For many hunters, fall brings thoughts of cooler days, .22 rifles and the solitude of hunting for squirrels in our oak-hickory woods.  West Virginia seems like the perfect place to harvest gray or fox squirrels.  This year, the squirrel season runs from October 9 – January 31, 2011. 

But some wildlife biologists and residents are alarmed that West Virginia will be opening squirrel season in early September in 2011.  While most people take abundant squirrels for granted, they, like any wildlife species, must be managed and monitored, due to influences far outside the realm of hunting. 

Everyone has a story about all the snowstorms that occurred in West Virginia and surrounding states in February of this year.  With below average temperatures and significant snows that persisted on the ground for weeks, hunters and other outdoor enthusiasts are asking how the squirrels and other wildlife populations fared after winter had gone.  It turns out many species were adversely impacted by the harsh winter.

According to Frank Jezioro, Director of West Virginia Department of Natural Resources (DNR), not only did West Virginia have a severe winter, it also had the lowest statewide mast supplies since such surveys began in 1970.  Jezioro goes on to explain that squirrel is more dependent on hard mast than any other game species in the state.  “Poor oak and hickory crops have a negative impact on winter survival and the production of young during the following spring and summer.  As a result, hunters should anticipate lower bushytail numbers this fall. “

Besides weather and food availability, some biologists are concerned that an early September opener would result in thousands of squirrels dying or being wasted.  Young squirrels are not weaned until October, and some may die of starvation if adult females are harvested too early.

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Tammi was my college roommate and the person who rescued me the most when my old MG broke down.  I threatened her all summer with a visit, and I made good on that threat in August.  Tammi lives on a quiet mountain in Greenbrier County, WV near a speck on the map called Russellville.  To get up the mountain, you drive across the Meadow River on a narrow old bridge.  Many layers of asphalt applied over the years make the bridge humpy bumpy and full of potholes.  It has crumbling concrete sides with rebar randomly protruding like weeds.  Even though it’s concrete, the curves and arch in its design make me feel like it is noticeably moving when I cross. 

My goal was to forget about Marcellus shale, dmap, and the end of world due to global warming for a while and concentrate on important things like picking beans, making jam, and having a picnic. 

On the first evening of my visit, Tammi’s husband John, who also rescued me several times when my MG quit running out in the middle of nowhere, offered to take me around to meet the neighbors.  John is a forester who works for Mead Westvaco.  What he really wanted to do was show me all the deer that live on the mountain.  We drove about six miles, and saw at least 85 deer.  From what we could see, seven were bucks, five of them spikes.  West Virginia has closed doe firearms season in the area of Greenbrier, Fayette and Nicholas Counties where we were.  He lamented that deer numbers are much too high, and I resigned myself to the fact that I may always be a former Commissioner no matter where I go. 

On the second day of my visit, Tammi and I decided to sneak down to her secret spot along the Meadow River to do some West Virginia down home serious lollygaggin’ and have our picnic.  We jumped into her old Chevy pickup and crept our way down the mountain over dirt roads that had sections of very rough exposed bedrock.  We parked at a very rare somewhat level spot and began hiking northwest on the abandoned tracks of the Nicholas Fayette and Greenbrier Railroad.  The railroad was built in 1926, primarily to haul coal. 

The Meadow River is known to have some exciting stretches for kayaking and some good hunting in the 2,374 acre Meadow River Wildlife Management Area.  Six miles of the River are part of the Gauley River National Recreation Area.  The River begins in the northwest corner of Summers County, and flows for 53 miles to the northwest where it empties into the Gauley River near Summersville. 

Tammi and I at our picnic spot in the Meadow River

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Our "wolf" red oak and head-beaning culprit.

It’s that time of year when I must choose my route from the house to the garage very carefully, because acorns are falling from our large red oak.  They seem to wait until I am at the perfect spot on the sidewalk and then bean me on the head.  Usually, it hurts. 

This year, the oaks in our woods are good producers, about 16 acorns per branch.  For the past two years, not one acorn even formed on our trees. 

It bugs me when I read a press release or an outdoor article that has a phrase in it like “due to a good mast crop this year” because it means little in an ecological sense.  For oaks are individuals, just like the animals of the woods, so you can’t apply what happens in the life of one oak during September to a state as large as Pennsylvania. 

If you read just one magazine article this month, it has to be “Red Oak, White Oak” by Ben Moyer in the September Pennsylvania Game News.  It is far and away the most eloquent, thoughtful story of the oaks I have ever read.  I studied oak silviculture in college and I must have read a thousand articles about oak in my life time, but Ben’s article brought joy and peace to my over active imagination like no “hunting” story could ever do. 

The pages themselves became leaves in golden fall colors and took on the smell and cool feel of the A (soil) horizon beneath my feet.  I could see a frantic chipmunk testing the area around me to see if it was safe enough to collect the acorn treasures. 

Acorns are important food for at least 100 birds and mammals, and unlike the nearly extinct American chestnut, oaks vary widely in the frequency and amount of acorns they produce.  Due to its food value, as well as its commercial timber value, the mighty oak has likely been studied more than any hardwood tree in the United States. 

White oaks produce the most acorns per square foot of basal area and chestnut oaks produce the fewest.  Basal area is the cross-sectional area of a tree, measured at breast height (4.5 feet) expressed as square feet.  Northern red oak and white oak have the heavier and larger acorns compared to chestnut, black and scarlet oak.  It’s a good thing too, because animals like white oak acorns the most, so God and Mother Nature knew what they were doing. 

But mast production isn’t something that can be expressed statewide or county wide, or even township wide.  There is a lot of variability from year to year, among species, and among locales.  During a given year, some oaks will produce acorns, and some will fail completely. 

Normally, either white oaks or red oaks will produce a crop in an area each year.  It is unusual for all of them to fail at once.  White oaks flower in the spring, and if fertilized, acorns will develop in the fall of the same year.  Trees in the red oak group don’t develop their acorns until the fall of the following year.  This gives some protection against the effects of adverse weather.  This is why forests of mixed oak are best for acorn production. 

W. M. Sharp of Penn State University studied oaks for many years, and developed the following production categories back in 1958:

•       Excellent producer –  ≥ 24 acorns per branch
•       Good producer – 16 to 23 acorns per branch
•       Fair producer – 9 to 15 acorns per branch
•       Poor producer –  < 8 acorns per branch

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The following article is reprinted from Forest Leaves,a quarterly newsletter about Pennsylvania’s privately owned forestlands, published by Penn State University, School of Forest Resources.  It is written by Marc Lewis, current President of the Pennsylvania Forestry Association and owner of Dwight Lewis Lumber Co.,  Picture Rocks, PA.   As a certified forester, Marc manages 17,500 acres of Smartwood certified forest lands. 

The Pennsylvania Forestry Association (PFA) is the nation’s oldest grassroots state organization dedicated to forest conservation.  Founded in 1886, it is an association of individuals, landowners, loggers, forest industries, resource professionals, and businesses that are active in the stewardship of Pennsylvania’s valuable forest resources.

PFA’s 124th annual meeting “Forest Management and the Marcellus Shale Play” will be held on September 10 and 11 at the Genetti Hotel in Williamsport.  The purpose of the meeting and field trip is to provide solid, unbiased information to landowners and citizens so they can make informed decisions regarding natural gas extraction.  You don’t have to be a member to attend the meeting.  For more information and registration details, visit the PFA website. – Roxane Palone

PFA Meeting Focuses on the Marcellus Shale Play, by Marc Lewis, PFA President

Injection water and flowback lagoon, Greene County, PA

Mankind, for centuries, has influenced the landscape of Penn’s Woods. Even before European settlement, Indians used fire to clear the woods for farming and villages. 

When the Europeans came to Pennsylvania, they brought along steel plows, axes, and eventually crosscut saws that made land clearing and tilling much easier.  As they cleared for villages, cities, and farms, they created a patchwork of open areas and forests.

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Vince, foreground, hunting stocked pheasants in Washington County, PA. Joining him are Chris Lewis; Rich Kerlin, their guide; and Rick Lewis.

When hunters and trappers look to restore a species of wildlife, they always have one goal in the back of their minds – someday we’ll harvest that critter.  You can try and sugarcoat it all you want, talking about ecosystems, habitat improvement, ecotourism, and economics.  But the bottom line is always having a sustainable population that can someday be harvested.   

It’s a good thing sportsmen think like that because they are responsible for the comeback of deer, wild turkey, black bears, elk, bobcats, otters, fishers, and maybe someday, snowshoe hares and ring-necked pheasants.   

The PA Game Commission (PGC) has established four Wild Pheasant Recovery Areas (WPRAs) around the state.  But the restoration of wild pheasants is beginning to cause some concerns.  It is not the ends, but the means, that has some worried.  While the benefits to landowners are numerous, will hunters ever see the benefits of restoring the Chinese bird species to Pennsylvania?  

Wild pheasant management was brought to the fore recently due to the new Conservation Reserve Program (CRP) sign-up period, the first since 2006.     

CRP is one of many USDA voluntary programs that supports agricultural producers who use their environmentally sensitive land for conservation benefits, in this case, wildlife benefits.  Producers enrolling in CRP plant long-term, resource-conserving covers in exchange for rental payments, cost-share, and technical assistance.  These cover plants benefit all grassland birds, in addition to wild pheasants.   

Participants remove environmentally sensitive land from agricultural production by entering into contracts for 10 to 15 years.  In exchange, they receive annual rental payments and a payment of up to 50 percent of the cost of establishing conservation practices. The 2009 average rental payment in Pennsylvania was $100.45 per acre.  Rental rates will be going up during this latest sign-up.  There are also many other cost-share programs available to landowners who want to help wildlife.  

Some questions relate to concerns about landowner motives.  What will producers do once their contracts are up?  If they are in a WPRA, and no longer in CRP, what will be the effect on pheasants and other grassland birds?  Will all the CRP lands be put back into crop production?  The state of Nebraska had to deal with these issues when it saw a drastic decline in the number of pheasants harvested.   

A bigger concern is hunter access.  Landowners who are in a WPRA are not required to be in any of the PGC public access programs.  When the pheasant management plan was being drafted, some tried to make this a stipulation for getting wild pheasants, but it did not make it into the plan.  Since other wildlife partners were paying for the pheasants, some felt that the PGC shouldn’t make landowners allow hunting.  But at the end of the day, the reason Pheasants Forever wants to restore pheasants is for hunting and hunters.   

Wild pheasants from South Dakota and Montana are released into WPRAs for three years.  The goal is to establish 10 hens per square mile.  During that time, and for at least three years afterwards, no pheasant or small game hunting is allowed in a WPRA.  In addition, it is illegal to train dogs in any manner from the first Sunday in February through July 31 within these recovery areas.   

The third area of concern is potential breeding of wild birds with farm birds.  In order to discourage the breeding of game birds and wild birds, the PGC has discontinued stocking farm raised pheasants in the WPRAs and it is illegal for any non-commercial regulated hunting ground to do so.    However, commercial regulated hunting grounds, of which there are hundreds, can still release farm pheasants within WPRAs.  Commercial regulated hunting grounds are regulated by Title 34 (game code) Section 2928 which states that dog training can occur on these facilities year round.  

 So the PGC may not be giving the wild birds the best opportunity to establish themselves.  Rules as currently written restrict hunters, but not regulated hunting grounds.   

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Eva Humphreys learns about American chestnut restoration

Until yesterday, I really believed that Vince was the only thing that could make me weak in the knees.  Then I heard the excitement in Alex Day’s voice as he spoke to a group of 70 people at Raystown Lake about “restoration chestnuts”.  After 27 years of research and countless volunteer hours, the American Chestnut Foundation (TACF) has started planting its first line of chestnuts that it believes will have both blight resistance and the desirable growth characteristics of the American chestnut. 

Alex is the current president of the 984-member Pennsylvania Chapter of TACF.  A native of Lock Haven, he is retired from the PA Department of Conservation and Natural Resources Penn Nursery.  Alex gives all the credit to the grassroots volunteers who have a common goal of restoring some form of American chestnut and will work towards that goal.  “I know deep in my forestry soul that we will make it” were his words to us.  These people “never say die”. 

I was invited to the August 21^st Chestnut Restoration Celebration at Raystown Lake by my friends Lori and Jeff Krause.  Jeff works there as a wildlife manager for the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers.  I took my niece Eva Humphreys, 11, with me.  I had been shirking my responsibility to “leave no child indoors” and I had never told her the story of the American chestnut and its demise.  But folks at the celebration told the story much better than I could. 

The event was held at the Juniata College Raystown Field Station, and we were welcomed by the station Director, Chuck Yohn.  Jeff’s boss, Dwight Beall, Operations Manager for Raystown Lake, a huge supporter of American chestnut restoration, also greeted us. 

I ran into some old pals there.  The first was the ole hunter George Naugle and his wife Doris, who are great supporters of the deer management plan in PA, as well as dedicated conservationists and world travelers.  I also got re-acquainted with Bryan Burhans, the new President and CEO of TACF.  A native of Pennsylvania and a Penn State wildlife alumnus, Bryan worked for several years for the National Wild Turkey Federation in Edgefield, NC.   

Bryan Burhans, President and CEO of TACF

In his new role, Bryan is expanding TACF by empowering volunteers to start local state chapter “Restoration Branches” (a neat play on words).  This celebration was hosted by the Raystown Restoration Branch.  It is only the 4^th local fundraising/educational event that TACF has conducted. 

Bryan stressed that the continued restoration of American chestnut is a 100+ year program.  Developing a blight resistance tree that is genetically, predominantly American chestnut is only the first step.  Breeding and testing at the 160-acre TACF Meadowview Farms in Virginia will continue.  Even though TACF has 15 state chapters, Bryan feels the key to success is developing locally adapted chestnuts through local breeding orchards. 

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September is almost here, which means that some hunters are looking forward to the resident Canada goose season to begin.

What a change that is.

In the “old” days, at least in my area of southwestern Pennsylvania, the first hunting, besides groundhogs, was for perhaps doves, then archery bucks – no one wanted to shoot a doe too early in the year when you were allowed just one whitetail a year – and then squirrels, grouse and other small game.

Geese? That was a novelty. Going goose hunting meant applying for a blind at Pymatuning and hoping to get picked for a day’s hunt. People in the eastern half of the state did the same at Middle Creek, I suppose.

But that was about it, at least for a lot of people. There weren’t a whole lot of real diehard waterfowlers – most of the guys I knew did their one day in the blind and were done – and there was no such thing as hunting the parks around home.

Gear wasn’t especially common either. Of course we didn’t have the big box outdoors stores then – you went to your local sporting goods store or, if you needed something especially common or generic, maybe a Kmart or something – but things like decoys were hard to find.

Things sure are different now.

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The Pennsylvania Federation of Sportsmen’s Clubs.  For over 78 years, it has been “providing leadership and advocacy for the enhancement of our fish and wildlife resources for the benefit of all hunters, trappers, anglers and conservationists”.  It continues to “protect our Second Amendment rights and our outdoor heritage”. 

Since 1932, the “Federation” has been an activist for clean streams, abandoned mine reclamation, deep mine subsidence regulations, establishment of conservation districts, and recycling. 

But it is not just positive change that the Federation has brought to hunters and fishermen.  Over the years, the Federation has worked tirelessly to assure that negative laws and regulations were not put into place that would restrict our outdoor activities. 

For example, the Federation played a major role in repealing the Philadelphia Firearms Act. It worked to make sure clubs did not have to close their ranges due to noise complaints.  It fought against local governments that wanted to ban hunting in their jurisdictions.  And it helped to successfully kill HB 2181, which would have taken the regulation of game lands away from the PA Game Commission and put them under the jurisdiction of the Independent Regulatory Review Commission. 

The Federation is a true grassroots organization, starting at the individual member, and working up from the club, county, and division levels to the state Board of Directors.  But you don’t have to belong to a club to join the Federation.  As an individual member, you are represented at all levels by your elected member-at-large, Lee Haas of Elk County, a retired “fish warden”.  The member-at-large serves a two year term, and has a vote at quarterly Board meetings, voting in accordance with those individual members who contact him about specific issues. 

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The white-tailed buck deer are now done growing their antlers, and as fall approaches, bucks will be in a frenzy to remove all traces of velvet from their antlers.  Leonard Lee Rue describes the process as the actions of a fighter, training hard before he enters the ring. Bucks will spar with tree saplings, strengthening their neck muscles, rubbing their antlers up and down the tree trunk. One buck may fight with several trees, leaving a path commonly known as a rub line. Then he is ready for the mating season.

“Rub Lines” is the name of my friend, Nick Pinizzotto’s blog about everything having to do with whitetails. Nick is addicted to hunting whitetails with a bow, and has a captivating, down home way of relating his adventures to the reader.

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The Johnstown Tribune Democrat reports that Pennsylvania State Senator John Wozniak  is demanding that Pennsylvania accommodate ATV riders with a new trail across public lands in Cambria, Clearfield and Centre Counties that includes state game lands.  Wozniak would like to see a trail modeled after the 500-mile long Hatfield-McCoy Trail that comprises private land in West Virginia. 

ATV riders are complaining that they pay a bi-annual $20 registration fee to DCNR, so they should have places to ride on state parks.  But their registration fees go to maintenance of existing trails and law enforcement.  Even though there are 280 miles of trails statewide and a 50-mile long Rock Run ATV Park in Cambria and Clearfield Counties, that is not enough for the increasing demand.  Some legislators want to use state parks, like Prince Gallitzin, to further expand the ATV trail system. 

The most obvious question is, why would someone spend $6,500 for an ATV and $2,000 for a trailer to haul it, without having a place to ride the thing?   It’s like a group of people going out and buying big speed boats and trailers, then asking the state to build them a huge lake near their homes so they can go water skiing without having to drive too far.  Further, these boat owners would like to take game lands 203 in Allegheny County to build the lake. 

If these folks can afford ATVs, they can certainly afford to drive to West Virginia to ride them.

The Hatfield-McCoy trail has 35,000 visitors annually. Can you even imagine how many visitors would come to a similar trail in Pennsylvania?  Pennsylvania has 8.5 times more people than West Virginia, and a proportionately higher number of people who own ATVs.  Pennsylvania would never be able to accommodate all its riders on public trails.  Even if it tried, there would be so many clashes with other outdoor recreationists that no one would be happy. 

How about trails on private lands?  That is how the Hatfield-McCoy trail was formed.  If ATV riding is such a boon for the local economy, why doesn’t the private sector step up and accommodate these folks?  Why don’t the ATV folks pool their resources and lease private land, the way some hunting clubs do? 

Several years ago, the PA Game Commission (PGC) revised its regulations concerning the use of game lands.  At that time, a few legislators put tremendous pressure on the commissioners to allow ATV use, camping, unlimited horseback riding and other forms of recreation on game lands.  The commissioners were able to stand up and do the right thing for hunters then, and we are counting on them to thwart this latest effort to seize control of game lands. 

ATVs don’t belong on state game lands under any circumstance.  First, many game lands were purchased with Pittman-Robertson funds for hunting and wildlife restoration, so the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service could categorize ATV trails as taking land from wildlife.  

And if hunters complain now about not seeing enough game, imagine what they will see if ATVs are allowed to whiz up and down the trails throughout the year.  ATV riders will want the trails open year-round and not closed for hunting seasons. 

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