Westmoreland
Conservancy
P.O.
Box 446
Murrysville,
PA 15668
contact@westmorelandconservancy.org
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Calendar of Events
10/12/2003 9am Photography Hike on McGinnis
10/13/2003 8:45am Hawk Watch field trip with
Dick Byers
10/19/2003 2pm Fall Color Walk at McGinnis
11/01/2003 9am PA Cleanways - Tarr Hollow at
Old Wm Penn
Columbus Day Hawk Count
Dick Byers is the official counter at the
Allegheny Hawk lookout every Monday. Monday, Oct. 13th is Columbus
Day, which is often a holiday from school and work. Interested persons
should meet at 8:45 AM at the Burger King Parking lot in Jenners
Crossroads. It's on Route 30 just past Jennerstown on the right
hand side as you approach the light at the 601 intersection. It's about a
1 hour 20 min. drive from Murrysville. Dick will be in a red Toyota
pickup truck with a hawkwatch sign taped to the windows. Departure from
this meeting place will be at 9 AM sharp. The lookout is another half
hour away. Bring binoculars, lunch, and a folding chair to sit
on. Stay all day or as long as you want. There is a portajohn at the
lookout. If it is raining or heavy rains are in the forecast, the watch
will be cancelled. Call Dick Byers for additional details at: 724-593-3543.
Neighborly Actions
When a rather large tree fell from the
McGinnis reserve onto Mr. & Mrs. Senchur’s
property effectively blocking a side door and sidewalk (but quite
fortunately doing very little damage), a group of volunteers got together to
clean up the mess. Pictured from left are: Dave Blackmore, Katie Blackmore,
Richard Wagner, Stanley Senchur, Shelly Tichy and Anna Senchur. Not pictured
were Cary Bohl, Mount Fitzpatrick and Maury Hanes.
Pictured here are Pia van
de Venne, Conservancy volunteer, and three scouts from Troop 206. Left to right
are: Justin Hill, Keith Wyss (shown from the back) and Benjy Lombard. After a
Troop workday in the Tomer Nature Reserve clearing trails and removing
multi-flora rose (an aggressive invasive shrub), these scouts discuss
invasive plants with Pia , learning why these noxious plants are here, why
they are such a problem, and what is needed to get rid of them.
NON-PROFIT ORG
U.S.POSTAGE
PAID
MURRYSVILLE,
PA
PERMIT 98
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Westmoreland Conservancy
An all
volunteer, non-profit, 501(c)-(3) Corporation dedicated to acquiring and
preserving rural and rustic lands for the public good.
2003
Board of Governors/Officers
Officers:
Cary Bohl: President
Mount Fitzpatrick: Vice
President
Joanna Franz: Secretary
Cindy McCormick: Treasurer
Governors: Katie Blackmore, Paul Bramson, Dick Byers,
Charles Conway, Don Harrison, Shelly Tichy, Richard Wagner, Theo van de Venne
Meetings
are held the 4th Wednesday of each month at the Murrysville
Library at 7:30pm.
October
22nd
*November
19th
*December
17th
*
Rescheduled dates due to holiday conflict.
The next
Newsletter is scheduled for January 1st, 2004
Westmoreland
Conservancy Membership
Application
Individual....…………………….................$10.00
Family............……………………................15.00
Sustaining membership…………………..40.00
Steward.....................…………………......100.00
Additional
Donation. ….………….. ____________
Name____________________________________
Address_________________________________
City_________________State_____Zip________
Phone
#__________________________________
E-Mail address____________________________
The
Westmoreland Conservancy participates in Murrysville’s Summer Celebration 2003
Rescheduled from a soggy day in June, Murrysville
held its 2003 Summer Celebration on Saturday, September 13th. Aside from a brief shower, this fall day was
ideal. The event was well attended and
the Westmoreland Conservancy booth was busy throughout the day.
Visitors were first attracted to the oasis in a field of
tents, which was the Conservancy area.
It was quite a large tent, surrounded by beautiful green trees, shrubs
and flowers, all generously on loan from Plumline Nursery. An arbor decorated with ivy and small
delicate lights invited people into the booth.
Once inside, there was plenty to do and see. Children flocked to the reptiles, provided
by Dan Finnigan. Inside aquariums there
were a variety of animals on display including an American alligator, several
turtles, a huge iguana, tarantula, a black rat snake, pine and king snakes. The biggest draw, however, was Goldie- an
eight year old, 50 pound, ten-foot long albino Burmese python. Goldie was docile and very patient as she
allowed herself to be held throughout the afternoon; she was a wonderful
ambassador of wildlife to the young people
(although thankfully not Murrysville wildlife).
This year we hosted a “Hometown Photo Contest”, which was
publicized in the Penn-Franklin and in fliers posted around town. The contest was to be celebration of community
and the photos were to have been taken within Murrysville, Export or Delmont
and could have been of subjects ranging from nature to family pets. People seemed to really enjoy looking at
the photos and choosing their favorites.
We received a lot of positive feedback and will consider making this a
yearly event. The
winners, by category and place:
Student
1st: #64
Crystal Martin “I see you”
2nd:
#37 Dan Graper “Autumn in Winter”
3rd: #36 Chelsea Graper - rabbit on garden path
#55 Adam Millirn “Bags”
#69 Crystal Martin “Sunrise Feeding:
Adult
People and Pets division
1st
#50 Leigh Graw “Growing Curiosity”
2nd:
#29 Elise Francken “Game Day”
3rd: #46
Francis Lucas – two golden retrievers
Nature and Garden division
1st: #31 Eugen
Bolch “The Four Seasons at Duff Park”
2nd:
#26 Eugen Bolch “Rest stop at the Old Tree Cavern”
3rd: #27
Elise Franchen “Solitude”
Of course, we sponsor the reptiles and the photo contest
for another reason too: to bring people
into our booth and introduce them to the Westmoreland Conservancy, our purpose
and our activities. Conservancy
volunteers manned the area to answer questions. A large map showing Conservancy properties was on display and free
maps and newsletters were available.
This year we proudly wore and displayed Conservancy merchandise with our
new logo (designed by John Hapach, made by Log Cabin Embroidery) and provided
order forms for anyone wishing to purchase them. (If you would like to own a
Conservancy shirt, canvas bag, hat, or sweatshirt, you may do so by visiting
our website and following the instructions.)
The success of this year’s Westmoreland Conservancy
tent is due to the many volunteers who worked hard to design and organize it,
to put the displays together and take them down, and to man the booth. Thank yous go to: Katie and Dave Blackmore (who not only helped in the planning,
but transported all the plants- twice! -once in June and again in September),
Paul Bramson, Cary Bohl, Maury Hanes, Don Harrison, Noreene Ignelzi, Shelly
Tichy, Pia van de Venne, Theo van de Venne, Richard Wagner and Cindy
Werns. If we didn’t see you this year,
please try to make it out next year.
Consider becoming part of the Summer Celebration team- it’s an important
outreach activity as well as being fun.
WC Summer Picnic
Good Food, Good Friends, Good Times!
This summer’s Conservancy Picnic was held Saturday, August
2nd at the Lower Pavilion at Townsend Park. The pavilion by the pond
was an idyllic setting for the family-oriented get-together. It’s one that we’d
like to see become an annual event.
The shelter was decorated with garden
flowers and table coverings, and the covered-dish menu offered a full
range of choices from bar-be-qued ham
and sloppy joes to fruit and cake. To
round out this sociable event were the games. Croquet headed the list, with a
ring-toss and bean-bag toss present as well. To find out who won the Croquet
Tournament of Champions, you’ll have to talk to Mount Fitzpatrick.
There was even some fishing; always a family favorite.
In all, it was great fun! Let’s do it again next year, with
an even bigger turnout! More food, more friends, more fun!
Disturbing
Events in the Old Forest*
(*This
article has been reprinted with the author’s permission)
By Chuck Tague
Succession:
A predictable sequence of changes in species
composition and structure over time in response to disturbance.
Disturbance is a permanent and inevitable feature among the processes of
nature.
Twenty years ago my curiosity
about presettlement Pennsylvania attracted me to the Old Growth Forest at
Heart’s Content. Since then I’ve walked the trail through the old forest
hundreds of times. I studied, observed, researched and photographed the
forest. I stood in awe of the huge pines and hemlocks; admired the beauty
of the insects and fungus. I peeked under logs at beetles and salamanders
and wished I could scale the towering trunks like a Red Squirrel or soared over
the treetops like a raven. I sought comfort and solace among the trees;
the forest renewed my spirit. Beneath a needleless giant I mourned an old
friend and contemplated the fragility of life. Most of all, over the
years, I watched the forest change.
Some of the changes I witnessed were subtle. Others were as sudden and
startling as a bolt of lightning. The one thing I’ve learned about
forests is the only constants are the processes of nature: death, reproduction,
disturbance, succession, incursion of new species, degradation of soils and nutrients,
changes in balance and dominance. But as I watched the old forest, I’ve
seen these processes altered, stalled and accelerated.
Twenty years is not long in the life of a forest. The forest at Heart’s
Content began shortly after the last ice age. Nor is twenty years long in
the life of a White Pine that’s exempt from the disturbing whims of
lumberman. But, like a dying man’s last days, those twenty years have
been eventful, agonizing and precious.
Trails are part of any forest
and trails of all types and sizes have always crossed Pennsylvania’s
forests. Native Americans that lived off the forest’s resources
maintained some of the trails. Other trails were migration routes of
large animals. Still others were nothing more than the habitual pathways
of local wildlife. The hooves and feet of passing travelers constantly
disturbed these trails. The bare soil was subjected to erosion and
flooding. Yet a rich and diverse plant life thrived along the trails.
Before the Europeans many flowers bloomed on the edge of the trails: trillium,
Jack-in-the-Pulpit, Canada Mayflower, Foamflower, Starflower and violets in the
spring; asters and goldenrods in the fall. Under the dark summer canopy
there were also trailside flowers. Most had white blossoms the size of a
Quarter or smaller. Others had inconspicuous clusters of small green
flowers. In July, as I walk along the interior trails at Heart’s Content,
I still find native flowers like White Avens, dewberry, Dalbardia, Dwarf
Enchanter’s Nightshade, the tiny twin bugles of the Partridgeberry, Indian
Pipes and Sweet-scented Bedstraw. The last blossoms of Mountain Wood
Sorrel stand among their shamrock leaves on moss-covered logs. Clearweed,
a miniature nettle with a translucent stem, grows in clumps in moist shaded
patches.
All these summer natives are
short or sprawling perennials that thrive in rich, moist, shaded soils.
Forest animals, especially mammals, disburse their seeds. Chipmunks and
mice eat or cache the fleshy fruits of dewberries and Partridgeberry. The
seeds of most of the trailside natives, however, effectively move up and down
the trail by hitching a ride on the fur or clothing of trail-users.
Like everything else, the
trailside plant community changed with the arrival of the Europeans. In
1997 I compiled a list of non-native plants along the trail through the old
forest at Heart’s Content. I identified fourteen flowering plants that
would not have been there before Europeans and their tag-along organisms first
walked the trails. I also found a suspicious plant that I could not
identify. It was past blooming but obviously in the mustard family.
I recognized it as a type of bittercress, in the genus Cardamine, but it wasn’t
in my Newcombe’s Wildflower Guide nor any other reference I had with me.
With one exception the
non-native plants were restricted to within a hundred yards of the parking lot
and trail entrance. Most grew along the edge of clearings created by the
death of large beech trees. Plantain is the exception. As long as I
can remember, Broad-leaved Plantain, Plantago major, grew all along the trail
through Heart’s Content.
Indicator species are plants or
animals that identify environmental conditions or predict changes in a
habitat. Long before ecologists developed this concept, Native Americans
recognized that plantain signaled imminent change. They called this
path-loving herb "White-man’s Footsteps". Wherever Europeans
walked this little plant followed.
Plantain is familiar to all naturalists, herbalists, gardeners and suburban
lawn slaves. The short-stemmed, foot-shaped leaves form basal rosettes
that hug the ground. Leafless, whip-like flower stalks rise twelve to
eighteen inches from the center of the rosette. Numerous greenish-white
flowers with protruding stamens crowd around the stalk. Each flower
develops into a small capsule containing as many as twenty seeds. The
seedpods split in half when the seeds mature and the somewhat sticky seeds fall
to the ground, or onto the shoe of a passing hiker.
Plantain came to the United
States with the Europeans. It has long been used as an herbal medication
to treat a wide variety of ailments. It’s used as an antimicrobial, a
laxative, an anti-inflammatory, an astringent for upper respiratory ailments,
an expectorant and a topical application for insect stings, burns and
hemorrhoids. The young leaves are used in salads and cooked as
greens. Older leaves are only good for tea. The seeds can be eaten
as a trailside nibble.
This year I revisited my list of alien plants and explored the
other herbaceous plants that grow along the trail. I wondered if visitors
to the old forest would think it peculiar to see someone lie on the ground
beneath the ancient and majestic trees to photograph inconspicuous, ankle-high
plants –- garden-variety weeds so to speak. Few visitors, however, came
by and of those that did the only ones that paid any attention to me were a
curious Labrador Retriever and an out-of-breath woman who wanted to know if she
was far from the parking lot. No one seemed to pay any attention to the
trees.
In the deepest part of the old
growth forest a spring bubbles from the hillside. The clear water swirls
around a pool, over a log and descends the northern slope of the plateau.
A primitive log bridge crosses the stream just below the pool. Light
green Sphagnum moss grows along the pool, dark green moss covers the rocks and
fallen logs. Hobblebush drape across the water. Yellow Birch
saplings stand tall. Hemlock needles float on the water. It’s a
magical place; a temple of serenity.
On the trail, a yard or less from the bridge I found some plantain –- and
Dandelions!
Dandelions thrive in
disturbance and disturbance comes in many forms. It’s not surprising that
Dandelions invade lawns and gardens. Gardeners are always tilling,
hoeing, weeding, aerating and probing. Gardeners are by nature –-
disturbing. But gardeners are far from the only human forces of
disturbance. I’ve found Dandelions growing in plowed fields, timber clear
cuts, between sidewalks cracks and in washed out patches where drainage ditches
overflow. If the sun shines on a few square millimeters of unoccupied
soil an adventurous Dandelion seed will find it. The ability of Dandelion
seeds to float on their parachutes is incredible and with a little help from an
unwitting human there’s nowhere a Dandelion can’t travel. In Iceland I
found a Dandelion growing in the rubble of a volcano that had erupted less than
a decade before. There were no other green plants for hundreds of
yards. Even in the middle of a Peruvian cloud forest, on the stone ruins
of the ancient city of Machu Picchu, I found a blooming Dandelion.
A Dandelion seed would need a
bit of luck to find its way a half-mile into an old hemlock-beech-White Pine
Forest, but it’s definitely possible. Without disturbance, however, a
Dandelion’s chances of surviving there are about as likely as it surviving in
an Icelandic Sedge Meadow or a Peruvian Cloud Forest.
Just up the trail I found a patch of Crown Vetch. Crown Vetch is a
sprawling member of the pea family with clusters of lavender and white
flowers. Scientists at Penn State University developed a variety of this
European plant for erosion control. Since the 1960’s it’s been planted
extensively along highways and excavation sites. In 1982 it was
designated our official State Beautification Plant. It’s also spread
widely, even deep into the old forest.
In 2002, on a Wissahickon Nature
Club outing to the Butler-Freeport Trail I again encountered the mysterious
bittercress. Esther Allen identified it as Narrow-leaved Bittercress,
Cardamine impatiens. This year at Heart’s Content I confirmed it using
The Plants of Pennsylvania, (Rhoads and Block, 2000). Rhoads describes
Cardamine impatiens as "introduced from Europe; occasional in moist woods
and slopes; scattered and spreading rapidly." In 1997 it was
confined to a small clearing near the entrance. Now it grows all along the
trail.
Altogether I identified 21 species of non-native plants, six more alien species
than six years before. Although neither list was thorough or
comprehensive, the number of introduced species and the number of individual
plants of these species have increased. The numbers are not nearly as
alarming as the distance the aliens are from the beginning of the trail.
Six years ago the aliens were almost totally confined to the entrance
area. Now they are along the entire length.
One reason the alien plants were
able to move so far into the forest is that many of the old trees have
died. Since 1997 some of the pines were struck by lightning.
Several of the hemlocks died of old age. Disease has killed almost all
the beeches. The canopy is much more open. The summer sun now
shines where it has not shone for centuries. The moist, mossy floor is
drier. The composition of plants is changing.
When a canopy tree dies in an old forest, a clearing opens. A thicket of
brambles, shrubs and vines quickly fill the clearing. A grove of
fast-growing trees like Black Birch, cherries or Hercules Club replace the
thicket. Often a sapling of a shade-tolerant tree that struggled for
decades beneath the canopy will shoot up, spread its limbs and shade out the
competition. At Heart’s Content this no longer happens. Instead a
clearing becomes and remains a meadow of Hay-scented Fern, Dennstaedtia
punctilobula. Along trails near the fern meadows Partridgeberry, avens,
Enchanter’s Nightshade, Mountain Wood Sorrel and other trailside natives can’t
compete. Edge and meadow perennials like Pokeweed, Deer-tongue Panicum
and Common Milkweed replace them. Invasive aliens like burdock and
thistles take hold.
I try to look at a forest in terms of its future. At Heart’s Content I
see gaps and clearings filled with Hay-scented Ferns. There is nothing
between the ferns and the canopy and the tall trees are dying. The White
Pines are one by one giving in to old age. The beeches are dying en
masse. The Hemlock’s future looks bleak. What’s the future of the
old forest? A fern savannah? A tangle of Canada Thistle and other
invasives?
Twenty years ago my curiosity
about presettlement Pennsylvania attracted me to the Old Growth Forest at
Heart’s Content. I found a small glimpse of what was once a grand and
glorious forest community. The old forest is not responding to
disturbance as it did in the past. Where will a curious young naturalist
go twenty years from now?
**********************************************************
Heart’s Content Scenic Area is a 120 acre preserve of old growth White Pine,
Eastern Hemlock and American Beech. Located 12 miles south of Warren,
Pennsylvania in the Allegheny National Forest it is administered by the U. S.
Forest Service. To reach Heart’s Content from Pittsburgh:
I-79 to first exit north of I-80, (Mercer - PA Route 62)
Turn Right off exit ramp (east on Route 62) through Jackson Center.
A mile or two past Jackson Center Route 62 turns to the left - go straight on
PA 965. Follow 965 until it ends, 11 Miles.
Turn right, rejoining Route 62. Take Route 62 through Franklin, Oil City,
Tionesta and East Hickory. Just north of East Hickory, the intersection
of routes 62 and 666, turn right onto Kelly Hill Road. At the end of
Kelly Hill Road turn right. Several miles up the road, it comes to a
"T". Heart’s Content Road is to the right. Follow it to
the Heart’s Content Recreation Area. The Old Growth Forest and Scenic
Area are to the left, Camp Ground and hiking trails to the Hickory Creek
Wilderness Area are to the right.
You may contact Chuck Tague at >bluejay@city-net.com<
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Westmoreland County Bald Eagle Shooting Solved
Reprinted from PA Game
Commission News Release #74
LIGONIER—Pennsylvania
Game Commission Southwest Region Director Matt Hough today announced that the
investigation into the illegal shooting of a mature bald eagle in Westmoreland
County has been solved.
“Wildlife Conservation Officer Gary Toward did an absolutely
tremendous job investigating this case,” Hough said.
The injured eagle was found in Bell Township area by a local resident
who reported the incident to the Game Commission.
The injured eagle was taken to Tamarack Wildlife Rehabilitation Center
in Crawford County.
After a physical examination, including x-rays of the bird, revealed
that it had been shot, WCO Toward immediately began a criminal
investigation.
As a result of assistance provided to WCO Toward by the Pennsylvania
State Police, Game Commission Southwest Region Dispatcher Garry Radar
and the public, the individual who shot the eagle was identified as
Shannon Stacey Binda, 36, a patrolman from Jeannette.
Southwest Region Law Enforcement Supervisor John Smith offered praise
to the public for its help. “This investigation began and ended
with information provided to us by the public,” Smith said. Without
that help, this case might never have been solved.
Based upon an interview with Mr. Binda, WCO Toward and U.S. Fish and
Wildlife Agent Bill Anderson agreed that Binda would be assessed
$4,000 in fines and restitution. In addition, Binda waived his right
to contest a three-year loss of hunting and furtaking privileges, and
he forfeited his shotgun to the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service.
He recently met with Game Commission officers and Agent Anderson at
the Southwest Region office to settle the charges against him and
plead no contest to violating the U.S. Eagle Act.
The injured male eagle has recovered from most of its injuries, but it
cannot be returned to the wild because it has lost eyesight in its
right eye.
The wildlife center is searching for a home for the eagle, but
unfortunately neither the Pittsburgh Zoo nor the National Aviary of
Pittsburgh can take him at the present time. This male was part of a
pair of eagles that had been maintaining an active nest site not far
from where the injured bird was found.
The Pennsylvania State Police provided WCO Toward with helicopter time
to make the successful search for the nest site, which showed two
eaglets were in the nest. To reduce the increased food-gathering
burden placed on the female eagle, Toward placed partially skinned
road-killed deer in the vicinity of the nest
tree.
Helping the female at this single-parent nest became one of our
priorities,” said WCO Toward. “At the time, she had two
youngsters to take care of and surely needed any assistance she could
get.”
Bald eagles are found throughout North
America, most often around water where they catch and scavenge fish. Other
carrion, and live, small animals also are among their prey. Eagles don’t reach
adulthood and begin nesting until age four or five. They nest in large trees
near water, and normally produce one to three young per year. Adults will
continue using and seasonally add to the same nest for years.
hhhhhhhhgggggggg
Pillsbury
Appointed to State Committee
A
committee, appointed by the governor has been formed to produce a manual for
best management practices for storm water management. Management of this
storm water runoff is crucial in protecting soils and waterways, however
this practice is often ignored in many parts of the state. Early stages
of site development is particularly damaging to the environment, when
vegetation is stripped and rains easily take valuable topsoils away from
the site and deposit them into streams, choking aquatic life. Proper
storm water management design ensures long-term protection of these valuable
natural resources. Jim Pillsbury, a hydraulic engineer from the
Conservation District in Greensburg has been appointed to this committee, which
is comprised of educators, developers and others from across the state.
July, 2003 Newsletter
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