Natural Lands Trust Preserve Blog

Mariton - Snow Images

I took a walk after the snow to look for tracks and check the trails.  I saw this bluebird box with a snow pile perched on its top and sides.  I snapped a few photos, hoping that the exposure would come out.  It is interesting how the snow melted, and then refroze before gravity won.

Later on the walk, I was struck by how the snow was perched on tiny twigs.  Notice this snow heaped on the thorns of this hawthorne.  When I got back to the office to look at the photos, I noticed the frame below.  It really doesn't capture the snow piled on the thin twigs, but I like the arrangement of the thorns against the snow. 

Crow's Nest: Current land stewardship work

In a recent storm we had this red maple tree snap and fall over our three-strand cattle fence. The cleanup required a little engineering; I cut log sections to support the trunk while I sectioned it so that it would not crush the fence.

Here it is completed. The trunk was hollow only at the base and the tree was very top-heavy; it crushed like a soda straw.

While we were at it I cut down a couple red maples inside the cattle pasture that were leaning heavily due to root or soil failure. You could feel the root plates moving as you walked on them; they had already pulled out of the ground a foot or two. One leader would inevitably fall on the pasture fence, so I wanted to take it down when the calves were not present—so they wouldn't escape or worse.

We pulled all of the resulting brush out of the pasture, but there is a lot of firewood still there. The site is too wet to get into with equipment so I am looking for a scout group or other volunteers with boots who could form a "bucket brigade" to remove the wood, here an obstacle to the pasture and the site's restoration.

There are a number of good books about how trees fail; the International Society of Arboriculture is a good place to start. One of my favorites is Claus Mattheck's The Body Language of Trees: A Handbook for Failure Analysis (London: The Stationary Office, 1994). We use these references to evaluate our trees where there is a target such as the road. 

Crow's Nest: Inside the house renovations

Steve, Scott and Luke are making steady progress on the renovations of the Swinehart/Jacob house (c. 1814) at Crow's Nest. They have completed 3/4 of the masonry pointing. Now they are working on the inside; here are a few photos of how it is progressing.

This fireplace was once used for cooking in the house but it had been closed up behind a wall for years. This back room will again become a kitchen and the fireplace will have doors to close it when not in use. The ladder you see in it is so Scott can point inside the chimney.

This picture is the same fireplace after the first floor has been removed. The summer beam that supported the first floor had been replaced some time in the 20th century with creosote-coated boards sistered together. As in many old stone houses the center had developed a substantial sag relative to the exterior walls. We are replacing the boards with a new white oak beam (actually two joined in the middle) supported by new posts. The concrete floor and buttressed knee wall are new.

The house I live in, the historic tenant house next to the preserve center barn on Piersol Road, also has an arch in the basement that once supported a fireplace, but ours had been removed many years ago when there was a fire in the house (it now supports a powder room). The arch is not a basement fireplace, simply a support for the one above.

Here's the new beam ready to go in, with the current two-story basement looking a bit like a racquetball court. The staircase ends in midair. The beam was rolled in on pipes before the floor was removed and will be lowered in from chain hoists.

What strikes me about the work of the Natural Lands Trust building stewardship staff, in addition to their obvious talent and skill, is their proficiency at sequencing a project. Some of this comes from architect Lou Schneider's plans, but they know many months before needing them that they must have concrete footers poured under future posts and that they must not remove anything that will be critical for a later step in the process.

Crow's Nest: Art and Nature continued...

At Crow's Nest this weekend we hosted artist Lydia Moyer who filmed people's shadows projected on the wall of our 19th century barn. She will use this work in an a show in Charlottesville, Virginia on December 11. Our neighbors' kids wheeled tricycles around the barn casting their shadows and people walked into and out of the image. Since the image size grows exponentially as the actor approaches the light source the effect is dramatic.

If you should happen to be in Charlottesville, here are the details: The show is called Let There Be Light and it is an evening of light-centered artworks illuminating the outdoors. It is one night only: December 11 from 6 – 9 pm (raindate December 12). It will be held on the grounds of the Piedmont Virginia Community College.

Around here we'll be attending an all-holiday celebration at the Firebird Festival in Phoenixville. It's a special afternoon and evening of family fun: performances, crafts, food, and fire on December 12.

Paunacussing Preserve

Our Paunacussing Preserve is  a 102 acre property located in Buckingham Township, Bucks County, that includes the headwaters of the Paunacussing Creek. This waterway eventually flows into the Delaware River at Carversville, PA. There are seven springs on the property that contribute greatly to the health of the stream and, by extension, the Delaware River.

Recently, Natural Lands Trust completed a project to reestablish wetlands on the site of a former farm pond on the property. The project was a partnership with the Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection, Army Corps of Engineers, and the Bucks County Conservation District. The four-month-long project involved lowering the water level, installing flow control structures, and installing 900 native shrubs and trees in and around the newly-restored wetland area.

The photo shows the results of this ambitious project. During the next few blog posts, I’ll going highlight the different steps of the process.  Please feel free to stop by Paunacussing Preserve to see the fantastic results for yourself! (Contact us at 215-598-8465 to arrange a visit.)

 

Mariton - Art and Nature

This past week, a group of eighth graders from Holland Township School visited Mariton to work on sketches, and scultures using natural materials.  Unfortunately, I was unable to be here.  Fortunately, Mariton has some wonderful volunteers that are fantastic at leading school groups.  I asked Virginia and Carole if they could accompany the group to help answer natural history questions, and find good locations for the group's projects. 

I am attracted by trees that form natural sculptures, as well as leaf arrangements on the trails.  So, I was hoping to join the group to see what they noticed.  Carole and Virginia told me that it was an enthusiastic group of students.  As they walked along the trails, they snapped many photos of interesting objects (ferns, holes in trees, lichens on rocks).  Normally, the pieces would be dismantled after taking photographs of the sculptures, in a Leave No Trace ethic.  But Carole asked the teachers and students to leave the works up, so that other visitors could appreciate the art.  I particularly appreciated viewing the different pieces when I got home.

Most of the artwork is located near the two benches along the Turnpike Trail.  Milkweed pods, leaves and branches were some of the components.  Birds and bird nests seemed to be one theme that attracted the students.  The wind on Thanksgiving Day rearranged some of the pieces, but Carole had taken these photos during the class. 

 
  

Crow's Nest: On my night table... Summer World

I have read several books by Bernd Heinrich: Winter World, The Geese of Beaver Pond, The Trees of My Forest, and now Summer World (Harper Collins 2009). There's nothing like curling up with a book about summer as the winds become damp and raw outside in late fall.

Few writers today observe the natural world as carefully and Heinrich, who is disciplined and patient in his work and offers a view of nature around us that now I can enjoy and apply to our woods. He carries out many field experiments to test his hypotheses and turns to specialists when he needs more information or to confirm his independent observations. The book profiles strategies plants and animals use for coping, competing, and relating to each other in the short summer of the north woods.

One chapter addresses caterpillars—some of whom are unpalatable to birds by virtue of their hairs or spines, and others who have to not only hide themselves but any sign that they had been feeding on the leaves of a tree. I hadn't realized that many species snip off entire leaves at the end of each feeding period to disguise their having been there.

I recommend this book as ideal winter reading that will add to your own enjoyment of the woods.

Mariton - Flurries?

Not exactly.  The Tuliptree seed pods have dried out, and on breezy days millions of seeds flutter through the air resembling a snow fall.  Some people think the Tuliptree is messy, but the seeds break down pretty quickly and I will clean the gutters one more time before the snow threatens.  Until then, I will watch the seeds gracefully fall to Earth, and recall beautiful snow falls.

The goldenrods have also gone to seed.  In the right light, they look snow covered.  I will leave the meadows unmowed during the winter.  The standing vegetation provides food and cover for lots of birds and small mammals during the winter months.  Right now, there are always mixed flocks of sparrows and Juncos in the meadows.  Most of the sparrows are White-throated Sparrows, but you have to look because you never know what else might be foraging with them.   

Mariton - Unexpected Sightings

Recently, I greeted some people that came to walk the trails and take photos of animals.  It was the middle of a warm afternoon, when wildlife activity is usually low.  The people were also limited on time.  I wasn't too optimistic, but suggested a couple routes for them to try that day, and some more routes for a visit when they had more time.  They decided they really didn't have time to spare and left. 

Shortly afterward, I checked the trails.  It was a beautiful day, but I didn't expect to see any wildlife.  Was I surprised when I came across these deer standing just off the trail.  They watched cautiously as I snapped photos nonchalantly, while walking along the trail. Farther along, a Great-horned Owl glided across the hill side at eye level.  I would not have assumed to see deer while walking in the dry leaves, but a mid-afternoon owl was totally unexpected.

Another surprise happened recently when a flock of turkeys looked in my office window.  The office is built into the hillside, so while the window is at ground level on the outside, it is about two feet above my desk.  I literally have to stand up to see out the window.  So, when I caught movement out of the corner of my eye while typing, I thought it was a leaf blowing by.  When the movement continued, I stopped and looked up to see a turkey looking back at me.  Because of the angle, the turkeys had to be right beside the building for me to see them.  I grabbed the camera when they weren't looking, stood up, and took this photo before the exited from view.  There were a dozen birds in the flock.  Two different flocks have been hanging around the yard, but I never expected to see them looking in my window.

Crow's Nest: Fall beauty

I love the fall color of the oak-leaf hydrangea (Hydrangea quercifolia). With its exfoliating bark in winter and summer's flowers it looks beautiful all the time.

We will be treated to months of fall and winter beauty from the native warm-season grasses in our meadows. Little bluestem (Schizachyrium scoparium) looks great in fall and winter, especially when backlit by the low sun.

And here are the seed pods of a plant we saw in flower a few months ago: ground-cherry (Physalis subglabrata) which you can see in the meadow around the parking area.