PA Counties – Great Local Resources

One of the main thrusts of Trees of Pennsylvania involves identifying the great resources available close to home. Forest landowners and all other interested residents will be pleasantly surprised to learn about all of the great educational programs and expert advice available to them.

Each County page offers:

1. Links to the DCNR Bureau of Forestry Service Forester serving the county
2. Information and links on forest landowner associations serving the county
3. Links and the telephone number for the County Extension Office
4. A brief discussion of conservation organizations and contact information for those providing information in the county
5. A link to the PA Calendar on relevant educational programs and other events
6. An option for submitting tree and forest photos from that county
7. An email link for questions, comments, and suggestions.

We have our pages updated through Dauphin County (we are working through our updates alphabetically and expect to have all the pages completed by September 10). Please visit our Main County Page for links and more information.

We are concerned about adequately identifying all of the conservation districts that provide services in various counties. Unlike the other services we recommend, the conservation organizations frequently address issues in multiple counties. Therefore, we would greatly appreciate your input on those programs. Please Email Us if you would like to discuss conservation districts in PA.

Scientists hope a weevil works wonders (The Philadelphia Inquirer)

As superheroes go, the tiny insect that Ellen Lake holds in her outstretched hand seems preposterous.For starters, it’s no bigger than a speck of dirt.

In magnification, with its bizarre long snout, the insect – a weevil known as R. latipes – looks almost comical, like something Dr. Seuss would have created.

Here’s what it’s up against: a barbed vine aptly named mile-a-minute. It can grow 20 feet in a summer. It engulfs landscapes, blanketing fields and shrubs, climbing trees, snuffing out plant life. Ultimately, the related and complex web of bugs, birds and other species fades as well.

Yet despite what look like long odds in the battle of weevil vs. weed, the little guy appears to be winning.   read more

Trees of Pennsylvania – Website Strategy

We are still approximately two weeks away from having a totally functioning website at Trees of Pennsylvania, but we thought it might be good to briefly describe the approach we are implementing.

The whole idea behind our “Trees” website is assisting those seeking information on trees and forests. We believe there is a lot of good material currently available, but good luck finding it! However, that problem will be solved as we direct you to those quality resources. Trees of Pennsylvania will act as a gateway to the Web for those needing to access the information and services available.

Additionally, we assist in connecting with the excellent resources that are available in every county. Woodlot owners in particular will want to visit our “county” pages to learn about the advice and educational programs available close to home.

We hesitate to invite you into see our mess, but perhaps you will have some questions, comments, or suggestions, as you visit our work in progress. Please Email Us if you would like to share your thoughts on our website.

DCNR wages war on ‘Trees of Heaven’ (Williamsporte Sun-Gazette)

When William Hamilton introduced Ailanthus altissima in 1784 to America in his Philadelphia garden as an ornamental tree, he couldn’t have imagined that over 200 years later this East Asian deciduous plant would be labeled an invasive species and be hated by many.

In the past few years, the state Bureau of Forestry’s Department of Conservation and Natural Resources has been working to eradicate this so-called “Tree of Heaven” from Pine Creek Valley in western Lycoming County.   read more

Gypsy moth caterpillars back with bite (The Morning Call)

Forest-munching gypsy moth caterpillars rebounded in Pennsylvania this summer with a surprising vengeance, catching entomologists, government officials and landowners off-guard. Now, officials are worried they won’t have enough money or resources to help counties battle what is expected to be an even bigger infestation next year.

Early estimates indicate the pests, which had been in decline for several years, bounced back to defoliate a million acres in Pennsylvania. Lehigh County was relatively untouched but Monroe County, with its abundance of oaks — a gypsy moth favorite — was among the hardest-hit areas in the state and the nation.  full story

Southern bugs responsible for deer kill (Pittsburgh Post-Gazette)

With the opening of the first deer hunting seasons just weeks away, news of white-tailed deer dying in two southwestern Pennsylvania counties has raised concern among both the hunting public and Game Commission biologists. Since early August, more than 50 deer have died in Greene and Washington counties.

Post-mortem studies are underway at Penn State University and the Southeastern Cooperative Wildlife Disease Study at the University of Georgia. Dr. Walter Cottrell, Game Commission wildlife veterinarian, says, “While we must wait for test results to confirm just what caused these deer to die, at this time, we suspect that the deer died of epizootic hemorrhagic disease (EHD), based on the field signs that we are seeing.”   read more

Website Updates – Trees of PA

We are providing this blog to compliment the main website, Trees of PA. However, we are giving it a complete makeover, which means we don’t really want you visiting there just yet!

We do have quite a bit of the home page in presentable order, but you can’t link to anything from it yet. If you would like to take a peek, you can see it here – Home Page, Trees of PA.

We are presenting our resource on trees and forests in two broad areas: general tree/forest information and local (generally county) resources. The general knowledge features are listed on the left side of the page, and we describe our local/county focus on the top right. As you will see, we will also be featuring a different PA tree species each week and offering a regular column.

We will have a page for each county. You can review the Cambria County page to see the types of resources we will be offering and recommending.

We hope to have much of the site in place by September 15 and to be fully functioning by October 15. Please continue to check this blog for relevant current information.

Challenges Remain In Reintroducing American Chestnut (Science Daily)

Science Daily — Researchers have developed a breed of American chestnut that is resistant to the fungal blight that decimated its population in the early 1900s.

But the return of this “king of trees,” so-called for its picturesque form and towering height of more than 100 feet, remains hampered by a slew of obstacles, said a Purdue University researcher.

“We are on the verge of overcoming chestnut blight, but there is a whole new set of obstacles to get past yet,” said Douglass Jacobs, an associate professor of forestry and natural resources who is helping develop the blight-resistant chestnut.

To reintroduce the American chestnut, he said, researchers must get past several policy limitations, gather new data, educate the public about the species and address new threats posed by exotic pests. He details these and other challenges in a paper published in July’s issue of the journal Biological Conservation.   full story

Steady loss of hemlock trees could devastate ecosystem (Ashville Citizen-Times)

OTTO — Chelcy Ford looked up into the early afternoon sunshine and pointed to the naked, brown branches of the hemlock trees surrounding her. The bare-limbed evergreens are a familiar sight here in the Southern Appalachian Mountains, where nearly all of the hemlocks are dying after being infested by the woolly adelgid.

Unlike many other scientists trying to figure out how to save the trees, Ford and a small group of researchers at the Coweeta Hydrologic Laboratory here are letting them die.   read more

Second Wildflower Season is Upon Us (Pittsburgh Tribune-Review)

By Paul G. Wiegman
Sunday, August 19, 2007

Western Pennsylvania has two distinct wildflower seasons.The first is from early April through the end of May. That is when spring wildflowers adorn the woodland floors of secluded valleys, and we all shake off the drabness of winter and revel in vernal sun. Spring plants take advantage of the new warmth, abundant moisture and abundance of light on the forest floor before the trees come into full leaf.

The second wildflower season commences in early August and runs through late September just before the vivid colors of fall take center stage. That is when a whole new array of species comes into bloom. These plants show their wares along forest edges and in open fields, where there has been plenty of sunlight allowing them to grow and flourish through the summer.    full story