September proved to be a great month for mushrooms this year. David and I have been watching the fungi growing and working to identify edibles. Our bolete/Cepes from August turned out to be bitter boletes and were not really the culinary delight we hoped. We never did taste the one pictured in my column last month. Probably just as well. However, there were plenty of readily identifiable mushrooms to be found and enjoyed. While we found quite a few chanterelles, they did not end up becoming the huge masses of them I have found in the past. Still, there were plenty to enjoy fresh and to dry for use this winter. In addition, we have found quite a few horn of plenty, aka black chanterelle, hen of the woods, chicken of the woods, red chanterelles and crown coral mushrooms. I used combinations of these species in various recipes, and they have all turned out great.

We hosted a few tours of the property during the month including the Forest Stewards class of 2021 and the Tree Farm of the Year inspection team. The latter, in part, led to our property being named Tree Farm of the Year for 2021. While we are very honored and humbled, I know there are others out there likely more deserving the recognition. Next year, do not hesitate to nominate a Tree Farm that you know is doing exemplary work and whose owners are actively involved in promoting sustainable forestry in PA. There is a lot of good going on out there. Much more needs to be done. During this tour, I confirmed that the white mold on the regenerating oak in our warbler cut is just that, white mold. The wet summer along with the dense regeneration we are getting contributed to the moist and sheltered conditions that the mold thrives in. It does not appear to harm the plants which continue to grow above browse height. I especially enjoyed Gary Gilmore, who I call Mr. Charcoal, hopping off trail to explore every charcoal flat I pointed out to him. He dug up pieces of charcoal and could tell what wood they came from by the grain. He is a great promoter of biochar for use in gardens among other applications. Charcoal and its uses are worth looking into.

The Forest Stewards class took a hike to the ridge to view the golden winged warbler cut on the Bryans’ section of the property. All the owners (Martha & Harry Bryans, David Brown, Olivia and Mark Ott) were on hand which was good as the class spread out along the route and only coalesced at the ridge top. They then spread out again on the way down. Poor Allyson had a hard time getting them all in one place to speak to features of the property she wanted to highlight. Herding cats. Every one of those in the class were enthusiastic, knowledgeable, enquiring and just plain enjoyable to chat with. I could have spent several days in the woods with that group versus the 2.5 hours we had. Groups like that give me hope for the future of Penn’s Woods. Hats off to the Centre for Private Forests and Dr. Allyson Muth for the continued training of the Forest Stewards. These Stewards become leaders and promoters of sustainable forestry. Consider nominating someone to join the class next year or nominate yourself. For the private forest landowner, this training will greatly benefit you and your forest more than any other single seminar, webinar or zoom meeting. It is a 4 year forestry degree crammed into a long weekend. Your training will also benefit PA Forests as you go out and speak to that which you have learned. It is invaluable and worth your time to take on.

My brother came up and we managed to get the roof back on the deer stand that had blown over. It is now in a more sheltered location on the edge of one of those charcoal flats looking down from the ridgetop overlooking several hillside deer trails. While doing that work, our new dog Sassafras was busy digging near a stump for what I figured was a chipmunk. She eventually came over and dropped a rather large box turtle at our feet. As we were done the job and getting ready to leave, we returned the turtle to where it came from, built up its shelter and made sure the dog was distracted and left it alone. We have not had a squirrel on the bird feeders since Sassafras has arrived. She is very put out by any rodent even glancing at the feeders. She is in constant hunt mode for chipmunks and squirrels but has yet to get one. I have watched them come out one end of a pile of fence posts while she is furiously digging at the other end. I have watched them run from the grass right past her nose, yet she continues to snuffle the grass in pursuit. She has a lot to learn for an 8-year-old city dog. Keeping squirrels from the feeders is a priceless benefit. She’s working out just fine.

The Pennsylvania Forestry Association spent the month finalizing the Annual Symposium. The format and date changed suddenly with the news of Dr. Jim Finley’s death in a logging accident on October 2nd. Jim’s passing is a devastating shock to all who knew him. In my mind he was the modern equivalent of Joseph Rothrock and Gifford Pinchot combined. It is hard to say how many lives he has affected with his patient, friendly and passionate advocacy of sustainable forest management. Certainly tens of thousands of students, landowners, foresters, loggers, government agents and the general public have interacted with him over the years. He shared his knowledge freely and sincerely. When he was helping you with a question, you felt his strong interest in making sure you had the information you needed. Jim & his wife Linda were a team that breathed life into so many aspects of PA Forests including the PFA, The Centre for Private Forests and the PSU School of Forest Science. Doubtless there are many more organizations that benefited from his presence that I don’t know about. Jim turned wood into beautiful bowls, many of which he donated for benefit auctions for various organizations. Winning a Finley bowl was a real coup at these auctions. He often prodded me to come to his home and learn how to turn wood. I was always too busy but looked forward to when I could spend that time with him. I will regret not making the time for that, and I understand I am not the only one that was invited and failed to follow through in time. That should be a lesson to all of us.

Having been on many woods walks with Jim either with Forest Steward classes, with his PSU class touring our property, Woodland Owner Group tours of properties or on a tour of PSU experimental forests, I noticed something that I had to poke Jim about. He would often stop next to a tree and ask the group who knew what kind of tree it was. People would guess, scratch their heads, look to others for the answer. After a bit, Jim would pipe up and say it is a (whatever the tree was). As I watched this occur on every walk with him, I began to think that maybe Jim didn’t know either and once he assured himself that nobody else in the group knew, he could name the tree whatever he wanted to. Jim, in fact, knew his trees very well. We all sorely miss him.

The Symposium has been moved to a virtual format and will occur on November 2nd and 4th starting at 6:00 p.m. each night. You can register online at paforestry.org. Please join us for the PFA annual meeting, educational presentations and presentation of the annual awards. All registration fees will be set aside for donation to whatever the Finley family decides is an appropriate memorial for Jim. We had a very short time to decide how to move forward with the Symposium and get the word out about the change of date and venue. I know at least one person did not get the messages we sent and traveled to State College for the cancelled live event. To that person and any others I have not heard about, I apologize. We tried our best to be timely and informative with our updates as we established a path forward. We just could not hold this event so soon after the sad news came to us. I personally would have been in tears all day and unable to speak. Our hearts are broken. The best way to keep Jim’s legacy alive is to ensure his efforts and the sustainability of PA forests are supported in perpetuity. Do your part, and more.

Be SAFE,

Mark Ott

Welcome: Mark Ott, President, Pennsylvania Forestry Association

Prepare for Meeting with A Consulting Forester | John Hudson, Owner, Hudson Forestry Services

There’s an App for that! | Matt Sampson, NE Regional Director of Forest Operations, The Forestland Group

PFA Annual Meeting, Election Results, and Awards

Welcome: Mark Ott, President, Pennsylvania Forestry Association

Drones in Forestry: Applications, Regulations, the Future | Harold Thistle, Owner, TEALS LLC

Story Maps: A Cohesive Story of Your Forest and Woods | Clare Boerigter, Communications Intern, Minnesota Forest Resources Council

LiDAR-based Individual Tree Detection for Forest Inventory | Jeff Hershey, M.S. Graduate Assistant, Penn State University

Chesapeake Bay Foundation Awards: Brenda Sieglitz

DCNR Bureau of Forestry Update: Pennsylvania State Forester

Tree Farm Of the Year & Tree Farm Inspector of the Year Recognition

I traveled to Rebecca Triggers Keystone Woodland and Field tour in Jefferson to take part in the 2020 Tree Farm of the Year Field Day. Other than a brief shower, it was a pleasant sunny day in southwestern PA. The tour started with a hands-on demonstration by DCNR service forester Russell Gibbs demonstrating control of Tree of Heaven using a hack and squirt treatment of glyphosate herbicide as a low-cost solution to eliminating this invasive tree. He instructed several attendees in easily completing this treatment. This was followed by Rebecca Trigger demonstrating how she controls vines using a battery powered pole saw on her tree farm.

Across the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, hundreds of people welcomed changing leaves and cooling air by taking a Walk in Penn’s Woods on the first weekend in October! Sunday, October 3 marked the official 5th installment of Walk in Penn’s Woods, and walks hosted across the state welcomed folks of all ages and abilities to learn, enjoy, and get engaged with forests and natural resources. Some walks involved bird watching, some taught tree identification, others pointed to artistic representations of our forests, and some were about getting communities and friends together to enjoy time with one another. People also took to the woods in their own way, hiking trails and traversing their own land, and reported about their woodland adventure to receive stickers and Penn’s Woods learning resources. 

The Pennsylvania Forestry Association, with the other active supporters of the Walk in Penn’s Woods collaboration, is excited about the stories and adventures Walk in Penn’s Woods has created over the last five years; we look forward to a future of many more. Thank you to all of the hosts, partners, and sponsors who make this special event happen each year. 

Mark your calendars for next year and plan to take a Walk in Penn’s Woods on Sunday, October 2, 2022!  

Sunday, October 31, 2021 — 1:30 pm

Prescribed Fire — Tour of Recent Prescribed Fire Site; Discussion of the

Process of Conducting a Prescribed Fire

Spruce Run Road, Union County

For more information, contact President Fred Fries at (570) 784-8490.

Designed to increase working tree knowledge and professional arborist skills, successful completion of the four-day Arborist Short Course will prepare participants for the ISA Certified Arborist exam, as well as improve their marketability. This certification designates a level of professionalism that most arborists do not have.

Day 1: Tue., Sep. 28, 2021

(9:00 AM - 5:00 PM ET)

Day 2: Thu., Oct. 7, 2021

(9:00 AM - 4:00 PM ET)

Day 3: Fri., Oct. 8, 2021

(9:00 AM - 5:00 PM ET)

Day 4: Tue., Oct. 12, 2021

(9:00 AM - 4:00 PM ET)

Penn State Extension York County

2401 Pleasant Valley Rd.

York, PA 17402

PHILADELPHIA (October 7, 2021) – The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency announced a $498,673 grant today to the Pennsylvania Department of Conservation and Natural Resources to enhance its wetlands program for state parks and forests.

“Wetlands are a primary component of Pennsylvania’s environment, which contribute greatly to the state’s ability to protect water quality and natural resources,” said EPA Mid-Atlantic Acting Regional Administrator Diana Esher. “This award focuses on developing a strategic plan for enhancing wetlands across all state park and state forest lands.”

Pennsylvania is using funding to assess the condition of wetlands on state lands and identify wetlands in need of management to restore lost or impacted ecosystem functions. Lands being assessed would include more than 700,000 acres of state forest land off-limits to resource extraction, as well 1.5 million acres of state forest land where some type of resource extraction is allowed.

The project will identify high conservation value wetlands and put together a plan to support the protection of critical habitat for rare wildlife and plant species.

The funds were provided through EPA’s Wetland Program Development Grant program, which enables state, local and tribal governments to conduct a range of projects that promote research and pollution reduction efforts related to wetlands.

For more information on the program, visit: https://www.epa.gov/wetlands/wetland-program-development-grants-and-epa-wetlands-grant-coordinators

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"Nature’s capacity to reforest is in exponential decline due to fire severity and frequency. Existing tools and nursery supply chains are woefully inadequate to fill the gap."

Enter Droneseed, a company that's developed drones specifically designed to plant seeds in areas ravaged by wildfires.

The five-year-old company, which employs 60 and works primarily on the West Coast, aims to replace human tree planters, who it says are growing scarce in number. The company says drones can get the job done faster than humans. Deployed in groups of five, they can cover 50 acres per day - whereas an individual human covers about two.

Droneseed says the increased speed and automation can save landowners 30-50 percent in reforestation costs.

Drones are around eight feet long and don't just carry seeds. They carry a 60-pound proprietary blend of seeds, fertilizer, nutrients, and natural pest deterrents. Seeds also don't need to be buried in the ground.

Machine learning and imaging are also applied, further improving efficiency.

"Our customers have millions of acres of land and — without intervention — 90% of those forests could be lost in 20 years in the highest risk areas," Droneseed says on its website. "Better tools are needed."

The company hasn't said how many trees have been planted so far. It hasn't revealed its customer's names either, only that three of them are of the top five largest timber companies in the U.S.

Learn more here: https://droneseed.com/ 

Audubon Mid-Atlantic's newest resource for Pennsylvania is here, along with two updated companion publications. Designed for industry professionals, including consulting and public-lands foresters, Healthy Forests: A Bird-based Silvicultural Guide for Forestry Professionals, is chock full of silviculture guidance, management scenarios, and ideas for successful bird-friendly forestry. 

Available alongside the Healthy Forests Guide are two companion pieces: the Forest Birds Pocket Guide and the Healthy Forests Quick Start Guide.   

The Forest Birds Pocket Guide includes detailed descriptions of the habitat and forest conditions needed by 18 priority bird species in Pennsylvania. It’s an easy-to-use companion to the Healthy Forests Guide with supplemental material to help inform management decisions for priority birds. 

Our Healthy Forests Quick Start Guide is the perfect tool for those of you who are already familiar with incorporating bird-friendly practices into forest management prescriptions. It’s concise, relevant, and easy to use, with everything you need on just a single page.