Find Us On Facebook!
Contact Us
Home
Gwynedd Wildlife Preserve

Blog

Posts categorized Gwynedd Wildlife Preserve.

March 16, 2012

Gwynedd: Prescribed Fire

This week we had our first Prescribed Fire of the season at Gwynedd Wildlife Preserve.  We use fire at Gwynedd to promote warm season grasses.  It is just one of the tools in the land managment tool box that Natural Lands Trust uses. 

Darin Groff, at Binky Lee Preserve, is the Fire Managment Coordinator for NLT.  He writes the prescriptions for the different controlled burns. The prescription dictates when we can burn based on the temperature, humidity, wind speed and direction, the particular fuels, etc.  Thursday, we almost didn’t burn, because the weather forecast wasn’t very accurate.  Humidity levels were too humid, and outside the prescription.  After lunch, the humidity dropped into the prescription parameters and we were able to burn the 18 acre meadow.

A Prescribed Burn is a group effort. Each member has an assignment, and we have radios to stay in contact with each other.  Preston Wilson, Paunacussing Preserve, took the lead on this fire, as well as leading one of the crews.  Joe Vinton, Bear Creek Preserve, lead the other crew.  Crews consisted of igniters, pump operators and the holders.  When you work within the parameters of the prescription, the fire is very controlled.  (Photos by Joe Vinton.)

June 21, 2011

Gwynedd: Solar Array

Our Building Stewardship staff members have put the finishing touches on our first solar array, which was installed on an addition to the management center at our Gwynedd Wildlife Preserve. The panels generate enough power to serve the entire management center.

There is a meter on the electrical inverter that keeps track of how many pounds of carbon dioxide emissions the panels save the world. The inverter also tells the current output of the panels and keep track of the total amount of electricity generated since the panels were activated and hooked to the PECO grid.

The most commonly asked question is, “How much money will the panels save and will they pay for themselves?” As we watch the numbers on the emissions meter grow every day, I have no doubt the panels will pay for themselves not only in money saved on buying electricity for Gwynedd Wildlife Preserve, but also in the carbon dioxide that is not produced!

This initiative is part of Natural Lands Trust’s commitment to sustainability in all of our practices.

Tim Parkany
Regional Director, Building Stewardship

June 2, 2011

Gwynedd Wildlife Preserve: Bald Eagle Sighting

Recently, two members of our stewardship staff spotted a Bald Eagle flying over our Gwynedd Wildlife Preserve. They watched, mesmerized, as it soared past Swedesford Road and out of sight.

Within minutes the raptor reappeared only to land in the lone hickory tree out in the middle of the warm season grass meadow. The bird rested just long enough for staffer Steve Longenecker to a get a shot with his camera. It was only the second Bald Eagle sighting at the preserve to the best of anyone’s memory.

 Here are some facts on this spectacular species:

- The Bald Eagle is the second largest North American bird of prey after the California Condor.

- The Bald Eagle prefers habitats near rivers, large lakes, oceans, and other large bodies of open water with an abundance of fish. The species requires old-growth and mature stands of coniferous or hardwood trees for perching, roosting, and nesting. They are extremely sensitive to human activity, and is found most commonly in areas free of human disturbance

- Bald Eagles are monogamous and thought to pair for life.

- Once common across much of North America, the Bald Eagle underwent a dramatic decline between the late 1700s and the 1960s as a result of intense hunting, habitat loss, and poisoning by pesticides (notably DDT), lead shot and other pollutants. In addition, DDT is believed to have caused widespread eggshell thinning and reproductive failure.

- In the United States, the species was listed for protection under the Bald Eagle Protection Act in 1940 (now the Bald and Golden Eagle Protection Act), and later under the Endangered Species Act of 1973, and various regional recovery plans were produced. However, the dramatic recovery in bald eagle numbers led to the species being removed from the federal list of threatened and endangered species in 2007, as it was no longer considered to need the protection of the Endangered Species Act.

Recent Posts

Category

Archives