Pennsylvania Master Naturalists celebrated Arbor Day in their most recent Field Notes newsletter by quoting J. Sterling Morton, an American journalist in the 19th century who is noted for founding Arbor Day-- "Other holidays repose on the past, Arbor Day proposes for the future."

Pennsylvania Master Naturalist volunteers have planted countless trees since 2010 for restoring land, beautifying their communities, and providing wildlife habitat.

Here are a few success stories highlighted in their newsletter.

Armstrong County

Five Master Naturalist volunteers in Armstrong County celebrated Arbor Day and Earth Day last week by planting 50 trees in 1 hour and 10 minutes! ​Their efforts were part of a larger project at Crooked Creek Lake.

Want to join them? PA Master Naturalist is partnering with Armstrong Center for Community Learning for a Fall 2021 Training Course. Apply today!

Potter County

Brent Bacon, Middle Susquehanna Master Naturalist volunteer, is working with Headwaters Resource Conservation & Development Council and the Great Lakes Restoration Initiative to restore riparian areas on his farm in Potter County.

Check out an intro video for the project featuring Brent and other landowners who are doing their part to be more watershed friendly.

Centre/Huntingdon Counties

Master Naturalist volunteers from Centre and Huntingdon Counties  cleaned up Jo Hays Vista as part of PA Master Naturalist partner  ClearWater Conservancy's Watershed Clean Up Day.

They made this beautiful view even more beautiful!

These volunteers also recently built bluebird boxes and donated them to Greenwood Furnace State Park. The park will use them to replace older boxes and to make new nesting sites for the bluebirds.

Berks County

Congratulations to Debbie Naha-Koretzky who recently published her book Foraging Pennsylvania and New Jersey.

Debbie is a nutritionist who trained as a Master Naturalist volunteer in Berks County in 2015.

Known as the Wild Edibles Lady, Debbie maintains a website Wild Edibles - Foraging (wildediblesnjpa.com) where she offers safety information for consuming wild plants, learning foraging best practices from an expert, seasonal foraging information, and even a recipe for making dandelion fritters featured on NPR. Kudos,

May 11 - Bringing Nature Home

On May 11, PA Master Naturalist and the Uwchlan Township Environmental Advisory Council are co-sponsoring a replay of author Doug Tallamy's recent presentation to Texas Master Naturalist volunteers.

Registration is not required and a Zoom link will be posted to the UTEAC website closer to the date. The program starts at 7:00 p.m.

Click Here to read the entire PA Master Naturalist newsletter.

Fall Training Spots Open!

A Pennsylvania Master Naturalist is an individual with a passion for the natural world who participates in an intensive training program and uses his or her knowledge by giving back to the community through volunteer service.

Fall 2021 course applications are open for Armstrong, Centre, Chester, Delaware, Lehigh, Montgomery, and Westmoreland counties.

The final deadline is June 1st. Space is limited. Apply today!

Click Here to apply.

To learn more, visit the PA Master Naturalist website. Follow them on Facebook.   Click Here to sign up for their email list.

[Posted: April 30, 2021]

5/3/2021