On the Blog

UNDERFOOT: On the Ground or In One’s Way?

By, Susan Sprout

When asked to write articles for NPC, it didn’t take me long to come up with the title “Underfoot.” My habit of looking down as I walk along is my way of exploring for what’s there – plants, ants, fungus, rocks – consistently searching out little mysteries on the ground. A wise person, my mother, kept a saying on the bulletin board next to the phone as I was growing up. The thought evidently stuck with me, as did the paper it was printed on, which is now thumb-tacked next to my desk: “Thank heaven for the happy touch of getting joy from nothing much.” That’s me, down to the ground. Pun, intended!

Which brings me to this week, when I was presented with another totally different and equally appropriate definition of “underfoot.” As I readied the upper back porch for winter, there, between the folds of the curtains was something “present and in one’s way” – a little brown bat! I certainly didn’t want to remove the curtain and dislodge it. My curiosity was aroused as to why it was there.

A close-up of the sleeping bat on the curtain.

Here’s what I discovered: this little bat is Myotis lucifugus, Little Brown Myotis, or as its scientific name explains “mouse-eared and “light-shunning.” It certainly didn’t like the flash of my camera. I suspect it did enjoy being close to Muncy Creek in warmer weather where it could catch up to 1,200 insects in just one hour.

According to the PA. Game Commission, this microbat (3.1 to 3.7 inches) is one of the most common state-wide. I couldn’t get a look at its belly fur, but its back fur – dense, fine and glossy, pale tan to reddish to dark brown – fits the description for its species. According to one source, they can live to thirty years in the wild.

The bat was just over 3 inches long.

All bats have taken a big hit from White Nose Syndrome (WNS).This one was one of the first bat species documented with the disease, and one of three types of bats to lose a total of 90% of their combined populations. I was worried because it was all by itself, as little brown bats are colonial.  I did find out that adult males and non-reproductive females will roost by themselves.

According to an article in Journal of Mammalogy, before WNS only 1.6% of little brown bats hibernated singly; after WNS, the percentage grew to 44.5% hibernating singly. Smart little dudes! The bat equivalent of social distancing? So that has put my worries to rest.

Needless to say, the curtains are still up and will remain that way until the little brown bat stops hanging around here!

Thank you to Evergreen Wealth Solutions for sponsoring this month’s blog!
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‘Tis the Season: The Blaze Orange Season

Written by Allyson Muth, Director, Center for Private Forests at Penn State

Fall hunting seasons have begun in Pennsylvania. Which means for hunters and non-hunters alike, if you’re out in the woods, you should be wearing a significant amount of blaze orange to keep yourself safe.

Hunters and woods enthusiasts have always tried to be safe in the woods, but a few accidents led to concerns about helping those folks be more visible so they wouldn’t be mistaken for the wildlife they were hunting or watching.

Thank you to Purple Lizard Maps for sharing a photo of non-hunter wearing their blaze orange during hunting season.

In 1959, Jack Woolner, a Massachusetts Division of Fisheries and Game’s information officer, conducted visual tests of different colors in wide variations of light and weather conditions to attempt to determine what colors were most visible in the woods. Greens, of course, too closely resemble leaves in the spring and early fall. Blues, purples, and reds appear black in low light conditions. Even yellow, then touted as a preferential color, appeared off-white in the angled sunlight of early morning and late afternoon – a little too close to some of the colors on animals hunters are seeking. Bright orange was the most easily distinguished from the background of the greens, yellows, and browns of the woods.

The first the hunting public ever heard of the color was in 1960 when Field & Stream magazine ran an article entitled “Hunter Orange – Your Shield for Safety” by the writer Frank Woolner, brother of Jack.

Subsequently, the practice of wearing blaze orange began in Massachusetts in 1961. Now forty-three out of fifty states in the U.S. require hunters to wear blaze orange during the season and the practice is required (or at least strongly encouraged) for non-hunters in the woods during hunting seasons.

Blaze orange, also known as safety orange or OSHA orange, is government-regulated by the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA). It’s use extends beyond the woods, with safety orange used to distinguish objects from their surroundings, particularly in contrast to the color of the sky (on the color wheel, azure is the complementary color of orange, and therefore there is a very strong contrast between the two colors).

In Pennsylvania the first requirement for hunters to wear orange occurred in 1980 and it’s undergone revisions since then. The Pennsylvania Game Commission’s current requirement is: hunters in deer, bear, and elk firearms seasons, small game season, and those hunting coyotes during daylight hours within deer, bear, or elk firearms seasons, must wear, at all times, 250 square inches of “daylight fluorescent orange” (blaze orange) material on the head, chest and back combined, visible 360 degrees. Woodchuck hunters must continue to wear a solid fluorescent orange hat at all times.

Please remember that in 2021, as in 2020, several Sundays are now open for hunting during the firearms seasons for bear and deer.

If you’re a non-hunter on Game Commission lands during these seasons, you are required to wear the same amount of blaze orange on your person. And of course, it’s a good idea wherever you are to make sure you’re visible during hunting seasons.

For an overview and timing of the hunting seasons in Pennsylvania in fall 2021 and into 2022, check out the Game Commission’s press release here: https://www.media.pa.gov/pages/game-commission-details.aspx?newsid=460.

Be safe out there!

The Pennsylvania Forest Stewardship Program provides publications on a variety of topics related to woodland management. For a list of publications, call 800-235-9473 (toll free), send an email to PrivateForests@psu.edu, or write to Forest Stewardship Program, The Pennsylvania State University, 416 Forest Resources Building, University Park, PA 16802. The Pennsylvania DCNR Bureau of Forestry, USDA Forest Service, Penn State Extension, and the Center for Private Forests at Penn State, in Partnership through Penn State’s Department of Ecosystem Science and Management, sponsor the Forest Stewardship Program in Pennsylvania.

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Check out the Center for Private Forests website at ecosystems.psu.edu/private-forests and follow our Facebook page at facebook.com/privateforests for the latest list of events submitted from organizations around the state.

Thank you to Evergreen Wealth Solutions for their support!
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What to do in the Woods – November

It’s November (already). If you own or manage a woodlot it’s a great time to be thinking about regenerating your forest, the boundaries of what you own, and checking for invasive species.

Trees drop their seeds and new trees grow. Sounds pretty simple. It’s not. While those new trees are growing you need to keep them undamaged and growing up towards the sky.

This is an example of natural regeneration on a conservation easement in Tioga County

Research has repeatedly shown that Pennsylvania’s deer population is one of the factors preventing Pennsylvania’s forests from regenerating. The deer are eating the seedlings and damaging young trees.

Studies by groups including Audubon Pennsylvania, the Pennsylvania Game Commission, Penn State University, and the Pennsylvania Habitat Alliance have collected data and conducted research about the density of deer in Pennsylvania’s woods and the impact those deer have.

This deer on a conservation easement in Clinton County was enjoying a meal

There are many reasons to want trees to regenerate or be concerned about deer damaging trees. Organizations that study birds are concerned about how high deer populations are impacting bird habitat.

One tool in controlling deer populations is hunting. In some places deer hunting is a tradition with time spent at deer camp with family and friends, time off from school, and processing the venison into bologna to share. In other places, hunting is viewed differently.

If you think about deer hunting as a forest management tool that you need to use in your woodlot, but you don’t hunt consider working with a responsible hunter or group of hunters on your property.

As the trees drop their leaves it’s easier to see in the woods. That makes November also a good time to check your boundary lines and “freshen things up.” Re-paint your boundary lines, check any signs you have on the boundary line, and verify you can still find any pins or markers at corners.

Here’s an example of the posted signs commonly used and the new purple paint.

Knowing where your boundary lines are is important for many reasons. If you’re managing the property foresters, loggers, and other forest workers will want on the ground markers to help them know where your property is. It helps neighbors, and potential neighbors when a neighboring property is for sale, know where your line is.

While you are out and about in your woods and the leaves are down look for any signs of trespass. This could be walking trails people are using without your permission and knowledge, to hunting stands being put up on your property, to motorized recreation happening on your forest roads. Keep an eye out and communications with your neighbors open.

If you keep your boundaries well marked and want people to ask permission before using your property you could put up “No Trespassing” signs or use purple paint. The “purple paint law” passed in Pennsylvania in early 2020. Landowners who use a specific shade of purple (the guys at the local hardware store or paint store will know what you’re talking about) as their boundary marking are notifying the public that this is the boundary and there should be no trespassing.

November through March are also a good time to check for gypsy moth egg masses. Gypsy moth were originally brought to the United States in an attempt to create a better silk producing moth. However, they are not native to the United States and are BIG eaters.

Gypsy moth caterpillars eat a lot of leaves. They can often eat enough leaves that the tree dies. Trees need their leaves.

Gypsy Moths on Oak tree – The orange-ish blob under the white moth is an egg mass. Thank you to DCNR for the photo!

By looking for egg masses and treating them (scraping them and soaking the egg masses in soapy water, or using specialty products) you can reduce the number of caterpillars that will be eating the leaves of your trees.

Special thanks to the Pennsylvania Forestry Association and Gerald Hoy with DCNR for providing the monthly ideas for woodland stewardship!

Thank you to Evergreen Wealth Solutions for supporting the blog!
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Building a Membership Base for More Conservation

Regional Organization Working with National Land Trust Advisor

With the support of a capacity building grant from the Williamsport Lycoming Community Fund at the First Community Foundation Partnership of Pennsylvania, the Northcentral Pennsylvania Conservancy is working with a national land trust advisor to understand its current membership base, how that base compares to other land trusts across the country, and develop strategies to communicate with and recruit potential members.

At a recent Zoom Board Meeting, David Allen joined the Board and staff to present an overview of his findings. He’ll be back at a future Board meeting to answer questions about his report and discuss next steps and the path forward.

“We are very excited to have fresh eyes, familiar with land trusts, look at our current membership program and offer suggestions on how to not only improve what we are already doing, but expand our membership base,” said Board Chair Tiffani Kase.

Vice-Chair, Jonathan Bastian added, “As a regional organization conserving and enhancing the land and water in this region it’s important to have members from across the region. Those members help the Board and staff understand what the conservation needs are in their community. If our programs can help a community with its needs we rely on our members to help us build the partnerships to move projects forward.”

NPC staff have been learning from David Allen for years (we won’t try to figure out how many) at conferences. Being able to work with him one on one is an exciting opportunity to build on and improve what is already being done.

The Foundation works to improve the quality of life in north central Pennsylvania through community leadership, the promotion of philanthropy, the strengthening of nonprofit impact and the perpetual stewardship of charitable assets. FCFP strives to create powerful communities through passionate giving. For more information visit www.FCFPartnership.org.
Thanking to Evergreen Wealht Solutions for supporting the NPC blog!
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Underfoot: Jeepers, Virginia Creepers!

By Susan Sprout 

Virginia Creeper is a native, woody vine belonging to the VITACEAE, or Grape Family. Surprised?

You have probably seen many of them clinging to the sides of trees. They are versatile, growing in any kind of soil, partial shade to full sun, in fields, woods, or flood plains, from Maine to Florida. Virginia Creepers are good cover for erosion control as they…well…”creep” along on the ground. But, if there are trees around, up they go, growing to fifty feet in a year.

Virginia Creeper beginning its journey upward.

Their leaves are compound, made up of five, coarsely-toothed, six-inch leaflets that meet in the middle resembling fingers spread out on the palm of a hand. Small white flowers blooming in late spring may be difficult to see among the leaves. Fleshy, purple berries grow from the pollinated flowers and hang on red stems in branching clusters, remaining hidden until after their bright red to purple autumn leaves fall.

Fall red leaves of Virginia Creeper.

How do Virginia Creepers hold on to the trees as they climb? The answer to this question is a clue to their identification. They have many branched tendrils with adhesive disks or holdfasts produced on the plants’ stems opposite from the leaves. I carefully removed a piece of stem to investigate and found the tiny, three-sixteenth of an inch disks pushed down in the cracks and craters of tree bark in such a way, they were difficult to pull off. There were eight small disks on the tendrils, and with them came small hunks of bark. I read somewhere that allowing Virginia Creeper to grow up the side of a house can ruin painted surfaces, damage stucco, and the mortar between bricks. Those holdfasts are small, but mighty. Before checking out this feature for yourself, make sure the plant you are examining has five leaflets per leaf. Poison Ivy of “leaves of three, let them be” fame are climbers, too. Their holdfasts are more like hairy rootlets, however.

And just because Virginia Creeper is a member of the Grape Family, don’t think that you can eat the berries or leaves. You cannot – they are toxic, containing calcium oxalate crystals. Let them for twelve species of songbirds, squirrels, raccoons, opossums, and skunks to eat!  

This blog post sponsored by Evergreen Wealth Solutions
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The Stream Partnership Wraps Up 2021

The 2021 “stream season” started in January with a stream crossing (and ice on the water) and wrapped up this week with our annual project review meeting (the only ice was in an ice chest with soda and water). The stream partnership, made of up of NPC, DEP, PA Fish and Boat, and the County Conservation Districts in the region, meets twice a year as a group. We meet in the spring to review what is planned for the year and in the fall to review what actually happened.

Do you see the ice shelf on the right side of the photo? The ice shelf is at the edge of the stream by the brown grass. The existing crossing was backing up water. The ice formed on top of that water. The ice stayed as the water flowed away.

The fall meeting allows each County Conservation District to review a project in their County. While DEP and the PA Fish and Boat Commission are at all the projects, the District staff often only get to see projects in their county. Sharing photos as well as any “lessons learned” or “if I could do it again, I’d do this differently” helps everyone learn more and often generates new ideas.

The partnership is always evolving as staff changes occur in the partner organizations. We took an opportunity this year to ask one of the new staff to explain a technique we use when we can. As the equipment operator breaks the ground, it’s broken up in chunks. The sod is saved and set to the side. The sod is then replaced. The sod will recover more quickly than grass seed will germinate and fill in.

A project along Limestone Run in Northumberland County had the sod technique used. Several large rain storms came through this year. The site made it through the storms, but provide a couple of photos that are a great contrast so you can see the sod versus seeding.

In the photo ont he right, you can see the grass seed is trying to establish and off to a good start, but it’s not “thick” as the existing sod. The roots below the surface only get as deep or long as the vegetation on the top. The shorter the grass, the shorter the roots. Short roots don’t hold as much soil and long roots.

After looking at photos and maps of projects from the 2021 season, the group toured a project. The landowners has been managing the property for a number of years. They allow neighbors and friends to use the property for picnics and birthday parties. The day we stopped a high school hockey team was going to be visiting for a season wrap-up party (including pumpkin decorating).

The landowners recognized the eroding streambanks were a problem and tried fixing it themselves. They realized it was helping, but wasn’t doing enough. The stream partnership worked with the landowner (who is an equipment operator and did the work) to install a series of log structures. Over the series of rain events, some of the topsoil from the final grading washed away, the structures held and are doing great.

The stream partners are already talking about and planning for 2022. Now, if it’s a mild winter and there isn’t a lot of snow, there might be more crossing work and fencing done. You never know.

On the Blog

Underfoot: Sassafras

By Susan Sprout

Bright standouts amidst the autumn colors are our native Sassafras trees. They can grow to a height of least sixty feet. One in Kentucky is one hundred feet tall.  Look for them growing in hedgerows, forest openings, and on roadsides.  If traveling on foot, do a close check on their variable leaf shapes, having zero to three lobes. They look like mittens to me…a left-handed one, a right-handed one, and a mitten with the pinky finger and the thumb sticking out on each  side. There are some plain oval leaves with no lobes at all, too. I keep looking for one shaped like the Star-Trek “Live Long and Prosper” shape. No luck yet. 

Notice the mitten shaped leaves

Sassafras is a member of the Laurel Family along with Spicebush (last week’s post), Sweet Bay (source of bay leaves for flavoring soups and stews), and Cinnamon (provider of ground cinnamon that makes just about everything taste better). Not to be outdone by its aromatic relatives, Sassafras has been used to flavor tea, root beer, toothpaste, chewing gum, tobacco, and soap. Its dried leaves are finely ground to make Filé Powder used as a thickener in Creole cooking. Since the 1960’s, its strong oil has not been used internally because it may cause liver and kidney damage. 

Sassafras may have been one of the first medicinal plants sent to Europe by the Spanish from their colony in Florida. It was a major export  because explorers and colonists at the time thought of it as a cure-all. They saw Natives using it for treating fevers, rheumatism, and as a blood purifier. My grandparents used Sassafras wood chips boiled in water as a spring tonic.

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Underfoot: Spicebush

By: Susan Sprout

Spicebush (Lindera benzoin) is THE native shrub I love to find while taking nature walks with kids, especially in the fall when its leaves are starting to turn yellow and its spicy berries (drupes) have ripened to a bright red. The squeezing and the sniffing of berries, leaves, and twigs make for a great multi-sensory experience.

Early fall berries before the leaves turn yellow.

The Laurel Family, of which Spicebush is a member, also gives us Sassafras, locally, as well as tropicals like Cinnamon and Sweet Bay. Hooray for this fragrant family! There is also a similar species of Spicebush (with finely hairy twigs) growing in the southeastern U.S., where it is endangered from habitat loss.

Spicebush leaves turn yellow before they fall.

Our Spicebush is three to seven feet tall and commonly found in moist woods or in the understory along stream banks. To identify it in the spring, look for clusters of tiny, one-eighth inch yellowish flowers, attached directly on the twigs, usually during March and April. They begin blooming before the two to five inch, egg-shaped leaves appear.  In the autumn, look for peeks of red shining through the leaves to find the berries. Sometimes this can be a difficult task because Spicebush is dioecious with male and female flowers on separate plants, requiring the pollen to move quite a distance to pollinate the female flowers. If it doesn’t get there, no berries. You may have to identify it by the lemony fragrance of a crushed leaf…not an unpleasant task!

Spicebush has many culinary and medicinal uses, like the rest of its family – tea from leaves and twigs, spice from dried and ground berries, extract from leaves and bark for inducing perspiration to break a fever or as liniment for rheumatism and bruises or a tonic for colds.

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Is Plunketts Creek Using Its Floodplain?

A lot ot people would look at the photo below and think, “oh no! That’s awful.”

This is a photo from Thursday, September 23, 2021. The PA Game Commission’s Food and Cover crew stopped in to see how things were doing.

This is looking at the same trees in the first “flood photo” from a different direction. The flood water is pushing out of the Creek, between the trees, and into the field.

This is the project site on Plunketts Creek that the United States Army Reserves’ 333rd Engineering Unit’s 1st Platoon worked on for their summer training. The soldiers worked to remove an earthen berm.

The soldiers used heavy equipment to pull apart an earthen berm and move it out of the floodplain.

Here the soldiers are working in the area between the trees shown in the flood photo.

This solider is leaving an edge that a more experienced equipment operator would come back and “finish.”

Trent is holding the survey rod “on top” of the berm. The bottom of the staff is resting where the top of the berm once was.

The Friday after Ida moved through (Friday, September 24, 2021) NPC staff went to visit the Plunketts Creek site. Not just because it was a beautiful morning, but because we wanted to see what Plunketts Creek did and where Plunketts Creek went with all the rain.

We wanted to see if there was flood debris that would need removed. This tree branch got caught up on the wooden stakes used to hold the jute mat in place (technically it’s a coconut fibre woven in to a grid).

There was also plant material caught on the stakes.

But, the good news is there’s fresh sediment (soil) too. As the flood waters spread out, the slow down in speed. As the water slows down, the sediment has a chance to settle out.

Think about stirring powder into a glass of water. As the water stops twirling around, some of the powder will settle into the bottom of the glass if it’s given a chance to sit.

A piece of a tree branch (about 1.5 inches in diameter and 18 inches long) got caught on this stake. You can see the gravel that deposited out behind that piece of branch. The branch provided a break to the flow and allowed the water to slow down. That slowing water was enough that material dropped out.

This long stretch of fresh sediment was one of the most exciting scenes. (Yes, this is what we find exciting.)

Plunketts Creek has access to its floodplain now. The water can easily rise up and move into the floodplain and slow down. The sediment drops out and erosion is reduced if not eliminated.

As the water recedes, the sediment remains. This sediment, or dirt and sand, provides a base for grass and plants to grow. A lot of Plunketts Creek has rocky edges. Getting plant material back along the Creek will provide a filter to keep sediment ouf the Creek (think about future rain storms washing dirt across the surface) and that vegetation helps to slow down flood waters a little more.

During our visit we also looked at the vegetation for signs on where the water had flowed. Here you can see the vegetation is pushed all the way over. You can also see in the lower right hand corner, sediment that was caught in the grass.

The erosion in the background is from either the 2011 flood or the 2016 flood in the watershed.

This is the same areas as the flood photos above. You can see the sediment that was dropped in (it looks more sandy here than soil-y) and the grass is knocked over. (This was another exciting scene for NPC staff.)

The signs from this first high water event are all good. Plunketts Creek used its floodplains and is deciding where it wants to settle.

Thank you to Pennsylvania American Water for sponsoring October’s blog!
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What to do in the Woods – October

Managing a forest is a long-term proposition. You need to be thinking ahead 20, 30, even 50 years and recognize the decisions, and indecisions you make today will impact the woods you see today, but also the woods you’ll have in the future.

October is a great time to take a walk in your woods and enjoy the fall colors. It’s also a great time to take a walk in your woods and look at the seed sources for trees.

You’ll want to begin to understand how trees reproduce. The Center for Private Forests at Penn State has an article to help get you started.

Then you’ll want to pay attention to what seeds you’re seeing in your woods. Are your trees helping you set the stage for the next forest?

Maybe you’ll get to the point of wanting to collect some seeds and see if you can start to grow some tree seedlings. You probably won’t get as into it as the U.S. Forest Service does, but you might want to read their article about what they do.

Tioga State Forest staff collecting acorns for the DCNR nursery.

If you’ve got time and the trees bury a few acorns from a white oak. White oak acorns germinate in the fall and red oak acorns geminate in the spring. If you’re not sure of the difference, this blog post has photos to help you see the difference in the leaves, the acorns, and the bark.

If you’re interested in reading more about how the seeds of today create the forests of tomorrow, The Society for the Protection of New Hampshire Forests has a blog post to check out.

Special thanks to the Pennsylvania Forestry Association and Gerald Hoy with DCNR for providing the monthly ideas for woodland stewardship!

Thank you to Pennsylvania American Water for sponsoring the October blog posts!

https://ecosystems.psu.edu/research/centers/private-forests/news/regenerating-the-forest-seeds-and-the-mysterious-seed-bank

https://www.nationalforests.org/blog/from-seed-to-tree-how-we-restore-forests

https://exodusoutdoorgear.com/blogs/news/knowing-your-oaks-to-be-a-better-whitetail-deer-hunter

https://forestsociety.org/forest-journal-column/sowing-seeds-future-forests