Natural Lands Trust Preserve Blog

Great American Campout

This Saturday, June 24 is the great American campout. While we don't want you to camp at the preserve, we encourage you to set up a tent in the backyard, park, or campground to share the outdoor experience with your family. Listen to the night sounds, star-watch, or just sleep "outside the box." For more information, www.backyardcampout.org.

Day Camp - Farm Produce

Today, we took a field trip to Trauger's Farm Market, in Kintnersville.  Myron Kressman took us on a hay ride around the 60 acres that make up Trauger's Farm.  He showed us how they start much of their produce in greenhouses, and then transplant it into the fields.  This allows him to have produce early and late into the season.

He also demonstrated the importance of flowers to his career.  Much of the produce that he grows and sells requires that flowers be pollinated in order to grow into a crop.  He used male and female cucumber flowers for a demonstration.  On the female flower, the kids could actually see what part of the flower would develop into the cucumber when it was pollinated. 

Part of the goal of our Nature Day Camp is to help kids learn how plants function.  But we also hope that they gain a better understanding of how these functions (like pollination and photosynthesis) have an impact on their personal lives, beside just answers on a test.  Understanding what is involved in growing the food that we eat is also part of being a better world citizen.  I was encouraged that the children had visited Trauger's Farm with their families to purchase food.  I was pleased and surprised that they were willing to try the different vegetables that Myron gave us to take back to the Nature Center.

Our thanks to Myron Kressman.  He is someone who is also resolute that children understand our relationship with plants, and thus is willing to devote a protion of his time to education.  We think that Myron is a person who is outstanding in his field.

Photos by Carole Mebus.

Nature Day Camp - Day One

Our first day of Nature Day Camp got off to a great start.  Virginia Derbyshire showed a great slide show of wildflowers.  After the slide show, we headed onto the trails.  As always, I am impressed by what children retain and what catches their attention.  There were lots of questions about just about every plant we passed.

It was hot, but not as dire as had been predicted.  The woods were still cool, and there was a breeze in the fields.  We collected some specimens of abundant plants to dry in the plant press.  Later this week, we hope to mount them as artwork. 

Here is a wonderful photo of a eastern tiger swallowtail feeding on nectar of a common milkweed (Asclepias syriaca).  All photos by Carole Mebus.

Rhodies and Mountain Laurel

I haven't reported on flowers in awhile.  A single mountain laurel (Kalmia latifolia) has been in bloom along the Chimney Rock Trail for a couple weeks.  There are only a handful of mountain laurels on the preserve, and they all have a lollipop shape from past deer browsing.  This is the first time that I have seen any of them in bloom in many years. 

I also saw a couple blooms on a rhododendron (Rhodendron maximum) this week.  These are the native rhododendron with lovely white blossoms.  They usually peak around the last week of June.  That said, blooming at Mariton can be sporadic.  Last year, there were plenty of blooms on almost every bush.  But there are years where there are very few blossoms at all.  It is still too early to tell what kind of year this will be.  The best place to see these blossoms is on the River Lookout Trail, and along the Main Trail.

The meadows are also beginning to show color from milkweed, daisies, hawkweed, etc.

I love milkweeds

You'd better not miss the show that is soon to occur in the savanna at Crow's Nest Preserve. We burned this field this spring, and this management has really stimulated the milkweed (Asclepias incarnata and A. syriaca). Some of the early bloomers are this shocking pink (above). Others in bud look like they might be dusty rose when they open. There are a lot of them, so it's going to be quite a show. And the butterfly weed (Asclepias tuberosa) will also bloom shortly in this field. Don't miss it!

Gypsy Moths return

Gypsy moth (Lymantria dispar) populations rise and fall in cycles. I remember the distress over them from my childhood, and recent news reports suggesting that the numbers this year rival those of 25 years ago correspond to my memories. Gypsy moths were introduced to the U.S. in 1868 or 1869 after they escaped from a failed attempt to rear them for silk production (U.S.D.A. Forest Service web page). Until this year I had never seen gypsy moth caterpillars at the preserve (I've been here ten years). Last year, inchworms (fall and spring cankerworms) temporarily defoliated our woods, as they had the year before in 2004. But there weren't many of these pests this year. Right now, many tree trunks in the woods have gypsy moth caterpillars on them, but the trees haven't (yet?) been defoliated. When the outbreaks are severe, they can weaken trees and make them susceptible to secondary pathogens. There were massive tree die-offs in years when the gypsy moth populations had irrupted. (By the way, only the caterpillars feed, not the adult moths.) Controversial region-wide spraying programs over the years have had mixed results and unintended consequences. What eventually brought the problem under control was a naturally-occurring fungal pathogen, Entomophaga maimaiga, that caused the population to cycle to small numbers. Now the pendulum swings upward. Eventually the population will crash again. Experts recommend locating and removing egg masses in the winter, and I remember from my youth that people used sticky tape to keep the caterpillars from climbing individual trees, though I don't recall how effective this was. Also important: planting a diversity of species of trees, since they're variably delectable, and make sure they trees planted in conditions under which they will not be stressed.

Chainsaws in the Night

Last night around 11:30 I heard the sound of chainsaws in the distance. When you're a manager of a nature preserve, that's not a sound you want to hear in the middle of the night. I dragged myself out of bed—I hadn't been there long, since updating this blog is usually the last bleary-eyed thing I do before sleep—and I drove around to the far side of the preserve in the general direction of the sound. To my relief, I found emergency utility crews blocking the road and working on a utility pole. Earlier in the evening, the power had also apparently been out. When I investigated more today I found two things: the pole they had been working on appeared to have been hit by farm equipment making a tight turn leaving a neighboring property. But perhaps this hadn't caused the outage. Further down the road, the same neigboring property had lost a tree that fell across the road, took down the wires, and caused some damage to trees on our preserve. I have been on vacation this week; Monday morning is looking like it will be even more busy than I expected. Natural Lands Trust has an aggressive hazard tree management program. Each of our preserve managers has received training in evaluating trees for defects, and two preserve managers are arborists who travel to any of the preserves when needed. Where there is a substantial defect and a target such as utility wires or a road, we proactively prune or remove the tree to reduce or eliminate the hazard. It is true that every tree will someday fall, and it is far safer to choose when and where the tree will fall than to clean it up on a dark or rainy night.

Nature Day Camp

Mariton's Day Camp will be opening on Monday (6/19).  This session is for children entering grades 4 - 6 in the fall.  We still have several spots open, so it is not too late to sign up a youngster.  This year's theme is Plants, and we will be exploring plants and their uses (by both humans and wildlife).  We have some great activities planned.  Camp runs from 9 a.m. to noon each day.  We end the camp with a picnic followed by a special program on Friday evening.  For more information contact the Center at 610-258-6574.  Also watch next week for photos from camp.

Counting Butterflies

Our Annual Butterfly Census is on Saturday, June 24, from 9:00 a.m. to noon.  This is a great way to learn at least 3 or 4 species of butterflies.  They are everywhere in the meadows right now.  I have been seeing Monarchs (a little earlier than usual).  There are lots of spicebush swallowtails and eastern tiger swallowtails.  The great-spangled frittilaries are beginning to grow in number.  There should be pleny of frittilaries by next weekend (they are one of the most common species on the count).  Silver-spotted skippers are also common. Come Wednesday, spring azures will magically be transformed into summer azures.  (That is a joke.)  Photo of red admiral by Carole Mebus.

The stage of the milkweed blossoms can have a big effect on the count.  Right now, flowers are just starting to open.  There should be some in blossom for the count, but I am not sure the meadows will be filled with blossoms.  Binoculars that can focus to about 10 feet or less are great tools.  We don't need to catch (and possibly damage) any of the butterflies we count, because we use binoculars.

Tree Swallows Hanging Around

The tree swallows are still in the nest boxes.  I expected the brood in the field to be gone when I checked this week.  They look like small adults.  I am sure they will be gone next week.  The brood along the drive way is very developed.  They should be moving out in the 7 - 10 days.

The bluebird nest that I reported on last week was empty.  I am hoping that the surviving chick made it.  Otherwise, I think I would have found a dead chick when I monitored the box.  But I will never really know what happened to it or its siblings.  It is getting late in the season, but there is still a chance that bluebirds could start another brood.

The house wrens in the yard still have 7 healthy chicks.  I expect them to leave very soon.  There is a lot of racket in the box when an adult enters.  With the seven chicks almost adult size, the parents have a lot of work gathering enough food for everyone.