By: Susan Sprout

Find out what’s underfoot with NPC member and environmental educator, Susan Sprout! Catch up on past issues of Underfoot: Introduction & Bloodroot, Trout Lily & Coltsfoot, Blue Cohosh & Dutchman’s Breeches, Ground Ivy & Forget-Me-Nots, Goldthread & Wild Ginger, Common Mullein & Sweet Woodruff, Aniseroot & Butterfly Weed, Myself , Jewelweed & Soapwort, American Pennyroyal & Great Lobelia, Boneset & Common Ragweed, Pokeweed & Blue Chicory, Prickly Cucumber & Wintergreen, Beech Drops & Partridge Berry, Pipsissewa & Nostoc.

Witch Hazel
When English colonists were introduced to this native shrub, they called it Witch Hazel. Hazel for the familiar trees they left in their homeland and Witch from the Anglo-Saxon root “wy” that means to twist or bend. Right now, this amazing deciduous shrub is blooming!

Look for their yellow fall leaves on thin branches in moist, rocky woods. I saw lots along Highland Lake Road. But hurry. Their egg-shaped, coarsely-toothed leaves fall when they bloom, and you can get a better view of the four pale yellow, strap-shaped petals.

The flowers occur in bunches of three below the leaves. Sometimes, last spring’s seed capsules are still firmly attached near them. After this autumn’s blooms are pollinated by a variety of insects, fruit grows during the following spring. Inside the capsule two chambers develop, each with an individual seed. When mature, the seeds are forcibly shot out as the woody capsule splits open. The noise it makes gives the shrub another common name – Snapping Hazel.

The seeds will lie dormant where they land for two years before germinating. My bottle of distilled Witch Hazel is sitting on my desk right now as a reminder of the wonderful medicinal uses of the tincture made from its leaves and bark. Astringent and cooling on bruises, in cosmetic preparations, and ointments for hemorrhoids. There are four native species in America. Our local species is Hamamelis virginiana.

Click here to get to know Susan Sprout!

As Todd’s picture demonstrates, the 2020 instream construction season for the Northcentral Stream Partnership looked a little different than in the past. Sure, there were hardhats and ear protection, but this year there were also masks. The Conservation Districts, PA Fish and Boat and PA DEP worked to get the logs drilled and rebar in, but there weren’t any volunteers helping out.

We changed things up so we could still work to stabilize stream banks and improve local water quality. And we improved local water quality on over 2 miles of stream at over 9 different properties.

Changes were made to reduce the possible spread of COVID-19 and to try and keep everyone safe. However, the stream partnership worked together (like they always do) to figure out how to work with those changes and still get streambanks stabilized.

Given how many things didn’t go as planned this year, everyone in the stream partnership is amazed at how much we got done. There were hiccups along the way. One project had 2 skid steers break down and a track come off the third. There was also the project that a boulder (the size of a Mini Cooper) was discovered while putting in a stabilized stream crossing. However, those are “normal” hiccups that happen in some form every year.

This year projects have been completed on:

• Sechler Run, Danville, Montour County (aka the Geisinger project!)
• Turtle Creek, Lewisburg, Union County
• Briar Creek, Berwick Columbia County
• Schwaben Creek, Herndon, Northumberland County
• Beaver Run, Danville, Montour County
• Turkey Run, Mifflinburg, Union County
• Limestone Run, Milton, Northumberland County
• Mauses Creek, Montour County
• West Branch Chillisquaque Creek, Montour County

The list of interested landowners on agriculturally impaired streams continues to grow. We’ll have a full schedule in 2021 (fingers crossed) and have plenty of planning and design work to keep everyone busy this fall and winter.

Since 2017, the Walk in Penn’s Woods partnership has been working to offer Pennsylvanians a statewide day of walks in the woods on the first Sunday in October. These walks provide an excellent opportunity to get out, have fun, and learn about Pennsylvania’s forests, to see forests in new ways, and to understand and appreciate the many values we hold for the woods.

Since many of the organizations that hosted a formal, group activity in the past were unable to do so this year (NPC included), the partners declared the entire month of October a Walk in Penn’s Woods – encouraging everyone to create their own woodland adventures! 

To help celebrate this initiative and inspire others to join in the fun, several NPC members shared some of their favorite places in Penn’s Woods!

Thank you to these members for sharing their appreciation for Penn’s Woods!

by Renee’ Carey, NPC Executive Director

Back in June when NPC attended an auction to purchase the Bar Bottom property, we thought we needed to close in 30 days. However, it took a little longer than that.

When NPC purchases a property, we have an extended title search done. For a “normal” residential purchase a title search goes back 60 years. However, since we are usually purchasing a property that will be owned by a state agency for conservation and public recreation, we go back at least 100 years if not 150 years.

We do this to ensure we are “getting” all the rights and uses we think we are, and that we need.

For example, there were certain periods in history when large numbers of landowners separated the oil, gas, mineral, and/or coal rights from properties. A recent example can be seen with the Marcellus Shale gas boom a decade ago. A lot of people separated their oil and gas rights from the surface interests in their property.

If these oil, gas, mineral, or coal rights have been separated we need to determine if that could impact surface uses of the property. We and our conservation partners want to make sure the property can be used for the conservation and recreation purposes we are buying it for.

It’s not just oil, gas, mineral, and coal rights, however. We’ve also purchased a property in the past were a previous owner retained the “hunting rights.” In this case we had to show that the person with the rights was deceased and had not transferred or bequeathed the rights to anyone else.

While deeds should list all the exceptions, often, over time, exceptions aren’t repeated. Without doing a title search, you won’t know what has been separated from the surface interests, or how other people may be able to use the surface.

During the title search it became clear there were a couple of estates that needed to clarify who inherited the interest in this property. The seller of this property is actually 10 individuals with some varying percentage interest in ownership.

The sellers worked with legal counsel to prepare and file the appropriate paperwork. However, these things take time and we had to extend closing out past the 30 days. The important thing is it got done.

NPC took title to the property on October 6, 2020 – just about 4 months after the thrill of securing the property with the highest bid at auction!  Soon, we will begin working with the Bureau of Forestry (BOF), who will take over the permanent ownership of the property and manage it as part of the Loyalsock State Forest.