With the advent of a new month, we'd like to welcome a larger audience to the weekly Take Five/Fridays with Pam family. We have discontinued the bimonthly Explore PA email in favor of drawing everyone here and thank all the readers who consented to make the transition with us. We hope you enjoy our Friday get togethers!

I got lost on the Hiking & Backpacking Pennsylvania Book of Faces. The members of this group have outdone themselves in the photography and inspiration department this week and we want to send a big shout out to them just anyway. A post a couple of weeks ago from a group member who'd just received his Pennsylvania State Parks and State Forests Passport resulted in a flurry of sales for which we are extremely grateful! It would appear you'll be seeing a lot more people out there this summer with a little green-covered spiral bound book!

The masthead photo appears on the Parker Dam State Park Facebook page - a "sapsicle" said one noted wag.

Pam Metzger
Membership Coordinator

News of Note

It's not too early to think about June, with registration now open for the Friends of Pine Grove Furnace's annual Charcoal Challenge 5k and Iron Run Half Marathon.

And before that in April you'll find the Friends of Cowans Gap's 5k (a nice training event for Pine Grove?)

Does your outdoor dog "have what it takes?" Merrell is looking for their first ever outdoor dog ambassador. Find out the details and enter your photograph at the website. You'll have competition for sure. I've suggested to one of PPFF's favorite trail dogs that she enter and although I told her there's nobody cuter there are quite a few darling pups in the running.

While you're ordering your Passport you may notice a new "product" called Partner Products. This is actually a repository for two (and we always appreciate more) products -  the Design a Tea custom tea blends and Pennsylvania Patch Coalition patches - whose creators generously direct a portion of their sales to the Foundation to support the stuff you love. Check them out in their "new location!"

Speaking of a new location, the second meeting of the potential Friends of Michaux State Forest has been scheduled for March 19 in a different location from the original. Come to the Mont Alto Fire Hall at 517 South Main Street in Mont Alto at 6:30 that evening to see the next steps. And if you'd like to participate in the planning survey and did not receive it via email yet, drop me a line and I'll send it on.

At Work and Play in the State Parks and Forests

With Spring around the corner, the calendar is filling up.

NORTH	SOUTH
As noted above, maple sugaring is/will be underway at PARKER DAM STATE PARK. Every weekend through March come and learn the fine art of turning sap to syrup.	Take a trip to the Roaring Run Natural Area of FORBES STATE FOREST for an eight-mile ramble on Saturday. Eight miles. Be prepared and register in advance.

EAST	WEST
The first Sunday of the month each Spring and Summer offers an open house at NOLDE FOREST ENVIRONMENTAL EDUCATION CENTER along with a program (or two). Nature Journaling and Raptors Over the Ridge are on tap this Sunday.	We've talked about it long enough! Mountain Pie Madness with the Friends of Canoe Creek is finally here. Join the fun this Sunday at 1:00 PM.

UPCOMING VOLUNTEER OPPORTUNITY

We asked our chapters to include a note in their annual reports this year if they have a particular need for volunteer help. We'll use this space to let you know where your skills might be put to use, be it with an upcoming event or an "administrative task" you can do to help the gears turn smoothly.

First up: the Friends of Black Moshannon. Along with help throughout the year with some great events on the calendar, they need assistance with creating and maintaining a Facebook page and creating a membership program. Can you help? Click below to contact Mary Ann Williams, the Friends' secretary.

Whatever region of the Commonwealth you want to visit or where you might wish to volunteer, our PPFF Events Calendar or the DCNR Calendar of Events are great sources for things to see and do. Bookmark them so you don't miss a thing.

Picture of the Week

This one seems to cry out for a caption contest! Congratulations to Janice Wells Annunziata on, yes, the Hiking & Backpacking Pennsylvania Facebook group for sharing this view of our national bird enjoying a snowstorm up in Pike County.

Take Five for Trivia

With an opportunity to take an Expedition Chesapeake with naturalist Jeff Corwin (beginning with its premiere at the Whitaker Center for Science and the Arts on March 20), last week we asked what state parks and forests touch physically or visually the Susquehanna River on its journey across the Commonwealth. The list is: Hyner View, Milton, Shikellamy, Sam Lewis, Susquehanna, and Susquehannock state parks, and Bald Eagle, Pinchot, Sproul, Tiadaghton, and Weiser state forests.

Congratulations to February winner Maria of Scranton. We'll have a bandana winging its way to the northeast very soon.

After that tough one, we need a sweet, easy question to start March off right. Those who "know" insist that Canada is Queen of the Maple Producers (but we know whose is better). Yet no matter where it's made there are three varieties of maples that predominantly are tapped to extract the sap that becomes syrup. And they are?

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

You guessed it - from Hiking & Backpacking Pennsylvania. Posted by Rebecca Reese Charles. I don't know if she's the designer as well but this is a lovely little image - and you can't go wrong with Muir!

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.