Cathy Yeakel, BCCD, District manager
Spring is Right Around the Corner
Earth Day was first celebrated on April 22, 1970, as an environmental awareness day to educate people about pollution and its effects on the environment. Founded by a U.S. Senator from Wisconsin, Gaylord Nelson, Earth Day became a global movement to protect our environment. Since 1970, celebrations have changed from awareness lectures to outdoor events offering education on our natural resource issues and demonstrations.

​I was reading an article from another paper this morning about rain.  It was singing the praises of rain and how we cannot do without it.  It was talking about how we don’t want to be caught out in it.  It can ruin a good day (if you look at it that way).  You don’t want it to rain while you are watching a parade, or having a cookout, or any number of things.  But, it pointed out that rain is a good thing.  I mean, it is the basis of life!  It grows food and shelter and clothing.  It prevents fires from getting out of control.  (I have heard that at the end of last week, the brush fires started.)  Imagine if we had no rain.  The landscape would be a boring as the Sahara Desert.  And wildlife- if you want to see some wildlife, head for your nearest area of surface water (pond, stream, etc.).  There will be wildlife there, I am sure.  Rain is a great thing, and places in the west fight over who is going to get that water when it comes down the stream.  They don’t have enough to do what they want to do (live, wash, grow crops, water lawns, etc.).  We need moisture, but sun always steals the show.  After reading the article I was going to write one of my own, expanding on this topic.  However, as I thought of all the good things, I started to add up all the bad things about it- floods, erosion, drowning, supports mold growth, rots things, changes streams over time (usually to places we don’t want it to go), shrinks things, and the list goes on.  I am sure you can come up with a number of things on your own.  I then contemplated that my article should be about all the bad things associated with rain.  We have all experienced those things in the last 6 years.  Then I thought, how could something so good, also be so bad?  Are there other things that way?  And my mind started to drift.  Is it really all about perspective? 

by Ryan Reed An article reprinted from Forest Fridays, a DCNR publication.
 
Roughly 17 million acres of Pennsylvania are covered by forests; approximately one third of which is publicly accessible.  We should all be thankful for these facts for so many reasons, including benefits of clean air and water, wildlife habitat, recreational opportunities, and so many more.
 
One reason to be thankful for forests, which I don’t often encounter in things I read, is much less quantifiable and admittedly abstract, but I would bet that many readers feel the same.  I think I speak for many of us when I say that I’m thankful for our forests for the sense of wonder they inspire. 

By: Dan Rhodes, Education Coordinator, BCCD
The Ernest Manchester family, along with the Bradford County Conservation District, and the Bradford Sullivan Forest Landowners’ Association, would like to congratulate their 2022 college scholarship recipient, Bradley Tessier, in receiving both the Ernest Manchester Scholarship and BSFLA scholarship awards this year. Tessier, a New Albany resident, is a senior studying forestry at Paul Smith’s College and hopes to work for the PA Game Commission as a forester after graduation.  Representing the Manchester family are Rich Manchester, along with his wife Stephanie. Congratulations to Bradley and many thanks for your hard work!

Kevin Brown, BCCD, Ag Resource Specialist
You always have to read the fine print.  LOL.  We are the Conservation District.  We do conservation work.  What is that?  In a nutshell, I would say that we want to specialize in helping people conserve their natural resources.  We have written other articles on it so I will not go too much further with a definition.  We are not pure protectionist, but we would like to conserve what we have in hopes to give the next generation the same, or better.  I have not seen the study, but supposedly there is a study out there that finds that the happiest people are people that spend a lot of time outdoors.  Their fondest memories are of them playing outside as children.  I can attest to that.  I love the outdoors.  Taking walks in nature, listening to the sounds (birds, bees, water running, etc.), looking at all the different plants out there, what the animals are doing, etc.  Immerse yourself in it.  Don’t just be outside, BE outside.  Be one with nature.  (Did you know there are apps that will tell you what kind of bird is making that noise?  Or what plant that is?  I don’t want to put myself out of a job, but how cool is that?  I walk around my property now, with my phone in hand, identifying all the different bird sounds and plants out there.)  Now those are the things that I would like to conserve as much as possible.  Is that anything that excites you?  If so, maybe we can help.  

By: Kevin Brown, Ag Team leader
Enough said, right.  The Troy Fair.  The biggest event to hit Bradford County since (I don’t know, dinosaurs??  LOL).  We have rides and animals and attractions and (oh yea) FOOD.  It is not an official count, but I think we have been going at this for just shy of 150 years.  That is a long time.  The fair is an enjoyable time for whatever reason you go.  There will be cattle and sheep and chickens and whatever animals you can think of.  We will have the normal- fish, snakes (I hope.  I have to catch them yet and NO these ones in the picture are not the ones that I will have at the fair!), critters, and educational stuff.  I hope to see you there.  If you are a regular reader, you can feel free to stop in and tell me what a wonderful job I am doing, or that I have lost my mind and don’t have a clue what is going on out there in the real world.  Either way, I will enjoy the conversation.

From Kevin Brown, BCCD -this is a reprint from an web article I saw the other day.  It hit home after I was mowing lawn the other day and was concerned of the number of honeybees that would not leave their flowers, even if I slowed way down, and went through the mower.  Bees are already in huge decline without us killing even more this way.  What is the answer?
Authors: Alex Schultz, Co-Chair of Pollenablers–Fox Cities, Bee City USA Appleton
Israel Del Toro, President of Appleton Pollinator Project, Bee Campus USA Lawrence University
​The Appleton Bee City USA affiliate group, Pollenablers-Fox Cities, and the Bee Campus USA affiliate group, Appleton Pollinator Project, teamed up in 2020 to launch the United States’ first No Mow May initiative, an import from Great Britain’s Plantlife organization. The basic tenet of the program being the voluntary delay of early lawn mowing for the month of May increases spring pollinator habitat and foraging opportunities as early flowering grasses and sedges are allowed time to blossom and provide an essential boost of energy for pollinating insects.

Kevin Brown, BCCD, Ag Team Leader
I will call it this for lack of a better term right now.  The Conservation District will hold a meeting this Saturday, the 14th, to talk about a number of outdoor, around-the-house topics.  We get a lot of interest in our No-Till Garden information when we present it.  This will be the first topic on the agenda.  I will confess that I am no gardener.  In fact, I used to hate gardening.  However, I have found a new way- Mulch, Plant, Harvest, Repeat.  Even I can do that little.  I don’t have to till, and even better, I don’t have to weed or water it.  I can enjoy my summer instead of chasing the garden chores the whole time.

By: Cathy Yeakel, BCCD District Manager​
What did you do on Earth Day?
Earth Day was first celebrated on April 22, 1970, as an environmental awareness day to educate people about pollution and its effects on the environment. Founded by a U.S. Senator from Wisconsin, Gaylord Nelson, Earth Day became a global movement to protect our environment. Since 1970, celebrations have changed from awareness lectures to outdoor events offering education on our natural resource issues and demonstrations.