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We end the first full year of activity by ChicoryLane Foundation (formed 12/31/2024) with gratitude. Presenters and guides, staff, family, consultants and Foundation directors have together made 2025 meaningful for visitors and for us. We also appreciate recognition and new support given to ChicoryLane Reserve.
Catherine & John Smith
Lauren & Ian Smith
IMAGE: White baneberry or doll's-eye (Actaea pachypoda). This eastern North America native grows in leaf litter under tree canopy at ChicoryLane. Less robust and persistent than its relatives black cohosh and blue cohosh that grow in patches, a solitary white (sometimes red) baneberry plant can startle walkers on paths here in late summer. Photo credit: ChicoryLane Collection
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Spring Bird Walk ~ April 19
Joe Gyekis, Guide
On a gray April morning, Joe Gyekis led a group of 40 birders along ChicoryLane paths for the first Bird Walk of the year. Visitors identified 158 birds of 43 different species, both visually and by calls. The day's inventory can be viewed here.
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Summer Open Day ~ June 7
Loanne Snavely, Organizer and Guide, with Dana Reed, Bill Rathfon, John Smith, Catherine Smith
ChicoryLane welcomed nearly 30 visitors to a sunny, early summer Open Day offering a diverse menu of activities—on-your-own trail walks, a series of three guided walks, and talks on ChicoryLane's historic log home, old field ecology and land use history. (Image: group heading to the hilltop 360° view walk)
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Writing in Place ~ July 23
Travis Wingard, Leader
A small, engaged group gathered for this workshop on writing about place. Travis Wingard, leader, coached “If you describe a place without saying exactly what it is, but instead evoking what it’s like or how it affects you, the reader is drawn in by creative comparison.” A participant commented “The three hours at ChicoryLane sparked new ideas and inspired me to a higher level of engagement."
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Ecological Enhancement ~ August 9
John Smith and James Lesher, Leaders
Over 20 visitors at this day-long workshop learned principles and a manageable, step-by-step methodology for conservation of different-sized tracts of land. This approach, developed at ChicoryLane, draws on the work of ecologists Aldo Leopold, Doug Tallamy, and others. Attendees observed demonstration areas where this methodology has been applied throughout the property.
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Black Walnut Natural Dye Workshop ~ August 16
Cathryn Pugh and Shelby Carr, Leaders
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Over 15 visitors learned about traditional and contemporary uses of Black Walnut (Juglans nigra) for food, timber, and natural dyes. Rolling up their sleeves to boil Black Walnut husks for dyeing, participants watched as their cotton scarves and wool yarn hanks developed hues from tan to rich brown, depending on time spent in the dye vat. A second dye bath of orange jewelweed (Impatiens capensis) was a wonderful addition, resulting in brilliant yellow hues.
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Fall Bird Walk ~ September 13
Joe Gyekis, Guide
Over 35 visitors attended the final Bird Walk of the year. The fall landscape offers the best opportunity to witness the late season’s antioxidant-rich berries prized as food by migrating birds. Clusters of deeply colored, especially blue and purple, berries are easy-to-spot food sources for birds, even from a distance. Raptors such as the Cooper’s Hawk (Astur Cooperii) soared overhead. Visitors identified 111 birds of 41 species, both visually and by calls. The day's inventory can be viewed here. Image: A Solitary Sandpiper (Tringa solitaria) rests on a vernal pool log. Photo credit: Debra Rittelmann.
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Fall Open Day ~ October 25
Suzy Yetter, Organizer and Guide,
with Adam Smith, Rick Henry
Over 40 visitors explored ChicoryLane’s waterways in relation to habitats. Rick Henry, hydrogeologist, explained ChicoryLane’s geology; what's happening to the water before it enters the property, while it traverses through the property, and its fate downstream. Rick also explained ChicoryLane’s special geology that creates habitat for moisture-loving plants and animals. Adam Smith, fish and wildlife biologist, explored the vernal pools he designed in the 1990’s. Using surface water flows, the constructed pools convert an old farm field to habitat for salamanders, newts, turtles, muskrats, herons and other bird species, frogs and dragonflies. Suzy Yetter, ecologist, led a hands-on field activity to explore the tiny creatures living in ChicoryLane's cold-water streams. Visitors were introduced to macroinvertebrates such as mayflies, stoneflies, and caddisflies as natural indicators of water quality. They also offer clues about how land use affects waterway health. Photo credit: Bill Rathfon
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Recognition and Support
ChicoryLane Foundation and Conservation Reserve was proud to receive ClearWater Conservancy’s 2025 Community Conservation Commendation Award at their recent annual meeting held at Millbrook Marsh Nature Center. Pictured left to right: ChicoryLane’s Lauren Smith, Ian Smith, John Smith, Catherine Smith; ClearWater’s Suzy Yetter, Donnan Stoicovy.
Also in 2025, thanks to PA-Bureau of Forestry Service Forester Tim Cole, we were invited by the Pennsylvania Woodland Resilience Network to apply for new cost-sharing in support of forest management practices.
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Publications and Information
In 2025 we published 9 newsletters, 7 event announcements, and 2 'Extra' reflections -- distributed to our growing mailing list including local, regional, and national individuals and organizations.
An educational collaboration in 2025 by John Smith and UNC-Chapel Hill computer science students added a new capability to our website chicorylane.com. A chatbot can now respond to informational queries about ChicoryLane itself or to queries about this place in relation to the larger world.
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ChicoryLane is an ecological reserve near Spring Mills protected by a conservation easement held by Clearwater Conservancy. Its 68 acres are actively managed for conservation.
The landscape is natural and scenic. It includes wetlands and meadows, streams, remnant and successional forests, and a grassland. This diversity of habitats is especially inviting to birds and butterflies. A system of mowed trails makes most of the property accessible to walkers.
| | ChicoryLane Foundation is a Pennsylvania nonprofit corporation and 501c3 private operating foundation. | | | | |
