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See a slideshow of how the Conservancy uses controlled burns as part of a regular stewardship plan.
Hunting InfoThe Conservancy allows hunting in many places in PA as a management tool to improve forest health. Find out more about the preserves that are open to hunting. |
Updated 3/12/2009
As spring bursts into life on Conservancy preserves across Pennsylvania, staff and volunteers attack a long list of conservation plans.
Richard O. Rowlands Preserve at Aitkin Cave
The winter hibernacula survey at the Conservancy’s Aitkin Cave in Mifflin County found strong numbers of bats, but also noted visible evidence of white-nose syndrome on a small number of the bats.
First documented in a cave near Albany, N.Y. in early 2007, the causes and mechanisms of white-nose syndrome continue to elude biologists, as additional impacted sites are found. Affected bats often have the namesake white fungus on their muzzles and other parts of their bodies, have low body fat, move to cold parts of the hibernacula, and fly during the day and in cold weather when the insects they eat are not available. Mortality of bats in some impacted hibernacula has been recorded at 90-100 percent
In Aitkin Cave, Conservancy Forest Ecologist Scott Bearer and biologists from the Pennsylvania Game Commission and the Pennsylvania Natural Heritage Program counted 3,962 little brown bats, 91 pipistrelles, 27 northern long-eared bats, 13 big brown bats, four small-footed bats and two federally endangered Indiana bats. WNS was noted in about 1 percent of the bats.
Game Commission biologists also have confirmed WNS at five other Pennsylvania sites: two abandoned mines near Carbondale in Lackawanna County; an abandoned mine near Shickshinny, Luzerne County; and the abandoned Shindle Iron Mine and Seawra Cave in Mifflin County.
West Branch Wilderness
Mike Eckley, outreach forester with the Conservancy, is organizing a deer pellet count in late April or early May to determine deer density across West Branch Wilderness in Clinton County. For training in pellet counting, as well as much other detailed information about deer and deer habitat, he is urging potential volunteers to register for and attend a Penn State Deer Density and Carrying Capacity Workshop on Saturday, April 4, at the Western Clinton Sportsman’s Association near Renovo. The workshop will examine how the condition of mixed hardwood forests influences various aspects of a deer herd and the impacts that deer have on the health and diversity of a forest ecosystem.
Forest Pools Preserve at King’s Gap (.pdf)
Conservancy staff and students from Messiah College are in the midst of seasonal monitoring of vernal pools at the Forest Pools Preserve at Kings Gap, near Carlisle.
A trio of students will profile existing pool characteristics to help prioritize future restoration efforts. Julie Longnecker will survey wood frogs and salamanders; Jennifer Shellem, fairy shrimp and other macroinvertebrates, important food sources for breeding amphibians; and, Kurt Heim, spring peepers and red-spotted newts.
The Conservancy/Messiah team also will count egg masses to measure population density of each species, and will look for other species, such as marbled salamanders and snakes.
Nature picture credits (top to bottom, left to right): Photo © George C. Gress (West Branch Wilderness); Photo © George C. Gress (Red-winged blackbird (Agelaius phoeniceus) nest in Cherry Valley); Slideshow © George C. Gress (Prescribed burn at West Branch Wilderness Preserve); Video © TNC.
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