Tag Archive | Stewardship
A Winter Refuge
Although the woodlands look bleak in the winter, one tree provides a bit of greenery and shelter in pine barren woods in the northeast and mid-Atlantic states. Pitch pine is an evergreen tree with stiff pine needles bundled in sets of threes and short round pine cones. Its thick corky-like bark protects it from wildfires. […]
Goldfinches Prepare for Winter
Winter is fast approaching and many birds are preparing for its arrival. Many song birds have already started their journey to the southern U.S., Central and South America where insects abound. The birds that remain behind to face the winter must bulk up on as many seeds as they can find to form a fat […]
The Unobtrusive Orchid
About thirty years ago, while conducting an environmental program for an elementary class, a strange plant caught my eye as I led the students on a trail through a freshwater wetland area in a state park preserve in New York. The plant was about eight inches tall, purplish brown with a spike of tiny blossoms […]
Saving Wild Orchids
Out in eastern Long Island, New York, one summer’s day a colleague and I visited a bog surrounded by dunes to determine the health of the habitat. As we approached the area we noticed pinkish/purple flowers growing throughout the bog amongst bulrushes, sedges and wild grasses. At the fen, we discovered the flowers were part […]
Helping an Endangered Orchid
When I worked for state parks in New York on Long Island, one of my responsibilities was to monitor the populations of rare plants. I do not recall what year it was, but it was in the 1990’s when we had a very dry summer. In July of that year, I happened across the crested […]
naturechirp 