to the Pennsylvania Game Commission. The property in Montour County became part of State Game Lands 115. The only block of State Game Lands in the County.

Bob Stoudt (Director, Montour Area Recreation Commission) and Van Wagner (Danville-area historical expert and musician) both live close the State Game Lands and began exploring.

They are very excited to share what they’ve found. They’ve invited us to join them for a challenging seven mile hike to the historic Liberty Iron Furnace site on Montour Ridge in PA State Game Lands #115 (Liberty Township, Montour County).

We will be hiking to charcoal production sites, row home ruins where furnace workers lived, and locating huts where colliers lived beginning in the 1830’s.

This approximately seven mile-long hike will cross challenging, rocky terrain. Portions of this hike will be rugged and only experienced hikers should consider participating. This hike is not recommended for small children or those with limited mobility.

Pre-registration is not required. This event will be held regardless of weather conditions. Participants should wear sturdy footwear and weather-appropriate clothing and bring adequate water, snacks, and other supplies as may be needed for a roughly 3.5 hour-long wintertime outing.

Since Bob and Van are leading the hike please contact Bob Stoudt at RStoudt@MontourRec.com with questions or for more information. If you’re on Facebook, you can also use the link below to “follow along” and stay up to date on announcements.

https://www.facebook.com/events/432820818212525/?acontext=%7B%22event_action_history%22%3A[%7B%22surface%22%3A%22page%22%7D]%7D

Thank you to Evergreen Wealth Solutions for sponsoring the blog this month!
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Underfoot: It’s #Plantsgiving Time Again!

By Susan Sprout

Last November, I was told about an interesting social media campaign in which people counted the number of plant species used in their Thanksgiving meals. #Plantsgiving creator, Chris Martine, is a biology professor at Bucknell University. He told me recently that he and his students are “getting geared up for it” again this year. Encouraging people to be mindful and count the plants used in the preparation of their family feasts, he brings attention to the large number of plants we rely on regularly and on special occasions. We should all do that as well! I love the thought, and more importantly, the act of giving thanks for everything. We don’t do it nearly enough – especially for the prodigious amounts of plants and plant products we use in our lives. What a great idea to count the blessings of plants as we make our Thanksgiving preparations!

Some of the plants and plant products Sue will use to cook a Plantsgiving feast this week!

Last year, I wrote down the 61 different species of plants I used cooking our family dinner, including all the cookies and desserts. I also grouped them based on their usage. It made me aware of the fact that many of them had performed more than one job in my recipes, and in the items I bought, too. For example, some of my “food veggies” were also used as natural dyes to make prepared and canned foods look more appetizing so I’d buy them. I discovered seven different kinds of grasses, some used for flour from their seeds, others for flavors like lemon grass, and sweeteners like sugar cane. I found gums, emulsifiers, and thickeners from Guar beans and carrageenan from seaweed, both adding body to liquids like eggnog or gluten-free products. Cellulose gum and gel made from unspecified wood or plant fiber were used to stabilize many off-the-shelf products I used. Potato starch isn’t just for mashed potatoes anymore, either! Species used as herbs, spices, extracts, and flavorings had the highest numbers. Can’t forget chocolate and vanilla. The sausage in the stuffing was even hickory smoked. Can’t believe how many oils I used – olive, sesame, safflower, and sunflower – for cooking and baking!  Then, twenty-three various fruits and vegetables and nuts upped the count. That’s before I counted beverages like coffee with flavored creamers containing soybean oil and tea, wine, fancy types of alcohol, and cider punch. 

This #Plantsgiving, think about plants beyond your mashed potatoes.

I will be counting my plant blessings again this year. Doing the count last year raised my awareness about what I eat now and made me a better consumer at the same time. I have been reading many more labels than I ever have!  And I will continue to give plants and trees my deepest thanks for being here, providing food, cover, shelter, oxygen, carbon sinks, posies, colored leaves, and more…much more! 

Thank you to Evergreen Wealth Solutions for sponsoring the blog this month!
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Underfoot: Coral Fungus

By Susan Sprout

…and will the real coral fungus please stand up! Do you remember the old television show that used that line? So, which one would you pick as a photo of coral fungus?

Which is the real coral fungus???

There is a fungus that grows in North America on the ground under mixed hardwoods and conifers. It is not your ordinary mushroom that resembles an umbrella. This one looks like coral, the kind that lives in warm, southern waters, and may, depending on its species, build up large coral reefs of calcium carbonate.

White coral fungus has an upright growth pattern not unlike its undersea look-alike. Its spreading branches are white on its many tiny, flat, tooth-like tips. Its middle part can be beige or pinkish before returning to white near its base.

The one I discovered near Essick Heights is Crested Coral Fungus or Clavulina coralloides. There are several different species of fungus in PA that resemble coral – white crowns with cone-shaped points, yellow, violet to purple, deep pink, with some stems pointing up and some down, growing singly or in bunches. The lovely white color of coral fungi can become gray to black at the bottoms of their branches when they are parasitized by another type of fungus growing in the soil around it. With a hand lens, you can see the little black dots as they invade their way upward on the stems. 

(The real Crested Coral Fungus is #1)

Crested Coral Fungus or Clavulina coralloides
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