Columbines and rain

After Leslie planted half of the Coral Bells on Saturday, we stopped by the plant nursery and picked up 8 Ilex, winterberry holly--Jim Dandy (3) and Berry Nice (5)-- and three flats of Aquilegia, Columbines-- Green Apple, Mini-Star, and Caerulea-- to go in between the Heuchera, Coral Bells--Bronze Wave, and _______________________.
Since the nursery was on our way to the State College Brew Expo at Tussy Mountain we checked off  2 jobs with one car ride.  We found Boaks had a couple of interesting beers (Monster Mash and 2 Blind Monks) that we'd never had before. The rest of the vendors were regulars.  The outdoor venue was good at spreading people out, but the porta-potty situation wasn't good (What were they thinking only having a few?)  Food was a la cart (extra cost).  Music (local) added to the experience; noise in my ears but a lot of people seemed to enjoy as they picnicked on blankets.  Cigars and smoking we could have done without.
Sunday dawned threatening so right after the early dog walk we began work to dig everything in before thunderstorms hit us.  Plant, then eat.  The gulley washer storms hit shortly after breakfast. A tornado warning was issued; most places in the University Park forecast area got at least an inch of rain and some hail was reported with 30-50 mph winds.  Rain water was running down the flagstone pathway like a river, so Leslie jumped out in the rain to create a few breaks in the shoulders for the water to run off and away from the house.  We had a creek running between the hill and the path for a while.  I'll have to do some design modifications to level the shoulders down to the flagstones to allow the rain water to run off in the next storm.
On our last dog walk, I watched a bear watch Paul on the tractor as he redistributed driveway stone washed out in the heavy rain.  The dogs and I were in our meadow.  The bear was peeking around R&D's dogwood tree near the culvert.  It was alone and I couldn't tell if it was collared or ear notched.  Neither dog saw it but Buddy smelled it when we got to the locust tree line.
Pictures of the Woodland Owners Field Day at Pionke's, a gypsy moth devastated forest near Moshannon.

Happy Birthday Gambol

1 year old today; a spoonful of "Peachy Paterno" to celebrate. We took him to the Boalsburg Memorial Day celebration. He actually does better off leash than on; he really tugs even with the collar up around his ears, but off leash we can walk at a good heel for a long time. He didn't mind being hugged by a little girl who just snuck up on us and didn't ask for permission. And he didn't pay much attention to all the other dogs also out for a stroll.
Rain all day today but not until after our sunrise walk. The forest canopy is thick and makes the paths very dark now, so with the dark clouds and some fog it was kind of eerie stepping into the Dark. Hopefully cutting some of the grapes off at the roots will help the light supply more than it hurts the food supply. Gypsy moths seem to have collapsed; I've killed a few but unless they are really late (spraying has already ended in other parts of the county) I think we are safe for now. That's one invasive checked off for the year.

Traveling chicks

We went to a Pennsylvania Forest Stewards training weekend and didn't have a chick sitter so we piled all the girls into their Rubbermaid tub and off we went to Towanda/Wyomissing/Sugar Run. If they'd been older than 1.5 weeks, or if the temp had been in the 80s at night, or if I'd asked someone to chick sit, they wouldn't have been traveling girls. They stayed in the car or in the shade and drank bottled water. Usually I came back to a chick sitting above the crowd on top of the feed jar, casually surveying her realm. She didn't especially like being dumped off.
All worked out well, but when I tossed them in their tractor today, they ran around, flapped their wings and chirped for joy. They flapped and stretched, and ran all over the place. I put 2 round sticks on the first red brace. They seemed to enjoy racing up the stick or hopping over it. They can walk on the red braces like balance beams and easily fly over them too. We fed them blueberries and called "Here girls" as we poked a berry through the net. I think it's more the fingers through the net that gets them excited than the "here girls".
A couple have discovered how to use the small-mammal drinking bottle. They stick their beaks right up the tube, pushing the ball aside and letting the water drip down their throats. I painted the tube-end with nail polish to help catch their attention. The bottle would have made life much easier in the car but they hadn't figured it out yet. Of course, once one learns something the rest bombard her for lessons. We caught a couple of nice soft grasshoppers: chaos reigned. The chicklet that caught the grasshopper ran all over the tractor, showing off or maybe trying to keep her catch. Everyone else tore after her to grab it away, stepping on sisters, flapping over crowds to catch up, or simply to see what the ruckus is all about. The poor grasshopper changed beaks 4 or more times on a typical race, much the worse for wear.
When I called them, "Hey, girls" to go in for the night, some actually came to me. When I put the first several back in their overnight tub they immediately scratched the dust all over themselves, dust bath-like. We're using the water bottle hanging from the side now instead of the water dish. One daring chick preferred not to be caught. She stayed just out of fingers' reach, crying loudly for her sisters. I finally lured her in with a blueberry. I wonder if Tyson or the Colonel know this trick.



While we were gone something big and/or persistent ate and/or dragged away all the bones from all 4 of the carcasses we had at the bait shoppe by the Toy Shed. The last groundhog should have been nicely cooked and easily tracked by nose by now, but it was nowhere to be found. Even the bones of the older kills were gone. The game camera shot this coyote on Friday and several raccoons and lots of crows and vultures on Saturday and Sunday morning. Persistence is the name I guess.

While surveying for gypsy moth egg cases along the eastern Lower Jennifer Trail, we flushed 3 ruffed grouse. As usual, we were as startled by their noise as they were by ours.

Early Summer Flora and Fauna of the Barony

This year in Pennsylvania we are having a bumper crop of 17 year locust. Apparently every year there is a hatch of a different brood of these cicadas, but this brood is typically has a large population of insects hatch out, and sure enough, this year is no exception. There are red-eyed locust, about 2 1/2 inches long. Their call is muted from the normal screeching of a cicada that you hear in the heat of the summer. In fact, this cicada brood sounds to me like the "death ray" from War of the Worlds, sort of metallic and with a slight wavering tone. Anyway, we have these little critters flying about and crawling all over the trees, looking for a mate. They only have a life-cycle that lasts about 4 weeks, so they have to get busy quickly, and that is why they give off their call almost 24 hours a day. There are some times, during the middle of the night and even in the daytime during a particularly cloudy or rainy period that the calls are silent, but otherwise their calls are a background noise. The Baroness has been on a mission to kill off as many as she can (I guess she doesn't want to see as many in 17 years). It is very easy to catch the cicadas as they wait on the branches of trees, looking for a date. In the attached picture you can see 7 cicadas on a dogwood tree branch, just about at eye level (notice the drops of water on the leaves of the trees--we had a pretty good rain last night and this morning the cicadas were out on the wet leaves). If you are gentle and quick, you could probably catch each one of the 7 cicadas you see in this picture. As long as you don't shake the tree branch and move quickly, the cicadas don't react. In fact, just walking around in our forest and meadow you are likely to have one of these guys land right on you--which isn't all that much fun. They can't hurt you but they sure can scare you.

The down hill side of the Toy Shed is filling with wild flowers, some native and some not so. This coryopsis and bee are my new screensaver.


BT did a good job on the gypsy moths as far as we can tell now. We have a few totally defoliated trees and many are raggedy, but we don't hear the constant rain of their frass and when I go on my cicada stomping walk-about, I only find a handful of gyp-cats. Hurrah! The Bt didn't get every caterpillar because we still have butterflies.



A new bird for the year (and life) list: a hooded warbler. He sang to me for 15 minutes just off the upper Jennifer Trail. At one point he flitted off to catch a moth and was about 10 feet from me almost on the ground.

Since we weeded yesterday, this guy is helping us keep the small things at bay.

Tube forest

The Mothers' Day compost pile is about 2/3 gone. We've planted and mulched with it and can hear the happy plants singing. We haven't gotten the transport bill for this pile but are wondering if we should order another truck load. Father's Day is just around the corner.

The locusts that we put in last year are now tubed with the new mesh tubes that let more air and wind into the tree so they don't grow as fast but grow stronger while still being protected from the deer. They still need to be sprayed for weeds and mulched. We bought the tubes and bamboo stakes from BenMeadows, a forestry resources catalog, as much like Lowes as Walmart is like Neiman Marcus. Just the line of tubes may make an effective snow fence.


This is the new black walnut plantation in the lower back meadow. There's not much room to plant more. The Baron promised to take a year off next year from ordering more seedlings from Penn Nursery. Even if the price is irresistible, bundles of 100 is too many trees to plant.

On the gypsy moth front, on an inspection tour close to the house tonight we saw lots of 3/4" caterpillars in the inverted V. We've had 4 great days of eating weather so perhaps they've feasted on Bt and have exploding guts although ultra violet rays from the sun reduce the activity of the material to less than half after 48 hours and it can take 10 days to kill substantial numbers. Ours seem to be at the right size. Tim Cole suggested that the weather has been good for a collapse.

Other news from the Barony includes the gas and oil leasing companies that are courting Centre County. We are looking to pool our acres to get a better negotiation. For now we are watching Natural Gas Lease Forum to see what is happening around our area.

Sunday, May. 25, 2008
NATURAL GAS RUSH
Anne Danahy and Jennifer Thomas- Centre Daily Times
Snow Shoe Township resident Don Morgan thought $200 an acre for gas rights to his 48-acre property sounded like a good deal, especially compared with the $3.50 an acre he gets each year under a soon-to-expire lease.


A natural gas well is drilled last week along State Line Road north of Snow Shoe. According to the state Department of Environmental Protection, 4,183 wells were drilled in the state in 2006, up from from 1,354 in 2000.


Then he heard about other landowners getting offers of $600, $800 and even $2,500 an acre in some places.


“I don’t feel like I was ripped off, but you feel like you got left out,” said Morgan. “I did what I thought was the right thing at the time.”


He’s one of many Pennsylvania residents flooded with offers from gas companies combing the state in hopes of tapping into gas reserves.


Natural gas is a hot commodity. Demand is climbing for energy — particularly clean-burning energy that doesn’t have to be imported — and natural gas prices have increased sharply, if not steadily.


And recent research opened the door to the possibility that an area stretching from southern New York through western Pennsylvania and into Ohio and West Virginia contains vast amounts of natural gas in a layer of rock known as the Marcellus shale.


It’s led to something of a “gas rush.”


According to the state Department of Environmental Protection, a record-setting 7,297 gas and oil drilling permits were processed in 2006, a 21 percent increase over 2005. The number of wells drilled climbed from 1,354 in 2000 to 4,183 in 2006.


Specialists with Cooperative Extension have been holding meetings across the state in an effort to let landowners know what factors they should consider before signing away their gas rights. Tom Murphy, Lycoming County Cooperative Extension educator, said about 13,000 people have participated in the seminars so far. He said interest has been growing as companies are looking at drilling into the Marcellus shale.


State College-based Rex Energy is snapping up natural gas rights to properties in northern Centre County and Clearfield counties in hopes of capitalizing on that, said CEO Ben Hulburt.


“This has the potential to really change Pennsylvania’s economy in the next several decades,” he said, positioning the state as a leader nationwide in natural gas.


Hulburt said Rex has leases signed for 20,000 acres, a figure he hopes to double by year’s end, with $60 million dedicated to leasing acreage in the Marcellus shale in Pennsylvania


What makes the find so interesting to companies is that it taps into a new well of natural gas that previously had been inaccessible, he said.


Companies had previously relied on natural gas that had seeped up into sandstone layers above the shale. Sandstone is permeable and easier to tap, he said.


But new technology is available that fractures the shale with a substance such as water, and frees the natural gas from the ground, Hulburt said


“It’s these cracks, these fractures that allow the gas to flow,” he said.


The shale in Centre and Clinton counties is between 100 and 150 feet thick, while in other areas it can be as much as 250 feet thick, he said.


He said Rex has drilled two vertical test wells into Marcellus to about 8,000 feet. He expects the Marcellus wells to cost about $4 million compared to about $200,000 for shallow wells. Rex could drill between 30 and 40 wells a year if it pans out.


“We’re very pleased with them,” he said, adding that the company is not commenting beyond that at this time.


Letters for leasing


Hulburt is not alone in his search for natural gas locally.


Many landowners in the Snow Shoe area received a letter in May from a Minnesota company inviting them to consider leasing their oil and gas rights.


“Your participation will enable you to share in the profits of this venture,” reads the letter from Western Land Services Inc.


Congressman John Peterson also thinks natural gas drilling is set to become a bright spot in the local economy amid a growing global energy crunch.


“I think Pennsylvania will become an energy state. A major energy state,” he said.


It comes at a time when more than 62 percent of homes are heated with natural gas, and prices are expected to climb another 40 to 50 percent in the next year, he added.


Natural gas is used in everything including plastics, fertilizer and the production of ethanol, he said. And 17 percent of natural gas used in the U.S. is still being imported.


Peterson said Pennsylvania is poised to be the largest natural gas producer in the nation. “This is not a short term thing,” he said. “The industry thinks it’s for real.”


The discovery comes at a time when new potential supplies are declining. “The natural gas market in the U.S. gets tighter and tighter every year to find more natural gas,” Hulburt said.


The Marcellus discovery could change that and shift away from shallow drilling.


North Coast Energy, an Akron, Ohio, subsidiary of Exco Resources Inc., started drilling a well in Burnside Township in April in hopes of tapping into those reserves.


President Wendy Straatmann said the project will cost between $4 million and $5 million. It’s a slow process and North Coast likely won’t know whether it’s successful until late this year.


Straatmann said the drilling area is about 4.5 acres, but she sees the size of the area known as a drilling pad shrinking over time as businesses learn how to make them smaller.


“It costs us money to make them big,” she said. “It’s in our best interest to make them as small as we can.”


Once the well is complete, most of the site will be reclaimed with grasses and apple trees.


That’s little consolation to Dan Hall, of Snow Shoe.


The mineral rights to his property — like that of many property owners in that area — were sold before his dad bought the property, which he now owns with his brother and two sisters.


Two years ago, there were two wells on this property. Now there are five, two of which are less than 1,000 feet apart.


The past several years have been an ongoing battle with the gas companies that came onto his land to drill and left him with a patchwork of roads criss-crossing his woods and wells taking up about five acres of his land.


He’s been working toward a settlement with the gas company, but each time there’s an ownership change it seems further away, he said.


“It’s just really frustrating,” Hall said.


He urged those who still own their rights to be cautious in selling those rights.


“You’ll make a lot of money, but you’re basically selling your soul, I think,” Hall said.


Get it in writing, make sure documents outline what control you’ll have of the land and how they’ll leave the property, he said. Being involved from day one will help determine where roads, wells and lines will be located.


“They’ll promise you the world,” he said.


Problems with drilling


Rodney Preslovich, chairman of Snow Shoe Township Board of Supervisors, said widespread drilling has created problems for the township.


“We get a lot of complaints,” Preslovich said. “When the gas wells go in there, the upkeep of the roads is terrible.”


The Snow Shoe Borough Water Authority had problems too. In November 2005, the water level in one of its wells dropped, and it went from pumping 300 gallons per minute to about 225. The state Department of Environmental Protection found that the change was caused by drilling by Great Lakes Energy Partners LLC, now known as Range Resources-Appalachia LLC.


Range Resources denies causing the problem but has signed an agreement to notify the DEP and the authority before drilling within a mile of the well protection area. Authority President Gary Fox said he thinks that should be part of the standard regulations.


Fox said the company also agreed to pay about $40,000 to the authority to cover the estimated cost of addressing the water level.


Shane Barnyak spent almost a year negotiating the leasing rights for his 28 acres in Burnside Township about eight years ago, making sure addenda to protect his country lifestyle were added.


But he’s still learning the ins and outs. He declined to say what he was paid per acre for the lease. He has one well on his property, which pays him a 12.5 percent of royalty as per law.


“Hindsight is 20-20,” he said “We learned a lot in the meantime. We may have been able to do better.”


That’s what Cooperative Extension is trying to help property owners accomplish with the gas drilling workshops. Murphy said one of the most common questions landowners have is what should be added to a lease to make it more favorable to the property owner. Options include shortening a lease from 10 years to 5 years or taking out a clause that automatically extends a lease.


A lawyer can help a landowner with those negotiations.


Barnyak said it’s important to understand the consequences of owning a piece of land when someone else owns the gas rights.


“They have the right to go pursue that gas and oil,” he said.

Spray zone

We were awakened about 0615 by the thrum of a low-flying helicopter; at 46 degrees and calm, no rain forecast for several days, it's perfect weather for spraying Bacillus thuringiensis (Bt), a biological insecticide which has no known adverse human health or environmental impacts. The insecticide will be applied at low volume (½ gallon per acre) by aircraft, either helicopter or fixed wing, flying approximately 50 feet above the treetops.
We are green today but all the trees, especially oaks, have gunshot like holes in the leaves. Hopefully, the Bt will last long enough to do its work.
Meanwhile we are still cleaning and planting trees and the vegetable garden. The compost is almost half gone. This should be a great work weekend.

Thursday, May. 22, 2008 Centre Daily News
Drier weather to speed gypsy moth spraying
Spraying for gypsy moths is expected to pick up Friday as dry weather arrives in Centre County.


Wet weather got in the way of spraying the state and county had planned for Tuesday and Wednesday. But the warm, dry weather forecast beginning Friday and stretching through early next week is expected to create ideal conditions for spraying, according to the county.


Four helicopters will begin spraying in Boggs, College, Ferguson, Halfmoon, Harris, Huston, Patton, Rush and Snow Shoe townships and State College Borough.


For details on the areas to be sprayed in each municipality, visit www.co.centre.pa.us and click on the "Gypsy Moth Program" link.


Officials say the gypsy moths in the Rush Township and Moshannon Valley regions have not yet reached a stage of larval development that would make spraying most effective. But by this weekend, those areas, including Black Moshannon State Park, also should be ready for spraying, according to the county’s Web site.


Spraying during Memorial Day weekend will be limited to mornings.


The county is participating in the state Department of Conservation and Natural


Resources program, which uses a low dose of Bacillus thuringiensis, a biological insecticide. Altogether, 48,158 acres in Centre County are slated to be sprayed.


According to a state Bureau of Forestry Web site that is updated daily, 15 percent of the spraying planned in Centre County had been completed by Wednesday morning.

How are tent caterpillars like chewing tobacco?

Every night after dinner we go out to hunt caterpillars. We wear leather gloves and grab a handful and squash them. What's left is a wet handful of black and green goo that looks amazingly like a wad of chewing tobacco. They are both smelly and dangerous to health.
We noticed the gypsy moth cats have hatched right on time. With any luck the cold (last night was 32.9 degrees) and damp will last long enough to kill them. The cats are less than 1/8th inch and are still massing around the egg mass. It's time to call in the big guns of sevin and aerial sprays.

Easter Sunday

We spent the day working in the woods. I collected what I’m calling “forest caviar”—gypsy moth egg cases. I harvested 3-32 oz cottage cheese tubs full then dumped them into the burning trash barrel. They made a very satisfying snap, crackle and pop as they cooked, but they stink. We didn’t eat them. I certainly didn’t save our forest, and probably didn’t even save a tree, but it did make me feel good to kill as many as I did. Like the little boy who made a difference to some starfish as he threw them back into the ocean after they were stranded by a storm surge, I made a difference to a few gypsy moths by roasting them. Bwohhahahahaha!

More gypsy moths this year

We could have a long cold, wet spring but although that would be good for killing the caterpillers it would also kill turkey poults. The PA DCNR Bureau of Forestry will be conducting an aerial spray program in Centre County in May. We've paid for our spray block, but that's only a 500' radius around the house, 23 acres. That leaves a lot of trees unprotected. A biological spray material, Bacillus thuringiensis (Bt), will be used. It is completely nonchemical and affects only leaf-eating caterpillars. However, Bt may not kill all of the gypsy moth caterpillars. Eradicoat was also suggested so I've ordered 2 gallons. We'll start on Blueberry Hill and work our way spraying a 12" band around every tree along the property line. Between the 2 types of sprays and some bug picking, we will have done what we can do.
Mention was made of the big Tussey Mt/Bear Meadows fire as directly related to the gypsy moth peak in the 80's. The downed wire caused the fire, but the extent was caused by the quantity of dead trees.

Gypsy moth update

an interesting post The Chemistry of Caterpillar Guts
by: Nancy Marie Brown
From Research/Penn State, Vol. 16, no. 3 (September, 1995))
http://www.rps.psu.edu/edchoice/guts.html

then, emails from Karen Ballard, Secretary for Julian Board of Supervisors

Just so you know, your portion is (24.83 acres x $17/acre) $422.11. Also, included in your block is .6 acres for Hassinger. They did not call in and request to be sprayed; therefore, this notice of payment may be a surprise to them. If they are not willing to pay, the county will either drop the block or possibly remove them from the block. I don't know for sure how this will all be handled. You might want to speak with them and find out where they stand. Another possiblity, we have a few residence that are paying for others in there block so the block doesn't get dropped.

Do with this info as you'd like. I'm just trying to update you with things we are running into.

Any questions, email or call.

Karen

-----Original Message-----
From: KAREN BALLOCK [mailto:hustontownship@verizon.net]
Sent: Saturday, November 03, 2007 11:42 PM
To: Leslie Demmert
Subject: Re: Gypsy moth question

Leslie,

I will be sending out a letter on Monday requiring payment for spraying. Unfortunately, the County didn't give us much time to coordinate with residence for payment. We, the township, have to send payment by the 15th of Nov. Therefore, we will be requiring payment ASAP. Any portion of the block not paid for will be dropped for spraying.

Just wanted to let you know what is going on. Look for our letter.

Thanks
Karen Dillon-Ballock




The standard for trouble is 250 egg cases per acre. We have that many per tree.

County hardest hit in state by gypsy moths

Thursday, Oct. 25, 2007
Anne Danahy
- adanahy@centredaily.com
Gypsy moths inflicted more damage on Centre County than any other in the commonwealth, and Pennsylvania fared much worst than neighboring states, according to the county Planning and Community Development Office.
To avoid that situation — or worse — in 2008, the county has signed up for the state’s low-cost spraying initiative and needs to receive participating municipalities’ payments by Nov. 7.
“We really were the hardest hit county in the hardest hit state,” said Karl Mierzejewski, the county’s gypsy moth coordinator, adding that a few other counties in Pennsylvania weren’t far behind.
The county is asking the state to include about 16,000 acres in the subsidized spraying program, which does not include state forests. While the county is organizing the initiative, it is up to the municipalities to pay for the spraying or
Centre County will participate in the state’s
spraying program. The county is asking to include 16,000 acres in the program at a cost of $17 an acre. The total for the county will be $270,000.
Advertisement
collect payments from property owners who qualified for the program.
The cost is $17 per acre, and the total county bill is about $270,000. Union Township is looking at a $387 bill for one property owner, while Snow Shoe Township residents can expect to pay about $24,000 and Patton Township residents will have a $53,000 tab.
Planning office Director Bob Jacobs said the Board of Commissioners has agreed to provide the money up front for municipalities that need additional time to collect payments. Municipalities that need to do that will sign an agreement with the county.
So far, six municipalities — the boroughs of Bellefonte, Snow Shoe and State College, and Ferguson, Harris and Patton townships — plan to cover the cost of the spraying on their grounds. Many of the other participating municipalities will collect land owners’ shares of the total bill and forward that money to the county, which will use it to pay the state.
Rush Township secretary Joan Cowher said that hard-hit municipality will probably pay the county up front then collect the amounts due from property owners.
“People will have ample time to get it paid before the spraying,” she said.
According to county planning, maps outlining the proposed spray areas and costs have been sent to the 25 municipalities with spray blocks.
Qualifying properties are classified based on factors including how many tree tops gypsy moths ate this year and how many egg masses they laid. Mierzejewski said it’s possible that because the problem is so bad, the state won’t have the resources to cover all qualifying areas. So areas with the lower classification, including Mount Nittany, could get dropped from the spraying program.
“It looks like there is not going to be enough money to go around and too much demand for spraying,” he said.
In their caterpillar stage in spring, gypsy moths eat the leaves off oaks and other trees. In June or July, they turn to moths and lay eggs, which hatch the following spring.
The spraying of Bacillus thuringiensis, or BT, will happen between late April and early June and is more or less effective depending on factors such as the weather.
Anne Danahy can be reached at 231-4648.

Thought for WOCC meeting
Heidi M. Appel, Ph.D., is research associate in the entomology in the College of Agricultural Sciences, 122 Pesticide Research Laboratory, University Park, PA 16802; (814) 863-3380. Her article, "Phenolics in Ecological Interactions: The Importance of Oxidation," appeared in the Journal of Chemical Ecology, Vol. 19, No. 7 (1993). Ken S. Feldman, Ph.D., is associate professor of chemistry in the Eberly College of Science, 122 Chandlee Laboratory; 863-4654. This research was funded by the National Science Foundation.