October. What a glorious month. Despite dire predictions of dull fall colors due to the dry conditions, it has been spectacular. There are a lot changes in this month. The goldfinch males transitioned to their dull winter colors. We have seen no late hummingbirds, yet a couple fresh feeders are out for them if needed. The deer have suddenly lost the scruffy, fly-bitten, lethargic summer look. They now exhibit the sleek alert look that fall and winter twilight drivers, hikers and hunters are familiar with. They look “smoothed out”, as a young child once described an exotic car to me after we spotted it on the highway.

The towhees are gone and the juncos and white throated sparrows have arrived. There are reports of many evening grosbeaks showing up around the state. We have enjoyed these colorful visitors several times in other random years and hope to see them this time around. The usual chickadees, nuthatches and titmice are coming in voraciously to the feeders with the nuthatches most abundant. I suspect there is less natural food available due to late frost and dry conditions. The squirrels that I keep trying to outsmart are also prolific and quite intent on overcoming any obstacle to reach the feeders. They may also be finding less in the forest to meet their needs. It seems there are less of certain species we are used to seeing. There are but a few blue jays coming around and their calls are eerily less heard in the forest. Same with cardinals, crows and ravens. West Nile virus is our suspect. Another distressing discovery was a few gypsy moth caterpillars this past summer. Now as I work in the woods, I am finding egg masses here and there. I destroy the ones I can reach but some are 40’ up an oak in the middle of the woods. We haven’t had a major outbreak of these since the 1980’s. I’m hoping natural controls keep them within reason.

In preparation for rifle deer season, along with my brother and granddaughter, we assessed our current deer stands and built a new one. When we started hunting deer 40 years ago we built stands in trees using scrap wood from the local sawmill and lots of nails. Then I started becoming informed on the care of one’s forest. On a forest tour of a woodland owners association member’s property we saw some beautiful home built deer stands. They did not damage the trees. They were built to stand independently, keep the occupants dry and fairly out of the wind with space for at least two people. One had been built with a ramp for wheelchair access.

We ran with this idea and built our first “skybox.” We looked carefully for the appropriate place and generally have been successful in getting them where deer move through. The first built was by a guest hunter who paid for all new pressure treated lumber and plywood. It was beautiful and the envy of us who were still without roofs. That stand was eventually destroyed by a tree falling in a microburst. The second skybox replaced a stand we had high in the space between 3 very tall oaks that grew from the same stump. When there was wind, that stand moved – a lot. We called it the roller coaster. We pulled every nail and board from those trees and built a true skybox in front of the tree. The floor is 16’ off the ground and the roof is 8’ above that. We have hauled a wooden child’s outdoor play set, after removing the sliding board and swing set, to a spot at the top of a side hollow. We installed a bench, put on a roof and it was ready to go. The built in ladder works well to get up into it.

This year, as we increase the number of family hunters from among the younger crowd, we needed another stand. We placed it at the western end of the 12 acre golden winged warbler cut. It has great views of various edges and related deer trails. It also has great views of the Bald Eagle Ridge, the State Park and the Allegheny plateau. We especially want to thin the herd in this area to help the forest regeneration in the cut. We now build with scraps from other building projects, fence posts, old deck boards and various odd cuts of plywood. The roof is covered with used rubber roofing obtained from a contractor replacing the roof of a commercial building. Deer hunting has come a long way. Comfort and patience is the key on those cold windy days. That has helped us keep the interest of the younger hunters. If they don’t freeze, they stay happy. Imagine.

I planted more paw paw trees that came this fall from a spring order. More exciting is the paw paw seeds I obtained at the Farm Show and from paw paws John Laskowski had brought to the Annual Symposium, had sprouted after 3 months of tending and protecting from chipmunks. This was the third try and it is great to finally see them come up. Three months to germinate! I had given up hope but still kept the containers moist all summer and it paid off. We are looking forward to this addition to our creek bottom.

A lot of change is going on. Seasonal changes, the numbers of some species, deer habits as forest management changes the look of the land, invasives that have resisted eradication, and the people that are out in the woods. The interest of those younger people is essential to continued sustainability of our forests. The interest of all those heading to the woods instead of the movies, concerts and sports for recreation are also a large change. Outdoor supplies are at a premium. What a great opportunity to educate the public on the value of our forests. Also changing are the revenues used to support our forest activities. New on the horizon for private forest landowners is the Carbon Market. While this has provided income for large corporate forest holdings, it is generally unavailable to the smaller privately owned forest plots. As those plots make up the majority of the forest in PA, it makes sense for those dealing in carbon credits to find a way to enroll interested landowners. The American Forest Foundation, parent organization of the Tree Farm Program, along with The Nature Conservancy, is piloting a program in several counties in two areas of the state. This will soon be expanded to the rest of the state. Watch for news on how to enroll if you wish to do so. There are some restrictions on management practices in current contracts. Our PA Tree Farm Coordinators are working with AFF to address the fact that though some landowners would like to sell carbon credits, they do not like that they may be restricted in certain forest management practices. Hopefully the program gets tweaked to the point that it allows for active management while still sequestering plenty of carbon.

This past week the PFA held the Annual Symposium online over 5 days of lunchtimes. The programs each day were great. The speakers were informative and worth hearing. We hope to have the recordings of the sessions up on the website soon. Holding the Symposium online was another change, though we are getting used to this online form of meetings. We had an average of 85 attendees each day and reached a high of 93 on Friday. This is many more than we get at the in person Symposium events in the past. While the online meetings do not provide the social aspect of us getting together and catching up, the numbers tell us that people are interested in attending but perhaps not travelling to an in person meeting. The committee will be meeting to assess the Symposium and will be looking at the format. Next year may be in person if we are able to do so at the time. Perhaps there will be an online option for those who cannot or do not wish to travel to be there. Times are changing. The theme of this year’s Symposium was Exploring Change in Penn's Woods. There is certainly plenty of change going on – much more than I have listed here. Let us make the best of these changes, save what we can and embrace that which will make things better.

Be Safe,

Mark Ott