The biggest news this week was our first lightning bug flashing at the window while we were watching television. I actually thought it was Bill adjusting the cat's "red dot" at first. Summer's here!

Look for Marci out and about in the northern tier over the next several days - look for her at at Hills Creek, Leonard Harrison (setting up the photo gallery - see below), Mt. Pisgah, Lyman Run and about town!

Our masthead this week features a family portrait from Clear Creek State Forest. The photo may be a little fuzzy (as are the cubs) but it's worth a click to the sequence of photos, including a couple cuties up a tree after they made it across the road under Mom's watchful gaze.Hope you and yours can get outside this week!

Pam Metzger
Membership Coordinator

News of Note

If you happen to be in Bellefonte on Sunday, be sure to stop by the Outdoor Expo in Talleyrand Park and look for the Friends of Black Moshannon and/or Friends of Rothrock staffing a table there. This dynamic duo will be sharing space at the expo and are ready to tell you all the great things their park and forest have to offer.

Meanwhile, up at Leonard Harrison State Park the showcase gallery of winners from last year's photo contest will be on display beginning this weekend until the 25th of this month. Stop in while you're visiting the Grand Canyon!

And speaking of canyons, the trails of Worlds End State Park and the surrounding Loyalsock State Forest (including Canyon Vista) will be featured in a new map being produced by the Friends of World End for sale at the park office later this summer.

Campers at the Route 30 Shelter on the Laurel Highlands Hiking Trail will soon have dry firewood, thanks to your support and that REI. The work is being completed by park staff and the Pa Outdoor Corps, with funding from the Richard King Mellon Foundation and McKenna Foundation. Marci says she could have used that last year while backpacking during the hurricane!

As the woodpecker advises (see below), make your voice heard on two fronts. First, be sure to take part in Outdoor Recreation Survey still open through DCNR and PennState. Second, expect the commencement of budget negotiations in the next very few weeks. Be ready to read, digest, and weigh in.

At Work and Play in the State Parks and Forests

Tomorrow is the annual National Get Outdoors Day so if you're the type that needs just that little bit of extra encouragement to GO, then it's time to GO! You'll find lots of events throughout the parks designed for newbies and old hands alike. In fact, even the most cursory glance at the calendar shows that things seem to have taken a turn for the busy! It's definitely going to get harder to pick just one regional event for this column.

NORTH	SOUTH
Here's one that shows promise. Learn how to make a seed bomb tomorrow afternoon at SIZERVILLE STATE PARK. Sounds like my kind of gardening!	One of our favorite annual events is Music in the Gap at COWANS GAP STATE PARK. The lakeside setting is just perfect on a summer evening - the first of the series is Saturday night.
EAST	WEST
"Bend and stretch. Reach for the stars. There goes Jupiter, there goes Mars." I might have just shown my age, but if you want to try Viewing Jupiter through a telescope visit RICKETTS GLEN STATE PARK tomorrow night. Register please!	It's Family Movie Night at KEYSTONE STATE PARK beach house where dragons will be trained and the concession stand is open. I smell summer!

UPCOMING VOLUNTEER OPPORTUNITY

A lovely little family-friendly park in Bedford County, Shawnee State Park boasts a huge lake and a small Friends group. The Friends of Shawnee have one simple request - more people! Contact Mary Griffith if you'd like to get involved. You know you're out there boating and swimming (and you'll be enjoying the Friends-organized fireworks display at the 4th of July) so why not lend a hand!

These and other fun events and fulfilling volunteer opportunities can be found on the PPFF events calendar and DCNR Calendar of Events. Bookmark them and you'll never miss the boat (or hike or festival).

Picture of the Week

Another great shot from Rich Reed taken at M.K. Goddard State Park - the prehistoric looking pileated woodpecker feeding its young. Yep, DCNR is using it as its Facebook cover shot this week, too. It's a good one!

Take Five for Trivia

I may now be able to remember an easy way to tell, as I asked last week, rhododendron from laurel thanks to long-time member Karen. It's all in the leaves (as many of you pointed out) with rhododendron leaves tending to be more rounded and the edges curling a bit downward. Laurel leaves are more pointed and Karen says she remembers the difference by thinking of pointed (laurel) mountain peaks. I also couldn't help but go "rhodydown" in my warped brain.

Congratulations to Angela of Gardners, our randomly drawn winner for May. From Angela's email address I've deduced she might be a teacher which I hope means she will take her bandana prize outside for a long calming breathing exercise!

To kick off June, our subject has to be the majestic pileated. While the Cornell Lab of Ornithology points out that these great birds are "crow-sized," don't they appear much, much larger in "real life?" No, that's not the trivia question. If you are lucky enough to actually see on through your binoculars, what is the easiest way to tell male from female?

Send in your answer and we'll enter your correct response into our monthly prize drawing. All correct answers each week will go into the hat and at the end of the month we'll draw one lucky winner. The more correct answers you submit in a month (up to four or the occasional five depending on the month), the more chances you'll have to win.

In closing

(Design by Earth Sun Moon Trading Company in Grove City, PA based on the work of Your True Nature's Ilan Shamir. These ubiquitous "Advice From" products come with their own optimistic stories. Ain't it grand when good products come from good people?)

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.

Pennsylvania Parks & Forests Foundation (PPFF) is a proud member of Earth Share and 1% for the Planet and is a Gold GuideStar participant.