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FOR OVER TWENTY YEARS
Our Mission: Inspire Stewardship of Pennsylvania's State Parks and Forests
Humbly and Frigidly Fishing - M.K. Goddard State Park
Photo by Fran Bires
So. Technology. Many apologies to people who tried to submit a six word essay in support of the Environmental Rights Amendment, send in a trivia answer, or make any other email contact with us through one of the links in Fridays for the last few weeks. Apparently, the emailer has been translating email links as "mailto:mailto:whateveraddress." And of COURSE that bounces.
Dad expressed his wish this week that we could just go back to rotary dial phones and TV antennas. Given the amount of time I have spent in the last few weeks trouble-shooting cell phones and cable subscriptions, I am thinking pony express might be even better.
We do hope you have been able to get outside and really enjoy some of the wonderful winter weather. It's been cold, yes, quite so. But there have been many beautiful days as well - with the snow falling or the skies blue, it's actually kind of inviting. In fact, check out the ice fisherfolk on Lake Wilhelm at Goddard State Park as captured by Friends of Goddard's Fran Bires (FrOG FrAN). I asked him if the number of people out there is unusual in recent times and he agree that indeed it is. They counted 76 vehicles from the launch to the dam!
Pam Metzger
Membership Coordinator
Pennsylvania Parks & Forests Foundation
News of Note
One more time: The Environmental Rights Amendment's reference to the right to clean air. What does it mean to you to know that we are guaranteed the right to clean air? Try your hand at a six word essay and send to paenvirorights50@paparksandforests.org. PPFF Sarah will be drawing a few winners and we'll be featuring a sample on our website, etc.
Check out this great new YouTube video series on living "The Natureal Life" with Vicente Harrison, a park manager from Portland (OR). Don't you love how he says in the second trailer for the series: "If a doctor told you that the cure to your illness was not a medicine but something that you could access free every day, would you take the prescription?" We would, V; we would!
As Mom used to say if you asked why there was no "Kids' Day like Mothers' and Fathers' Day" ... every day is Kids' Day and every month is Black History Month with the folks of Outdoor Afro, "Where Black People and Nature Meet." Twitter users should check out Outdoor Afro (@OutdoorAfro) / Twitter with daily posts and each week featuring a Black historical figure in the outdoors.
Are you ready to start "Picking Up Pennsylvania?" The good people of Keep PA Beautiful invite all of us to participate in the annual Great American Clean-up beginning March 1 and continuing through mid-May. Organize a neighborhood clean-up or green-up, or find one that's already taking place.
Calling all history buffs and nonprofit executive types. The Historic National Road Heritage Corridor (located in Fayette and Washington Counties) is seeking an Executive Director. Details of the position can be found in the job description provided, with a March 5 deadline for applications.
Sad news of both a personal and political nature this week. We found out belatedly of the December death of Carl Lorence of Harrisburg at the age of 90. Carl was a friend of all outdoors; I first met "Carlos" when I worked for Keystone Trails Association back in the early 2000s and he represented the Link (now Standing Stone) Trail, so named for its position as the link between the Mid State and Tuscarora Trails. Carl was himself a link between the Old Timers of hardy trail crew members and the new young guns. Shown here at a KTA trail care event celebrating his 82nd birthday (thanks to George Conrad and the Standing Stone Trail Facebook page for sharing that photo), the young guns never had anything on him for hard work!
The Standing Stone Trail is in the neighborhood of Greenwood Furnace State Park and Rothrock State Forest where, also in December, the Friends of Greenwood Furnace lost one of their founding members - Merle Hawn. Merle was a 30+-year veteran of the Bureau of State Parks, the longest serving maintenance supervisor in the system. He was born in the valley and spent his life and career there, and all
Just this week, Pennsylvania lost former State Senator Stewart Greenleaf of Montgomery County. Senator Greenleaf served for a brief time on the PPFF board. If you want a sense of the man, a good place to start is this newsletter he issued in June 2007 celebrating Pennsylvania's public lands and open space, the Growing Greener initiatives, DCNR's Conservation Volunteers program, and taking justifiable pride in his role as sponsor - in 1990 - of Pennsylvania's Rails to Trails Act. We could certainly, certainly, use many more devoted public servants of his ilk.
Pictures of the Week
It's nice to have too much to choose from, isn't it? Such is the case with photos on the Laurel Highlands Hiking Trail Book of Faces. So many people getting out and enjoying a winter hike/ cross-country ski/ snow-shoe. And, even better, sharing advice and firewood information. Good people!
Here's one by Evan Sanders taken this week.
Meanwhile, just over the ridge, good friend Peg and various neighbors young and young at heart hit the hill at Sugarloaf in Ohiopyle State Park for a little impromptu tobogganing adventure. No, it's wasn't ANY fun at all!
We can always count on Curt Weinhold to capture an image that is nothing short of wonderful. This "skis' eye view" of the Pine Creek Trail in Tioga State Forest certainly qualifies.
My hope is always that you click on the photos to the full image. In this case, Kristin Davidson's Yak-Trax clad foot at Lake Nockamixon is just the teaser of this vertical, which makes a tall jigsaw for the second week in a row.
Where Are We?
Click for a larger view.
Take Five for Trivia
I asked last week, "How many friends groups do we currently have?" And the answer is 46. Now all of you who answered 48 also get credit because our friends group webpage includes a listing for the Laurel Highlands and Loyalsock/Worlds End Ultra running groups who raise funds to support their respective trails.
And the number of official groups is about to grow to 48, we hope. The first meeting of a potential Friends of Locust Lake & Tuscarora State Parks is scheduled for next Thursday night (the 18th) at 6:00 PM via ZOOM. Register to attend (we'd just like to have a handle on numbers) and help us get this new group off the ground.
The second new group? R.B. Winter. That one is coming up in March. I need to set up the ZOOM invite for that one and will share next week.
Following up on the "mammals of Pennsylvania" theme from two weeks ago, what does it mean when deer or moose are "yarding," a behavior you might be witnessing this time of year?
Enter each week to increase your chances of a fabulous prize at the end of the month when I'll draw one entry from all correct answers received during the month.
In Closing
Wednesday, February 17th is Random Acts of Kindness Day.
Poster courtesy of the Random Acts of Kindness Foundation. Check out their website for so many ways to just Be the Good, including calendars, coloring pages, games, journals, and fun posters like the one above.
Pennsylvania Parks & Forests Foundation (PPFF) is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization - contributions to which are tax deductible to the fullest extent permitted by law. The official registration and financial information of PPFF may be obtained from the Pennsylvania Department of State by calling, toll-free within Pennsylvania, to 800.732.0999. Registration does not imply endorsement.
Sad news of both a personal and political nature this week. We found out belatedly of the December death of Carl Lorence of Harrisburg at the age of 90. Carl was a friend of all outdoors; I first met "Carlos" when I worked for Keystone Trails Association back in the early 2000s and he represented the Link (now Standing Stone) Trail, so named for its position as the link between the Mid State and Tuscarora Trails. Carl was himself a link between the Old Timers of hardy trail crew members and the new young guns. Shown here at a KTA trail care event celebrating his 82nd birthday (thanks to George Conrad and the Standing Stone Trail Facebook page for sharing that photo), the young guns never had anything on him for hard work!
