FOR OVER TWENTY YEARS
Our Mission: To Inspire Stewardship of Pennsylvania’s State Parks and Forests
Linn Run State Park
Photo by Clare Kaczmarek
Back to the future? Something like that. I hope this familiar format and process will be more to everyone’s liking. The people have spoken!
Our friend Clare Kaczmarek is back with another atmospheric creation at Linn Run State Park. As one commenter noted, “I can ‘feel’ the dampness.” I think all of us felt that dampness last weekend; as a friend noted to Marci, “there’s something wrong when Christmas Day is warmer than Memorial Day.”
June is Get Outdoors Month, an announcement I always provide with a certain sense of irony because most of us think EVERY month is “Get Outdoors Month!” There are any number of “special days” that will occur during the month that provide the basis for celebration. But the bottom line of them all is “go out and play!”
White Clay Creek Preserve is the latest piece of Penn’s Woods to be inducted into the Old-Growth Forest Network by the organization of the same name. Founder Joan Maloof paid a visit to this great little paradise of the Southeast a couple of weeks ago to add the park as the first of six to be included this year.
Pictures of the Week
I generally go for “beauty shots” in the Pictures of the Week but this one – tangled fishing line by the shore at Chapman State Park – comes with a message for all fishermen. Please don’t leave this stuff behind. It’s dangerous for wildlife.
Just another day at the beach for the Friends of Trough Creek & Warriors Path? No, a work evening getting a new volleyball court all set for Pavilion #2 at Warriors Path in time for Memorial Day. They decided to bump it up the maintenance schedule before the temperature spiked. (See what I did there?)
The (almost) full Flower Moon provided a lovely backdrop for a paddle last week at Delaware Canal State Park. And a terrific jigsaw puzzle as well.
You know I like to include the occasional vertical that’s been cropped down just to encourage you to visit the real thing. In this case, Kettle Creek State Park a few weeks ago by photographer Kelly Althouse.
This month’s Environmental Rights Amendment challenge is an essay challenge. “Essay” is defined in the first Google entry as “a short piece of writing on a particular subject.” So enter into this challenge in that spirit-a short piece of writing as you are moved! Enter at [email protected].
Calendar of Events
With a new month and the increase of events appearing on the calendar, it seems a good time to return to our weekly recap of a few upcoming events. In a spirit of compromise between listing events coming up for the immediate weekend (often too late for planning) and trying to anticipate needs several weeks out, I am going to instead feature here events on the schedule for the week following each Fridays. So, for example, these events are on tap for NEXT weekend, the 11th through 13th. As always, we encourage you to bookmark the DCNR Calendar of Events and our PPFF calendar. A quick search in those places will keep you up to date on everything that’s coming up.
SUP 101.
Saturday, 6/12 – 1:00 PM.
Pymatuning State Park.
Where Are We This Week?
Green boxes denote photographs; red are featured in stories or events. Give the map a click to see it larger and more legible.
Take Five for Trivia
Your $5 word for last week was dendrochronology – the dating of events or environmental change through the use of characteristic patterns in tree growth rings. Fascinating stuff explored more fully, you will recall, in our latest guest blog from Joe Baker and Kate Peresolak.
Our winner, randomly chosen, for May is Tina H. For National Bike Month, I’m sending her one of the remaining copies of our “Changing a Bike Tire-A Guide in Pictures” featuring my husband, Bill.
For this week, name at least three state forests that have old growth forests in them. If you visit one for a hike, send us a picture and we’ll send a prize from our prize closet.
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.
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.
