From the Field - Crow's Nest Preserve

Anniversary or Birthday?

Today marks the first anniversary, or birthday, of the Crow's Nest weblog. These "candles" on a running-pine (Diphasiastrum digitatum), a kind of clubmoss, seem ready for a celebration. They're the strobili, or cone-like reproductive structures of this plant.

I hope you've enjoyed reading this weblog as much as I've enjoyed writing it, and look for fresh updates next year. There is a lot of new territory to cover, new events happening at the preserve, and plenty to observe as the seasons pass.

Turkeys!

On Friday, after plowing and shovelling snow, I happened to look outside and see this flock of turkeys, scratching in a patch of grass I had exposed with the plow. I count 35, the largest flock I've seen here. They didn't find walking in the deep snow easy.

Tired tires

Every so often I pick up a used tire, or two, or four, along the side of the road at the preserve. (Crow's Nest Preserve has several miles of road frontage and is downstream from several bridges crossing creeks.) The creeks give up long-lost tires as gravel shifts and the stream erodes. I save 'em up in the barn until I have a truckload, then I take them to a tire recycling center in Mongomery County. They grind them up, separate the metal beads, and use the rubber crumbs as filler in manufacturing.

It is shameful that people dump these tires instead of recycling them. I don't mind the trip—and my records indicate that the 1,020 lbs. of tires pictured took three years to accumulate—but I should not have to do it. But I don't want the preserve to look like a dump, and water puddling in old tires can create conditions where mosquitoes breed. However, the charge for recycling them has gone up from $55/ton in 1999 to $77/ton in 2002 to $90/ton in 2005.

For an interesting discussion about the fate of tires, the entrepreneurs who recycle them, and how we might be mining tires from landfills someday, see John McPhee's essay "Duty of Care" in the collection Irons in the Fire (Farrar, Straus and Giroux, 1997).

Winter's Early

I hadn't really completed my fall projects, but now they'll have to wait. I don't rake leaves much, just brush them away from the buildings where they accumulate and then chop them up in place with the mower. Now they're under snow!

How often do we have snow before Christmas that persists? Hmm, makes one wonder about what's ahead. Two weeks to go until Winter Solstice, the official start of winter.

We have an email list you can sign up for if you want to be informed about cross-country ski conditions at Natural Lands Trust preserves. If you'd like to be added to that list please give me a call at 610-286-7955 and leave your email address in the message. I don't linger in the office long, so don't rely on reaching me the day of a snow to find out current conditions.

Little bluestem

The warm-season grasses in the meadow around the Chief's Grove look lush in the summer, but they really come into their own with their late fall and winter color. Little bluestem (Schizachyrium scoparium) lights the field with its russet color that changes during the course of the day as it is backlit and flooded with low sunlight. This is a population that we manage with prescribed fire occasionally in the spring, so the field looks afire during two seasons.

Night of the Moths

I don't know what species of moth it was, but last night I was surprised to see moths by the thousands flying as I drove the area's wooded roads. They fluttered up and over the car, even though it was early December and the temperature was in the low 40's. It makes one wonder, how? why? Is there an advantage for the adult stage to be out at this time of year? Less competition? Fewer predators? It also reminds us of how adaptable is nature.

Highlands Protection Efforts

Last week the Highlands Coalition held a brief ceremony at Crow's Nest Preserve to thank Congressman James Gerlach for his leadership in passing the Highlands Conservation Act.

The Highlands are a major forest resource that lies within the backyard of our nation's most densely populated region. The highlands are a band of hills stretching from south-central Pennsylvania to Connecticut that serve as an essential source of drinking water, clean air, wildlife habitat and recreational opportunities, and are threatened by poorly-planned development: sprawl.

The Highlands Coalition includes more than 100 national, state, regional and local organizations in Pennsylvania, New Jersey, New York, and Connecticut working together to protect and enhance the sustainability of natural and human communities in the Highlands.

Left to right in the photo are Robert Lonsforf from Brandywine Conservancy; Kristen Sykes from the Appalachian Mountain Club; Congressman James Gerlach; Molly Morrison, President of Natural Lands Trust, presenting the award to Congressman Gerlach; and Andy Pitz, VP for Strategic Planning at Natural Lands Trust.

For more information about the Highlands Coalition go to highlandscoalition.org.