Smoke on the Horizon

This fire temperature enhancement of this morning’s National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration satellite image of remote areas in western Ontario shows numerous large wildfires (indicated in red) burning north of Lake Superior. Ablaze is an area of taiga, the boreal conifer and mixed forests that cover much of interior Canada. The trees that grow in these wilderness areas are adapted to the large fires that regularly incinerate vast swaths of timber. Two of the conifers, Black Spruce (Picea mariana) and Jack Pine (Pinus banksiana), require fire for regeneration and are often among the deciduous White Birch (Betula paptrifera) and Quaking Aspen (Populus tremuloides) that first recolonize burned acreage. As succession proceeds, these pioneer species are followed by growth of Balsam Fir (Abies balsamea) and Northern White Cedar (Thuja occidentalis), both of which succeed Tamarack (Larix laricina) and Black Spruce in the sphagnum bogs there. (Cooperative Institute for Research in the Atmosphere/National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration image)

Kirtland's Warbler in Jack Pine — Just to the south of the area currently being impacted by wildfire, the Kirtland’s Warbler (Setophaga kirtlandii) nests only in young stands of Jack Pine in Michigan, Wisconsin, and Ontario. During much of the twentieth century, this Neotropical migrant was in endanger of extinction, taking refuge during the breeding season in several areas of Michigan where large fires had cleared away climax forest and Jack Pines were allowed to regenerate. Prescribed fire and block timber harvesting techniques now manage some lands specifically for Kirtland’s Warbler habitat. The species was delisted from endangered status in 2019. (United States Fish and Wildlife Service image by Vince Cavalieri)

Naturalized Northern White Cedar Growing in Rock — The Northern White Cedar is most familiar to residents of the lower Susquehanna valley as the arborvitae, an evergreen landscape tree that includes numerous cultivars and hybrids derived from the wild taiga conifer. In suburbia, this tree is abused, planted in rows to create a fast-growing but short-lived windbreak or privacy screen. How about mixing it up a little bit by adding some variety to those hedgerows? Then, think about using these beautiful trees where they’ll thrive. Northern White Cedar grows like a bonsai artist’s dream among boulders, an inspiration for mimicking their appearance in miniature, and will sometimes naturalize in this rocky terrain under mesic (moist) conditions. Northern White Cedar is a bog species in its native range to our north, so you can give strong consideration to planting scattered specimens in the wet soils of your rain garden, riparian buffer, or other soggy spot. Scatter some around, put a few in clumps, and enjoy the pizazz they can add to a dreary winter day!

White Spruce and Northern White Cedar — A look at Northern White Cedars in the susquehannawildlife.net headquarters tree nursery and, in the foreground, a White Spruce (Picea glauca), another common conifer of the boreal forests. In our area, a miniature cultivar of P. glauca known as “Dwarf Alberta Spruce” is routinely planted as a landscape specimen. On occasion, these compact plants will revert to their “wild” form and grow full-size branches to begin looking more like their ancestral parents.

The visible satellite image from just before 9 AM shows haze from the Ontario fires streaming into the northeastern United States and the Susquehanna basin. The dense, river-like band of brown smoke seen barreling through New York and New England will shift south into our region during the remainder of the day, so slow down and take it easy. How long will these fires burn? Due to the zero-fire forest management strategies of the twentieth century, some areas of taiga haven’t experienced a burn for over 100 years. The highly combustible fuel load of dry logs, limbs, and needles accumulates in these parcels with each passing year, adding to the threat of a greater frequency of explosive, far-ranging, catastrophic infernos. To reduce the proliferation of fuels and to get the boreal forests back on the every-decade-or-so natural fire regime that keeps these biomes healthy and thriving, blazes in remote wildlands that haven’t been subjected to regeneration by fire for many decades are primarily contained to protect people, infrastructure, and unique native assets, but are mostly allowed to burn. (Cooperative Institute for Research in the Atmosphere/National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration image)

April 25, 2026May 3, 2026

Preventing Roof Water from Becoming Storm Runoff

Clean rainwater flowing from the roofs of our homes and other buildings is a precious resource that is more often than not directed as quickly as possible into streets and storm drains to become contaminated runoff capable of polluting streams and aggravating flooding conditions. The prudent property steward will manage rainfall as the treasured commodity that it is—retaining on site as much of it as possible.

Whether you happen to be obtaining your domestic water from a community distribution system or from a private well, infiltrating the rain that falls on your roof directly into the soil is a good way to make sure it helps recharge the groundwater stored in the aquifer—banking it for future use.

Better yet, rain barrels provide a means of intercepting, storing, and dispensing a share of the precipitation from your downspouts before it is discharged into the ground. Water from rain barrels can be drained to hydrate garden plants, rinse the patio, wash the dog, or, in the event of an emergency, fill the need for non-potable uses that include bathing and flushing toilets. For potable applications such as cooking, drinking, and brushing teeth, roof water must first be filtered and disinfected.

Rain barrel layout for a 1,200-square-foot house. — Rain barrels collect and save clean roof water for later use. For every one inch of precipitation, the roof on a house or other building with a footprint of just 1,200 square feet sheds enough to fill about fourteen 55-gallon drums. Live in a home supplied by a well? That’s over 700 gallons of soft water available as you need it, such as during a power outage when the pump won’t operate.

Here at susquehannawildlife.net headquarters, our goal is “no net runoff” from our little urban parcel. We use three rain barrels to catch discharge from the spouting system, then direct the overflow into three different management configurations.

RAIN GARDEN

Commercial Rain Barrel — Precipitation from the downspout is captured in this commercially produced rain barrel. The overflow is directed into the black corrugated pipe…

Gravel Beds in Rain Garden — The gravel beds diffuse energy produced not only by water rushing from the barrel’s overflow, but from sheet runoff entering the garden from the driveway and neighboring street.

STOCK TANK PLANTER

Planter Receiving Overflow from Rain Barrel — This home-brew rain barrel was fabricated from a 55-gallon drum originally used to ship and store car wash soap. We scrubbed it out, then plumbed it up with the overflow feeding a 100-gallon stock tank fashioned into a planter. The drain from the planter sometimes discharges a trickle of water into a porous area of the pavement where it soon percolates into the ground. In this “container rain garden”, we grow wildflowers, sedges, rushes, and warm-season grasses.

THE GARDEN POND/POOLS

Pond/Pool Receiving Overflow from Rain Barrel — Here’s another rain barrel made from a soap drum. This one discharges its overflow into the upper pool of our garden pond.

Overflow from Upper Pool Fills Lower Pool (Sump) — …into the lower pool (bottom right). The lower pool consists of a 100-gallon stock tank sunk below grade level and surrounded by rock. Throughout the summer, a pump located in this “sump” circulates water to a spring-like feature in the upper pool. During a downpour, the lower pool will overflow into the encircling boulders, the level often rising half a foot or more above the top rim of the stock tank flooding the cap stones before receding as the excess water slowly infiltrates down through the gravelly soils. It’s a self-automated, hassle-free water change that helps keep our pools and their inhabitants healthy.

Rain Barrel Overflow Management — Our garden pond stormwater management system keeps the pools topped off and the aquatic ecosystem thriving.

Why not give roof water management a try on your property? It’s a great project for exercising your ingenuity and creativity while doing something truly beneficial for the watershed within which you reside. Best of all, it’s really not that expensive to get started.

Container Rain Garden — A virtuous goal in a wasteful world.

February 17, 2025February 24, 2025

Think Spring: Order Your Seedlings Now!

Our wildlife has been having a tough winter. The local species not only contend with cold and stormy weather, but they also need to find food and shelter in a landscape that we’ve rendered sterile of these essentials throughout much of the lower Susquehanna valley’s farmlands, suburbs, and cities.

Planting trees, shrubs, flowers, and grasses that benefit our animals can go a long way, often turning a ho-hum parcel of property into a privately owned oasis. Providing places for wildlife to feed, rest, and raise their young can help assure the survival of many of our indigenous species. With a little dedication, you can be liberated from the chore of manicuring a lawn and instead spend your time enjoying the birds, mammals, insects, and other creatures that will visit your custom-made habitat.

Verdant Neighborhood — What makes some neighborhoods so appealing? It’s the foresight property owners had a half a century or more ago when they planted their lawns and gardens with a variety of sturdy, long-lived trees and shrubs. They’ve not only minimized the need for mowing grass, they’ve provided the present-day residents of their home with added thermal stability during both the blazing heat of summer and the chilling cold of winter.

Fortunately for us, our local county conservation districts are again conducting springtime tree sales offering a variety of native and beneficial cultivated plants at discount prices. Listed here are links to information on how to pre-order your plants for pickup in April. Click away to check out the species each county is offering in 2025!

Cumberland County Conservation District Annual Tree Seedling Sale—

Orders due by: Friday, March 21, 2025

Pickup on: Thursday, April 24, 2025 or Friday, April 25, 2025

Zebra Swallowtail on Wildflowers — During its 2025 tree seedling sale, the Cumberland County Conservation District is offering Northeast Native Wildflower seed mix for four dollars per ounce. One ounce plants approximately 200 square feet of bare soil. This is a Zebra Swallowtail visiting nectar-rich flowers during July of the first year after sowing this mix at a site along the Susquehanna.

Dauphin County Conservation District Seedling Sale—

Orders due by: Monday, March 17, 2025

Pickup on: Thursday, April 24, 2025 or Friday, April 25, 2025

"Red-twig Dogwood" — Able to thrive in wet soils, Red-osier and Silky Dogwood shrubs are ideal plants for intercepting and polishing stormwater in swales, detention/retention basins, and rain gardens. With their crimson twigs in winter, they look great along borders among clusters of cedars, pines, spruces, and other evergreens. They make an excellent choice for soil stabilization along the shorelines of streams, ponds, and other bodies of water too. Buy a dozen or more to create a showy mass planting in your soggy spot.

Franklin County Conservation District Tree Seedling Sale—

Orders due by: Wednesday, March 19, 2025

Pickup on: Thursday, April 24, 2025

The Franklin County Conservation District is offering American Elm seedlings in bundles of 25 for 36 dollars. Start them in pots for a couple of years to really get ’em going, then find places with damp soil and plenty of room to give ’em a try. During autumn, they look great in the company of spruces, white pines, and other large evergreens.

Lancaster County Annual Tree Seedling Sale—

Orders due by: Friday, March 7, 2025

Pickup on: Friday, April 11, 2025

Norway Spruce and White Pine — We purchased these Eastern White Pine, Norway Spruce, and Common Winterberry plants from the Lancaster County Conservation District Tree Sale about four years ago. They’re filling in as understory growth in the margins beneath some thirty-year-old Eastern Hemlocks to create dense cover for resident and visiting fauna at susquehannawildlife.net headquarters.

Lebanon County Conservation District Tree and Plant Sale—

Orders due by: Monday, March 3, 2025

Pickup on: Friday, April 18, 2025

For 2025, the Lebanon County Conservation District is offering Dawn Redwood (Metasequoia glyptostroboides) trees in packs of ten for twelve dollars. Though native to Asia, these adaptable trees present little threat of naturalizing and have many positive attributes in a conservation planting. Given ample space, the Dawn Redwood, a relative of the sequoias, will rapidly grow to a towering giant. They create a particularly dramatic landscape feature when planted in clumps of three to five trees or more. With age, the trunks become stout and very sturdy. Don’t like raking? The finely divided deciduous foliage can be left where it falls in autumn. It usually disintegrates by spring to enrich the soil and promote more growth.

Three Sequoias — The genus Metasequoia was first described in 1941 based upon fossils collected in Jurassic and earlier strata from widespread locations in the northern hemisphere. Metasequoia were believed extinct until just a few years later when a small number of living Dawn Redwoods were first discovered in southern China. Now distributed around the world for cultivation, direct descendants of this wild population of Metasequoia glyptostroboides are available for nearly anyone in a temperate climate to plant and grow to exceptional size. (National Park Service image)

The Lebanon County Conservation District is also selling Bald Cypress trees. They’re offered in bundles of ten for ten dollars. These long-lived trees resemble the Dawn Redwood. Both are tolerant of damp ground, but the native Bald Cypress is the species to choose for placement along streams, in wetlands, and on other sites with standing water or saturated soil.

Bald Cypress Swamp — Wildlife rich Bald Cypress swamps currently occur on the Atlantic Coastal Plain as far north as Sussex County, Delaware. Just to the south, they’re also found along Chesapeake Bay in areas that, during the last glacial maximum when sea level was 300 to 400 feet below today’s tide lines, were the Lower Susquehanna River Watershed in portions of present-day Maryland and Virginia. The northward post-glacial range extension of Bald Cypresses is now blocked by centuries of human intervention that has eliminated, isolated, or fragmented the wetland habitats where they could potentially become established. Why not lend them a hand? Plant a cypress swamp in your flood-prone bottomland. (National Park Service image by Andrew Bennett)

York County Conservation District Seedling Sale—

Orders due by: March 15, 2025

Pickup on: Thursday, April 10, 2025

A privacy planting of sturdy, native Eastern White Pines and Northern Red Oaks thriving around the border of a parking area where they also provide shade from the sun and help infiltrate a share of the stormwater that would otherwise become runoff.

Native Northeast Wildflower and Grass mix during its first summer — This year, the York County Conservation District is offering a Showy Northeast Native Wildflower and Grass seed mix for $19.99 per quarter pound. Sure beats mowing!

If you live in Adams County, Pennsylvania, you may be eligible to receive free trees and shrubs for your property from the Adams County Planting Partnership (Adams County Conservation District and the Watershed Alliance of Adams County). These trees are provided by the Chesapeake Bay Foundation’s Keystone 10-Million Trees Partnership which aims to close a seven-year project in 2025 by realizing the goal of planting 10 million trees to protect streams by stabilizing soils, taking up nutrients, reducing stormwater runoff, and providing shade. If you own property located outside of Adams County, but still within the Chesapeake Bay Watershed (which includes all of the Susquehanna, Juniata, and Potomac River drainages), you still may have an opportunity to get involved. Contact your local county conservation district office or watershed organization for information.

Planted Riparian Buffer — As they mature, tree and shrub plantings along streams return pollution-controlling functions to floodplains and provide critical habitat for wildlife. These riparian buffers not only improve water quality for fisheries, they also create travel corridors that prevent terrestrial animal populations from becoming isolated.

A CREP Project Area — Do you own a parcel of streamside or wetland acreage that you’d like to set aside and plant for the benefit of wildlife and water quality? Contact your local county conservation district office and ask them to tell you about CREP (Conservation Reserve Enhancement Program) and other programs that may offer incentives including payment of all or a portion of the costs of plantings and other habitat improvements.

We hope you’re already shopping. Need help making your selections? Click on the “Trees, Shrubs, and Woody Vines” tab at the top of this page to check out Uncle Tyler Dyer’s leaf collection. He has most of the species labelled with their National Wetland Plant List Indicator Rating. You can consult these ratings to help find species suited to the soil moisture on your planting site(s). For example: if your site has sloped upland ground and/or the soils sometimes dry out in summer, select plants with a rating such as UPL or FACU. If your planting in soils that remain moist or wet, select plants with the OBL or FACW rating. Plants rated FAC are generally adaptable and can usually go either way, but may not thrive or survive under stressful conditions in extremely wet or dry soils.

NATIONAL WETLAND PLANT LIST INDICATOR RATING DEFINITIONS

- - OBL (Obligate Wetland Plants)—Almost always occur in wetlands.
  - FACW (Facultative Wetland Plants)—Usually occur in wetlands, but may occur in non-wetlands.
  - FAC (Facultative Wetland Plants)—Occur in wetlands and non-wetlands.
  - FACU (Facultative Upland Plants)—Usually occur in non-wetlands, but may occur in wetlands.
  - UPL (Upland Plants)—Almost never occur in wetlands.

Using these ratings, you might choose to plant Pin Oaks (FACW) and Swamp White Oaks (FACW) in your riparian buffer along a stream; Northern Red Oaks (FACU) and White Oaks (FACU) in the lawn or along the street, driveway, or parking area; and Chestnut Oaks (UPL) on your really dry hillside with shallow soil. Give it a try.

August 22, 2023September 7, 2023

One of Nature’s Finest: The Cardinal Flower

It may be one of the most treasured plants among native landscape gardeners. The Cardinal Flower (Lobelia cardinalis) blooms in August each year with a startling blaze of red color that, believe it or not, will sometimes be overlooked in the wild.

Cardinal Flower on a Stream — Cardinal Flower is most often found in wet soil along forested bodies of water. The blooms of this shade-loving species may go unnoticed until rays of sunshine penetrate the canopy to strike their brilliant red petals.

The Cardinal Flower grows in wetlands as well as in a variety of moist soils along streams, rivers, lakes, and ponds. Shady locations with short periods of bright sun each day seem to be favored for an abundance of color.

Cardinal Flower and Great Blue Lobelia — Cardinal Flower in bloom in a riparian forest along the Susquehanna. To its right is its close relative, Great Lobelia, a plant sometimes known as Great Blue Lobelia or Blue Cardinal Flower.

Cardinal Flower in a wet bottomland woods.

The Cardinal Flower can find favorable growing conditions along stream, river and lake shores. — The Cardinal Flower can find favorable growing conditions along stream, river, and lake shores. Even though they are perennial plants, their presence along such waters often seems temporary. Changing conditions cause them to suddenly disappear from known locations, then sometimes reappear at the same place or elsewhere nearby. Some of this phenomenon may be due to the fact that stressed plants can fail to bloom, so they easily escape notice. When producing flowers during favorable years, the plants seem to mysteriously return.

Cardinal Flowers along a wave-swept shoreline light up the greenery of erosion-controlling riparian vegetation with glowing red color.

The Cardinal Flower can be an ideal plant for attracting hummingbirds, bees, butterflies, and other late-summer pollinators. It grows well in damp ground, especially in rain gardens and along the edges streams, garden ponds, and stormwater retention pools. If you’re looking to add Cardinal Flower to your landscape, you need first to…

REMEMBER the CARDINAL RULE…

Cardinal Flower plants are available at many nurseries that carry native species of garden and/or pond plants. Numerous online suppliers offer seed for growing your own Cardinal Flowers. Some sell potted plants as well. A new option is to grow Cardinal Flowers from tissue cultures. Tissue-cultured plants are raised in laboratory media, so the pitfalls of disease and hitchhikers like invasive insects and snails are eliminated. These plants are available through the aquarium trade from most chain pet stores. Though meant to be planted as submerged aquatics in fish tank substrate, we’ve reared the tissue-cultured stock indoors as emergent plants in sandy soil and shallow water through the winter and early spring. When it warms up, we transplant them into the edges of the outdoor ponds to naturalize. As a habit, we always grow some Cardinal Flower plants in the fish tanks to take up the nitrates in the water and to provide a continuous supply of cuttings for starting more emergent stock for outdoor use.

Tissue culture Cardinal Flower being grown as a submerged aquatic in a fish aquarium. — A tissue-cultured Cardinal Flower rooted in sandy substrate and being grown as a submerged aquatic plant in a fish tank. Cuttings from this plant will be used to grow emergent specimens in shallow water for transplanting outdoors around the garden pond.

Cardinal Flower from Tissue Culture — A Cardinal Flower grown from an aquarium store tissue culture blooms in the pond at susquehannawildlife.net headquarters.

Cardinal Flower blooming in November. — Grown as an emergent, Cardinal Flower may bloom very late in the season. This tissue-cultured specimen in the headquarters pond was photographed in early November, 2022.

August 15, 2023August 15, 2023

Blue Tuesday

We’ve got the summertime blues for you, right here at susquehannawildlife.net…

In warm-season grass meadows, Big Bluestem is now in flower. This and other species of native prairie grasses provide excellent habitat for birds, mammals, and insects including butterflies. To survive drought and fire, their roots run much deeper than cool season grasses, creeping down four to six feet or more. This adaptation allowed warm season grasses to recover from heavy grazing by large Pre-Anthropocene mammals. Today, it makes them ideal plants for soil stabilization.

A male Indigo Bunting has already found some ripe seeds among the heads of flowering Big Bluestem. — A male Indigo Bunting has already found ripe seeds among the heads of flowering Big Bluestem.

Molting Indigo Bunting — Look closely and you’ll see our Indigo Bunting is beginning a pre-migration molt out of its bright-blue breeding (alternate) plumage and into a gray-brown winter (basic) plumage. The berries of the American Pokeweed upon which it is perched will soon ripen into a dark blue, almost black, color. Though toxic to humans, these fruits find favor with many species of birds and mammals.

Another great wildlife food is Silky Dogwood (Cornus amomum), a deciduous shrub that sports blue-colored berries in summer and showy, bright-red twigs in winter. It grows well in wet ground along streams and ponds, as well as in rain gardens.

A Great Blue Heron searches the shallows for small fish. This species is also a good mouser, at times seen hunting in grassy meadows. Right now is prime time to see it and a variety of other herons and egrets throughout the Lower Susquehanna River Watershed.

…so don’t let the summertime blues get you down. Grab a pair of binoculars and/or a camera and go for a stroll!

June 18, 2023June 18, 2023

A Few Plants with Wildlife Impact in June

Here’s a look at some native plants you can grow in your garden to really help wildlife in late spring and early summer.

The Larger Blue Flag (Iris versicolor) and Soft Rush (Juncus effusus) in flower in mid-June. — The showy bloom of a Larger Blue Flag (Iris versicolor) and the drooping inflorescence of Soft Rush (Juncus effusus). These plants favor moist soils in wetlands and damp meadows where they form essential cover and feeding areas for insects, amphibians, and marsh birds. Each is an excellent choice for helping to absorb nutrients in a rain garden or stream-side planting. They do well in wet soil or shallow water along the edges of garden ponds too.

The fruits of Smooth Shadbush (Amelanchier laevis), also known as Allegheny Serviceberry, Smooth Serviceberry, or Smooth Juneberry, ripen in mid-June and are an irresistible treat for catbirds, robins, bluebirds, mockingbirds, and roving flocks of Cedar Waxwings.

Common Milkweed and Eastern Carpenter Bee — Also in mid-June, the fragrant blooms of Common Milkweed attract pollinators like Eastern Carpenter Bees,…

Common Milkweed and Honey Bee — …Honey Bees,…

Common Milkweed and Banded Hairstreak — …and butterflies including the Banded Hairstreak (Satyrium calanus). In coming weeks, Monarch butterflies will find these Common Milkweed plants and begin laying their eggs on the leaves. You can lend them a hand by planting milkweed species (Asclepias) in your garden. Then watch the show as the eggs hatch and the caterpillars begin devouring the foliage. Soon, they’ll pupate and, if you’re lucky, you’ll be able to watch an adult Monarch emerge from a chrysalis!

June 5, 2023June 8, 2023

The Value of Water

Are you worried about your well running dry this summer? Are you wondering if your public water supply is going to implement use restrictions in coming months? If we do suddenly enter a wet spell again, are you concerned about losing valuable rainfall to flooding? A sensible person should be curious about these issues, but here in the Lower Susquehanna River Watershed, we tend to take for granted the water we use on a daily basis.

This Wednesday, June 7, you can learn more about the numerous measures we can take, both individually and as a community, to recharge our aquifers while at the same time improving water quality and wildlife habitat in and around our streams and rivers. From 5:30 to 8:00 P.M., the Chiques Creek Watershed Alliance will be hosting its annual Watershed Expo at the Manheim Farm Show grounds adjacent to the Manheim Central High School in Lancaster County. According to the organization’s web page, more than twenty organizations will be there with displays featuring conservation, aquatic wildlife, stream restoration, Honey Bees, and much more. There will be games and custom-made fish-print t-shirts for the youngsters, plus music to relax by for those a little older. Look for rain barrel painting and a rain barrel giveaway. And you’ll like this—admission and ice cream are free. Vendors including food trucks will be onsite preparing fare for sale.

And there’s much more.

To help recharge groundwater supplies, you can learn how to infiltrate stormwater from your downspouts, parking area, or driveway…

Urban Runoff — Does your local stream flood every time there’s a downpour, then sometimes dry up during the heat of summer? Has this problem gotten worse over the years? If so, you may be in big trouble during a drought. Loss of base flow in a stream or river is a sure sign of depleted groundwater levels in at least a portion of its drainage basin. Landowners, both public and private, in such a watershed need to start infiltrating stormwater into the ground instead of allowing it to become surface runoff.

Rain Garden Model — You can direct the stormwater from your downspout, parking area, or driveway into a rain garden to help recharge the aquifer that supplies your private or public well and nearby natural springs. Displays including this model provided by Rapho Township show you how.

…there will be a tour of a comprehensive stream and floodplain rehabilitation project in Manheim Memorial Park adjacent to the fair grounds…

Legacy Sediments — Have you seen banks like these on your local stream? On waterways throughout the Lower Susquehanna River Watershed, mill dams have trapped accumulations of sediments that eroded from farm fields prior to the implementation of soil conservation practices. These legacy sediments channelize creeks and disconnect them from their now buried floodplains. During storms, water that would have been absorbed by the floodplain is now displaced into areas of higher ground not historically inundated by a similar event.

Adjacent to the Manheim Farm Show grounds, the Chiques Creek Stream Restoration Project in Manheim Memorial Park has reconnected the waterway to its historic floodplain by removing a dam and the legacy sediments that accumulated behind it.

Legacy Sediments Removed — Chiques Creek in Manheim following removal of hundreds of truck loads of legacy sediments. High water can again be absorbed by the wetlands and riparian forest of the floodplain surrounding this segment of stream. There are no incised banks creating an unnatural channel or crumbling away to pollute downstream waters with nutrients and sediment. Projects similar to this are critical to improving water quality in both the Susquehanna River and Chesapeake Bay. Closer to home, they can help municipalities meet their stormwater management (MS4) requirements.

Bank-full Bench — Mark Metzler of Rettew Associates guides a tour of the Chiques Creek rehabilitation. Here, cross vanes, stone structures that provide grade control along the stream’s course, were installed to gently steer the center of the channel away from existing structures. Cross vanes manipulate the velocity of the creek’s flow across its breadth to dissipate potentially erosive energy and more precisely direct the deposition of gravel and sediment.

…and a highlight of the evening will be using an electrofishing apparatus to collect a sample of the fish now populating the rehabilitated segment of stream…

…so don’t miss it. We can hardly wait to see you there!

The 2023 Watershed Expo is part of Lancaster Conservancy Water Week.

April 13, 2023April 14, 2023

Photo of the Day

Lancaster County Conservation District Tree Sale — Staff distribute trees, shrubs, and perennial flowers during today’s Lancaster County Conservation District Tree Seedling Sale. Customers pre-ordered their selections back in March to receive great deals on the livestock they’ll need for planting an orchard, pollinator garden, forest buffer, or private wildlife refuge.

December 8, 2022December 8, 2022

Take a Look at My Mussels

At this very moment, your editor is comfortably numb and is, if everything is going according to plans, again having a snake run through the plumbing in his body’s most important muscle. It thus occurs to him how strange it is that with muscles as run down and faulty as his, people at one time asked him to come speak about and display his marvelous mussels. And some, believe it or not, actually took interest in such a thing. If the reader finds this odd, he or she would not be alone. But the peculiarities don’t stop there. The reader may find further bewilderment after being informed that the editor’s mussels are now in the collection of a regional museum where they are preserved for study by qualified persons with scientific proclivities. All of this show and tell was for just one purpose—to raise appreciation and sentiment for our mussels, so that they might be protected.

Click on the “Freshwater Mussels and Clams” tab at the top of this page to see the editor’s mussels, and many others as well. Then maybe you too will want to flex your muscles for our mussels. They really do need, and deserve, our help.

We’ll be back soon.

August 17, 2022September 15, 2022

Photo of the Day

Gray Catbird and Black Chokeberry — The fruits of a Black Chokeberry (Aronia melanocarpa) prove irresistible to this Gray Catbird. Chokeberry is a native clump-forming shrub that reaches a height of less than ten feet. It is tolerant of wet soils and makes a good choice for inclusion in plantings alongside streams and ponds, as well as in rain gardens. Springtime clusters of white flowers yield berries by this time each summer. By turning red as the fruits ripen, the foliage helps attract not only catbirds, but robins, waxwings, and other species that, in exchange for a meal, will assure dispersal of the plant’s seeds in their droppings. With considerable sweetening, tart chokeberries can be used for juicing and the creation of jams, jellies, and preserves.

July 29, 2022May 20, 2024

Monarch an Endangered Species: What You Can Do Right Now

This month, the International Union for Conservation of Nature (I.U.C.N.) added the Migratory Monarch Butterfly (Danaus plexippus plexippus) to its “Red List of Threatened Species”, classifying it as endangered. Perhaps there is no better time than the present to have a look at the virtues of replacing areas of mowed and manicured grass with a wildflower garden or meadow that provides essential breeding and feeding habitat for Monarchs and hundreds of other species of animals.

Monarch on Common Milkweed Flower Cluster — A recently arrived Monarch visits a cluster of fragrant Common Milkweed flowers in the garden at the susquehannawildlife.net headquarters. Milkweeds included among a wide variety of plants in a garden or meadow habitat can help local populations of Monarchs increase their numbers before the autumn flights to wintering grounds commence in the fall. Female Monarchs lay their eggs on milkweed leaves, then, after hatching, the larvae (caterpillars) feed on them before pupating.

If you’re not quite sure about finally breaking the ties that bind you to the cult of lawn manicuring, then compare the attributes of a parcel maintained as mowed grass with those of a space planted as a wildflower garden or meadow. In our example we’ve mixed native warm season grasses with the wildflowers and thrown in a couple of Eastern Red Cedars to create a more authentic early successional habitat.

Comparison of Mowed Grass to Wildflower Meadow — * Particularly when native warm-season grasses are included (root depth 6′-8′)

Still not ready to take the leap. Think about this: once established, the wildflower planting can be maintained without the use of herbicides or insecticides. There’ll be no pesticide residues leaching into the soil or running off during downpours. Yes friends, it doesn’t matter whether you’re using a private well or a community system, a wildflower meadow is an asset to your water supply. Not only is it free of man-made chemicals, but it also provides stormwater retention to recharge the aquifer by holding precipitation on site and guiding it into the ground. Mowed grass on the other hand, particularly when situated on steep slopes or when the ground is frozen or dry, does little to stop or slow the sheet runoff that floods and pollutes streams during heavy rains.

What if I told you that for less than fifty bucks, you could start a wildflower garden covering 1,000 square feet of space? That’s a nice plot 25′ x 40′ or a strip 10′ wide and 100′ long along a driveway, field margin, roadside, property line, swale, or stream. All you need to do is cast seed evenly across bare soil in a sunny location and you’ll soon have a spectacular wildflower garden. Here at the susquehannawildllife.net headquarters we don’t have that much space, so we just cast the seed along the margins of the driveway and around established trees and shrubs. Look what we get for pennies a plant…

Here’s a closer look…

Lance-leaved Coreopsis (Coreopsis lanceolata), a perennial.

Black-eyed Susan, a biennial or short-lived perennial.

Black-eyed Susan "Gloriosa Daisy" — “Gloriosa Daisy”, a variety of Black-eyed Susan, a biennial or short-lived perennial.

Purple Coneflower, an excellent perennial for pollinators. The ripe seeds provide food for American Goldfinches.

A short variety of Common Sunflower, an annual and a source of free bird seed.

All this and best of all, we never need to mow.

Around the garden, we’ve used a northeast wildflower mix from American Meadows. It’s a blend of annuals and perennials that’s easy to grow. On their website, you’ll find seeds for individual species as well as mixes and instructions for planting and maintaining your wildflower garden. They even have a mix specifically formulated for hummingbirds and butterflies.

Annuals in bloom — When planted in spring and early summer, annuals included in a wildflower mix will provide vibrant color during the first year. Many varieties will self-seed to supplement the display provided by biennials and perennials in subsequent years.

Wildflower Seed Mix — A northeast wildflower mix from American Meadows. There are no fillers. One pound of pure live seed easily plants 1,000 square feet.

Nothing does more to promote the spread and abundance of non-native plants, including invasive species, than repetitive mowing. One of the big advantages of planting a wildflower garden or meadow is the opportunity to promote the growth of a community of diverse native plants on your property. A single mowing is done only during the dormant season to reseed annuals and to maintain the meadow in an early successional stage—preventing reversion to forest.

For wildflower mixes containing native species, including ecotypes from locations in and near the Lower Susquehanna River Watershed, nobody beats Ernst Conservation Seeds of Meadville, Pennsylvania. Their selection of grass and wildflower seed mixes could keep you planting new projects for a lifetime. They craft blends for specific regions, states, physiographic provinces, habitats, soils, and uses. Check out these examples of some of the scores of mixes offered at Ernst Conservation Seeds…

- - Pipeline Mixes
  - Pasture, Grazing, and Hay Mixes
  - Cover Crops
  - Pondside Mixes
  - Warm-season Grass Mixes
  - Retention Basin Mixes
  - Wildlife Mixes
  - Pollinator Mixes
  - Wetland Mixes
  - Floodplain and Riparian Buffer Mixes
  - Rain Garden Mixes
  - Steep Slope Mixes
  - Solar Farm Mixes
  - Strip Mine Reclamation Mixes

We’ve used their “Showy Northeast Native Wildflower and Grass Mix” on streambank renewal projects with great success. For Monarchs, we really recommend the “Butterfly and Hummingbird Garden Mix”. It includes many of the species pictured above plus “Fort Indiantown Gap” Little Bluestem, a warm-season grass native to Lebanon County, Pennsylvania, and milkweeds (Asclepias), which are not included in their northeast native wildflower blends. More than a dozen of the flowers and grasses currently included in this mix are derived from Pennsylvania ecotypes, so you can expect them to thrive in the Lower Susquehanna River Watershed.

Swamp Milkweed, a perennial species, is included in the Ernst Seed “Butterfly and Hummingbird Garden Mix”. It is a favorite of female Monarchs seeking a location to deposit eggs.

Monarch Caterpillar feeding on Swamp Milkweed — A Monarch larva (caterpillar) feeding on Swamp Milkweed.

Butterfly Weed (Asclepias tuberosa) is included in the Ernst Seed “Butterfly and Hummingbird Garden Mix”. This perennial is also known as Butterfly Milkweed.

Tiger Swallowtails visiting Butterfly Weed — Eastern Tiger Swallowtails are among the dozens of species of pollinators that will visit Butterfly Weed.

In addition to the milkweeds, you’ll find these attractive plants included in Ernst Conservation Seed’s “Butterfly and Hummingbird Garden Mix”, as well as in some of their other blends.

The perennial Wild Bergamot, also known as Bee Balm, is an excellent pollinator plant, and the tubular flowers are a favorite of hummingbirds.

Oxeye is adorned with showy clusters of sunflower-like blooms in mid-summer. It is a perennial plant.

Plains Coreopsis (Coreopsis tinctoria), also known as Plains Tickseed, is a versatile annual that can survive occasional flooding as well as drought.

Gray-headed Coneflower (Ratibida pinnata), a tall perennial, is spectacular during its long flowering season.

Monarch on goldenrod. — Goldenrods are a favorite nectar plant for migrating Monarchs in autumn. They seldom need to be sown into a wildflower garden; the seeds of local species usually arrive on the wind. They are included in the “Butterfly and Hummingbird Garden Mix” from Ernst Conservation Seeds in low dose, just in case the wind doesn’t bring anything your way.

Is something missing from your seed mix? You can purchase individual species from the selections available at American Meadows and Ernst Conservation Seeds. Partridge Pea is a good native annual to add. It is a host plant for the Cloudless Sulphur butterfly and hummingbirds will often visit the flowers. It does really well in sandy soils.

Indiangrass in flower. — Indiangrass is a warm-season species that makes a great addition to any wildflower meadow mix. Its deep roots make it resistant to drought and ideal for preventing erosion.

Why not give the Monarchs and other wildlife living around you a little help? Plant a wildflower garden or meadow. It’s so easy, a child can do it.

Planting a riparian buffer with wildflowers and warm-season grasses — Volunteers sow a riparian buffer on a recontoured stream bank using wildflower and warm-season grass seed blended uniformly with sand. By casting the sand/seed mixture evenly over the planting site, participants can visually assure that seed has been distributed according to the space calculations.

Riparian Buffer of wildflowers — The same seeded site less than four months later.

Monarch Pupa — A Monarch pupa from which the adult butterfly will emerge.

July 19, 2022August 17, 2022

Photo of the Day

Buttonbush flower cluster — Is it the latest image from NASA’s new Webb Space Telescope? Nope, it’s the globular flower cluster of the Buttonbush, a native shrub species found throughout the Lower Susquehanna River Watershed. Buttonbush thrives in wet soil and seldom grows taller than 10 feet in height. Try it along stream banks, in stormwater retention basins, and in rain gardens fed by surface runoff or the outflow from your downspouts.

October 31, 2020August 17, 2022

October Transition

Thoughts of October in the Lower Susquehanna River Watershed bring to mind scenes of brilliant fall foliage adorning wooded hillsides and stream courses, frosty mornings bringing an end to the growing season, and geese and other birds flying south for the winter.

The autumn migration of birds spans a period equaling nearly half the calendar year. Shorebirds and Neotropical perching birds begin moving through as early as late July, just as daylight hours begin decreasing during the weeks following their peak at summer solstice in late June. During the darkest days of the year, those surrounding winter solstice in late December, the last of the southbound migrants, including some hawks, eagles, waterfowl, and gulls, may still be on the move.

The Rough-legged Hawk (Buteo lagopus), a rodent-eating raptor of tundra, grassland, and marsh, is rare as a migrant and winter resident in the lower Susquehanna valley. It may arrive as late as January, if at all.

During October, there is a distinct change in the list of species an observer might find migrating through the lower Susquehanna valley. Reduced hours of daylight and plunges in temperatures—particularly frost and freeze events—impact the food sources available to birds. It is during October that we say goodbye to the Neotropical migrants and hello to those more hardy species that spend their winters in temperate climates like ours.

During several of the first days of October, two hundred Chimney Swifts remained in this roost until temperatures warmed from the low forties at daybreak to the upper fifties at mid-morning; then, at last, the flock ventured out in search of flying insects. When a population of birds loses its food supply or is unable to access it, that population must relocate or perish. Like other insectivorous birds, these swifts must move to warmer climes to be assured a sustained supply of the flying bugs they need to survive. Due to their specialized food source, they can be considered “specialist” feeders in comparison to species with more varied diets, the “generalists”. After returning to this chimney every evening for nearly two months, the swifts departed this roost on October 5 and did not return.

A Northern Parula lingers as an October migrant along the Susquehanna. This and other specialist feeders that survive almost entirely on insects found in the forest canopy are largely south of the Susquehanna watershed by the second week of October.

The Blackpoll Warbler is among the last of the insectivorous Neotropical warblers to pass through the riparian forests of the lower Susquehanna valley each fall. Through at least mid-October, it is regularly seen searching for crawling insects and larvae among the foliage and bark of Northern Hackberry (Celtis occidentalis) trees near Conewago Falls. Most other warblers, particularly those that feed largely upon flying insects, are, by then, already gone.

The Blue-headed Vireo, another insectivore, is the last of the vireo species to pass through the valley. They linger only as long as there are leaves on the trees in which they feed.

Brown Creepers begin arriving in early October. They are specialist feeders, well-adapted to finding insect larvae and other invertebrates among the ridges and peeling bark of trees like this hackberry, even through the winter months.

Ruby-crowned Kinglets can be abundant migrants in October. They will often behave like cute little flycatchers, but quickly transition to picking insects and other invertebrates from foliage and bark as the weather turns frosty. Some may spend the winter here, particularly in the vicinity of stands of pines, which provide cover and some thermal protection during storms and bitter cold.

Beginning in early October, Golden-crowned Kinglets can be seen searching the forest wood for tiny invertebrates. They are the most commonly encountered kinglet in winter.

The Yellow-bellied Sapsucker, a woodpecker, is an October migrant that specializes in attracting small insects to tiny seeps of sap it creates by punching horizontal rows of shallow holes through the tree bark. Some remain for winter.

The Yellow-rumped Warbler arrives in force during October. It is the most likely of the warblers to be found here in winter. Yellow-rumped Warblers are generalists, feeding upon insects during the warmer months, but able to survive on berries and other foods in late fall and winter. Wild foods like these Poison Ivy berries are crucial for the survival of this and many other generalists.

American Robins are most familiar as hunters of earthworms on the suburban lawn, but they are generalist feeders that rely upon fruits like these Eastern Red Cedar (Juniperus virginiana) berries during their southbound migration in late October and early November each year. Robins remain for the winter in areas of the lower Susquehanna valley with ample berries for food and groves of mature pines for roosting.

Like other brown woodland thrushes, the Hermit Thrush (Catharus guttatus) is commonly seen scratching through organic matter on the moist forest floor in search of invertebrates. Unlike the other species, it is a cold-hardy generalist feeder, often seen eating berries during the southbound October migration. Small numbers of Hermit Thrushes spend the winter in the lower Susquehanna valley, particularly in habitats with a mix of wild foods.

Due to their feeding behavior, Cedar Waxwings can easily be mistaken for flycatchers during the nesting season, but by October they’ve transitioned to voracious consumers of small wild fruits. During the remainder of the year, flocks of waxwings wander widely in search of foods like this Fox Grape (Vitis labrusca). An abundance of cedar, holly, Poison Ivy, hackberry, bittersweet , hawthorn, wild grape, and other berries is essential to their survival during the colder months.

Red-breasted Nuthatches have moved south in large numbers during the fall of 2020. They were particularly common in the lower Susquehanna region during mid-October. Red-breasted Nuthatches can feed on invertebrates during warm weather, but get forced south from Canada in droves when the cone crops on coniferous trees fail to provide an adequate supply of seeds for the colder fall and winter seasons. In the absence of wild foods, these generalists will visit feeding stations stocked with suet and other provisions.

Purple Finches (Haemorhous purpureus) were unusually common as October migrants in 2020. They are often considered seed eaters during cold weather, but will readily consume small fruits like these berries on an invasive Mile-a-minute Weed (Persicaria perfoliata) vine. Purple Finches are quite fond of sunflower seeds at feeding stations, but often shy away if aggressive House Sparrows or House Finches are present.

The need for food and cover is critical for the survival of wildlife during the colder months. If you are a property steward, think about providing places for wildlife in the landscape. Mow less. Plant trees, particularly evergreens. Thickets are good—plant or protect fruit-bearing vines and shrubs, and allow herbaceous native plants to flower and produce seed. And if you’re putting out provisions for songbirds, keep the feeders clean. Remember, even small yards and gardens can provide a life-saving oasis for migrating and wintering birds. With a larger parcel of land, you can do even more.