From the Field - Crow's Nest Preserve

Mile-a-Minute: Early Detection, Rapid Response

It is too late for Early Detection, Rapid Response (EDRR) in Southeastern Pennsylvania for the mile-a-minute vine (Polygonum perfoliatum). The horse is already out of the barn. When you see it along the roadside, you probably no longer register surprise. It isn't everywhere, but it's getting pretty close.

But it has just started to invade the lower Hudson Valley in New York, and I travelled there to be a speaker at a conference convened to develop a strategy for pushing back the invasion. My role in part was to frighten attendees about the risks of not controlling this plant, and to give an "on-the-ground" perspective of someone who has managed mile-a-minute for over a decade. I related the pattern of invasion we have observed, and despite our thorough efforts, how the populations have continued to expand. (Unless everyone in the region is controlling it, then it is difficult for anyone to control it.)

State or region-wide strategies are needed to manage most invasive species, and I am very pleased to see New York engaged in this kind of effort, particularly so early in the invasion.

Adaptive Reuse

Our "This Old Barn" program Saturday night was a hit! The evening began with an outstanding spaghetti dinner created by Patience Kaltenbach, Scott DiBerardinis and their family. Then we rode a haywaygon up the road to tour the job site of the barn undergoing restoration that will become our maintenance center. Upon returning to the visitor center barn, we had a slideshow showing the challenges of restoration and reuse over the fifteen years Natural Lands Trust has been working on structures at Crow's Nest Preerve.

Bob Johnson, carpenter and project supervisor, and Lou Schneider, engineer-architect, talked about finding a 65-foot beam for the forebay of the Houck Barn (we selected one from the roadside nearby), the decisions to rebuild stone walls that had cracked badly on the Jacob barn (pictured), and bringing the racked Houck barn back into plumb. I spoke about the green aspects of our buildings: the natural engery efficiency of a south-facing bank barn, the reuse of many materials from the buildings in their restoration (and indeed, the decision to reuse the buildings themselves), the local sourcing of materials, and our choice of renewable engery used in the projects.

Then the 55 attendees shared their potluck desserts and toured the tenant house, another restoration undertaken by the Natural Lands Trust crew. The event gave the buildings team a chance to show off their outstanding work, and the people who attended gained confidence in Natural Lands Trust's ability to protect and restore historic buildings.

Soaring with the Hawks

The fall WebWalkers season started with a glorious afternoon when hawks and vultures obliged us by showing up when we went looking for them. The kids saw early fall in its best light as turkey and black vultures kettled overhead. Heading into the woods, we saw a sharp-shinned hawk diving and zooming through the trees. We saw racoon prints in the mud by the creek and praying mantises clattered past us to land, camoflaged, in the multiflora rose.

October Dance

Later in the day on October 1 we will also host the Elverson Dance for another night of contras, squares, waltzes and more. (When we say more, some of the dances are very old and resist categorization. When you dance them you feel connected to the long-gone people who also danced them.)

The caller is Greg Frock and music by Fingerpyx. Admission payable at the door is $7; $4 for high school students and seniors. Instruction for beginners is at 7:30 p.m. The dance begins at 8 p.m.

It is not necessary to bring a partner; please wear soft-soled shoes and bring a snack to share at the break. Everybody says they enjoy dancing in an old barn!

Chester County Day

The week after next we will be part of the Chester County Day tour. Now in its 65th year, Chester County Day is a house tour to benefit Chester County Hospital. The restored visitor center barn will be a part of the tour, allowing ticket holders to see the restoration and learn about the conservation activities of Natural Lands Trust.

Each year the "Day" highlights a different quadrant of the county. Ticket holders tour historic or interesting private homes. Advance ticket reservations are recommended. For more information see www.cchosp.com.

The wreath and snow pictured here are absent from the barn right now; fall is a beautiful time to visit the preserve and the Day should prove spectacular.

This Old Barn

We are having a program on Sunday, September 24 about the building restorations at Crow's Nest. Starting with a spaghetti dinner (and potluck desserts) at 5:00 p.m. The building team will talk about the challenges of adapting old buildings for new uses. We'll meet in the restored barn, then tour a barn project in progress, and end the evening with a slideshow of the restoration of other structures on the preserve. A program for children (grade 2 through 6) of participants will be offered at the same time. The cost is $5, and space is limited. Please register by calling 610-353-5587.

And you thought your job was hard?

We have had a huge white-faced hornet nest growing on the barn that is undergoing restoration at the preserve. Although these hornets are good predators of flies and other insects, their presence was threatening the people who are renovating the barn, literally working around the hive, trying not to get stung.

Enter Elliot Hurt, a bee removal expert referred to us. He vacuumed the hornets out of two hives, one on the barn and another on the adjacent house.

Here Elliot displays the cannister of hornets collected from the house hive.

Elliot is not a honeybee keeper who captures a swarm to establish a new working hive. He captures hornets, yellow wasps, and yellow jackets to milk them for the venom that is used by laboratories to make an antidote for people who have allergic reactions to their stings.

Also a high school student, Elliot displayed great skill in working in difficult circumstances. The barn hive was the largest he's seen yet this year, and the second largest he's ever removed. He was also generous in sharing his knowledge.

Only the females sting; the males he lets go or has to sort later at home. The hives are made from chewed, regurgitated wood. He took home the disks from inside the hive; any young that may still emerge are also harvested for their venom. Here Elliot shows off a young queen, one of several that will attempt to overwinter and have her own hive next year. And by they way, he says he gets stung once or twice a day.

Flowers & Fruit

We may not think of late summer as a great time for flowers, but actually it is a peak season in the meadows here. Many of the wildflowers mentioned earlier are still going strong, and there is the addition of fruit forming and a hint of fall color starting.

We may not think of grass flowers as showy, but here is one that will make you look twice: Indian grass (Sorghastrum nutans). This native warm-season grass that we grow in our meadows for its wildlife value and firery orange fall color also has pretty flowers.

Tick-trefoil (Desmodium spp.) has subtle flowers that quickly give way to these more memorable fruit pods. That is, you'll remember them if you walk through a patch and find yourself spending a couple hours that evening picking them off your clothes... The plants have three leaflets, and the "ticks" are the seeds that hooked short hairs that make them cling to any rough surface.

And the dogwoods and viburnums are setting fruit. Here, Cornus amomum, a dogwood shrub which goes by the common name red-willow, silky dogwood, or Kinnikinik, has clusters of blue friut. It grows in our wet meadows and moist, open woods.

Pet Peeve: Light Pollution

Ten years ago, Crow's Nest Preserve was a great place to go star watching. Today, it is still better than most places—a "black hole" in this over-lit region, but light pollution has spilled well beyond the parking lots and developments where people try to push back the night.

The view of the starry night sky is a natural and cultural resource; these days, it is fully enjoyed only by people who live in dark rural areas. Poorly designed lighting takes away that resource and wastes energy, creates glare, and represents a kind of light "trespass."

I went camping last weekend in West Virginia and was stunned, by comparison, at how much we have lost here in Chester County. I can only see a fraction of the sky here that was visible in a more rural area.

Well-designed lighting illuminates only what needs to be lit. Better lighting saves energy, is shielded to prevent glare (the direct view of the bulb), and put on a motion sensor, timer, or simply turned off when no one is there to see it. Too-bright lighting creates comparatively darker shadows, and fosters a false sense of security.

A new book by A. Roger Ekirch, "At Day's Close: Night in Times Past" was recently reviewed in Historic Preservation magazine. Until the last century, people's activities at night were different than in daytime, and night placed a role in human psychology and society that is being lost as we separate ourselves from the nocturnal cycle.

The International Dark Sky Association (www.darksky.org) descibes good lighting practices and offers model lighting ordinances, to help communities protect their views of the sky.

Around here, two new shopping centers make use of notably good lighting and deserve recognition for their good practices; the Suburbia shopping center and the new Lowe's, both on Route 100 in North Coventry have parking lot lights that are distinctive because they shine only down. The parking lots are bright enough without the glare of visible light sources. And after hours, two thirds of the lights are turned off. North Coventry may have a good lighting ordinance to guide this design. All other commercial properties I see around here exhibit wasteful glare.

Homeowners who use cheap sodium-vapor lights in their driveways should shield them so they shine only down. This creates a softer light which illuminates the doors and walkways they want to see without beaming light into the blackness of space. Better yet, efficient fixtures mounted on a pole or building can put light where you want it without making the yard look like a football stadium at night.

The money you save will be your own, and the rest of us will appreciate the benefit of natural darkness.

Fall WebWalkers schedule

We are planning our fall session of after school nature club activities—WebWalkers.

This fall the Thursday session, for kids in 4th to 6th grade, will be called "Soaring with the Hawks." For six weeks beginning September 22 (but skipping October 20) we will meet at the preserve from 3:30 to 6 p.m. Fall is a great time to see hawk migrations here. The cost is $25 for the six-week session, and the program is limited to 12 kids.

We will also be starting a new group of WebWalkers, for kids in grades 3 - 4, for a slightly shorter session on Tuesdays, 3:30 to 5:30 p.m. This group wil meet September 20 to November 1 (but will skip October 18).

For more information call 610-286-7955.