APRIL 2021
STREAMLINES: News and events from BWA
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Earth Day fun: Free map available for pickup |
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With mornings smelling like spring in the lead-up to Earth Day on April 22, 2021, wouldn’t you like to get outside and play?
Brodhead Watershed Association has just the ticket: “Finding fun in the Brodhead Watershed,” a map of nature-based water activities, all but one of them public and free, right here in the Poconos – nature’s original waterpark.
Waterfalls. Fishing holes. Places to paddle and wade. Driveable views and hikeable views. Even two short kayak routes. You’ll find something here for people of most abilities.
Copies are available at these locations. Please call to confirm hours for browsing and curbside pickup.
• Barrett Paradise Friendly Library, 6500 Route 191, Cresco, PA 18326; (570) 595-7171
• Clymer Library, 115 Firehouse Road, Pocono Pines, PA 18350; (570) 646-0826
• Hughes Library, 1002 North Ninth Street, Stroudsburg, PA 18360; (570) 421-0800
• Library of the Smithfields, 5200 Milford Road, East Stroudsburg, PA 18302; (570) 223-1881
• Pocono Mountain Public Library, 5500 Municipal Drive, Tobyhanna, PA 18466; (570) 894-8860
• Western Pocono Community Library, 131 Pilgrim Way, Brodheadsville, PA 18322; (570) 992-7934
• Steele’s Ace Hardware, 6626 Route 191, Cresco, PA 18326; (570) 595-2501
We also stock them in the new outdoor information kiosk at ForEvergreen Nature Preserve in Analomink. But they get snapped up fast! If the kiosk is empty when you visit, try again another day.
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Shrubs, vines stocked online now |
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Online orders in BWA’s annual Native Plant Sale, which began in March, have blossomed better than we had dared to hope. We recently added shrubs and vines to the stock of perennials.
Our own Ann Foster has made good use of her native plant purchases from BWA last year (pictured below). She converted her son’s “postage-stamp” backyard in Southside Easton into “a haven for bird, bugs, and people.” This year, Ann bought goldenrod to add late-season interest and Joe Pye weed to attract pollinators.
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'Essential services' courtesy of PA Game Commission — and Mother Nature
Even if you don’t hike, hunt, or spend any time at all in nature, the forests of Pennsylvania serve you in ways that make life better.
Views, for starters. Safe drinking water, too. Even the air is cleaner in forestland.
So when the Game Commission works to keep habitat in State Game Lands 221 hospitable for game birds, deer, and bear, they’re protecting air, water, and hospitable habitat for all kinds of nature’s creatures. Including us.
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Hotter, wetter, worse
Pennsylvania has undergone a long-term warming of more than 1°C over the past 110 years and will continue to warm. While there will be an increase in the frequency of extreme events such as heavy rainstorms, the state may grow drier overall and experience more drought because rainfall will not compensate for the drying effects of a warmer climate.
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An olde English invader
Gardeners love plants that aren’t fussy, look great year-round and don’t cost a fortune. Plenty of native plants qualify. Unfortunately, when it comes to ground cover, English ivy is far more popular than it deserves to be. Read more about this invasive plant here.
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MONROE COUNTY CONSERVATION DISTRICT |
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MCCD publishes checklist
for construction work
The Monroe County Conservation District staff has stepped up to be local residents’ and municipalities’ go-to earth disturbance consultants. Read more here.
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WHAT'S NEW AT FOREVERGREEN |
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Flies for sharing
The Brodhead Chapter of Trout Unlimited recently installed “flybraries” at various parks and preserves with stream access – including one at ForEvergreen Nature Preserve.
Chapter members constructed the custom blue pads so that anglers can leave or take flies, as needed, to enjoy their day on the stream. Click here to see more photos on BTU’s Facebook page.
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FOR THE EARTH, FROM OUR FRIENDS |
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Electronics collection this weekend: Monroe County Waste Authority will take unwanted electronics, free of charge, 7:30 a.m. to 2 p.m. Saturday, April 17, at the Military Road Recycling Center, 1114 Military Road and Shafers Schoolhouse Road, Stroudsburg. This is for Monroe County residents only; proof of residency is required. Click here for information, including a list of accepted items.
Our friends at Pocono Heritage Land Trust will host the Devil’s Hole Bioblitz on Saturday and Sunday, April 24-25. The event will be on three nature preserves on Devil’s Hole Road near Mount Pocono: Kurmes Nature Preserve, Fieldstone Farm Nature Preserve, Yankee Run Nature Preserve. People with identification skills (especially insects, fungi and mammals) are needed – but anyone is welcome to join in on the fun! For information and to register, click here.
Pocono Mountain Visitors Bureau’s Pick Up The Poconos spring cleanup will be held 9:30 a.m. to 12:30 p.m. Saturday, April 24, with a rain date of April 25. Volunteer to pick litter in your county! You will receive trash bags, gloves, vests, and other supplies. Registration required here. Deadline to register is April 19, by 5 p.m.
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Pocono Arts Council’s juried exhibition, The Earth Speaks VII, focuses on the environmental crisis. The show will be featured in the Community Gallery, 701 Main Street, Suite 402, Stroudsburg, April 19 to May 8, 2021. Show information, winners and a list of events are available here.
Pictured: Laura Gonzalez of Stroudsburg won the Kay & Girard Lichty Climate Crisis Award, sponsored by BWA members Wendy & Mark Lichty, with “California Burning.”
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BWA welcomes new members this month: Amy Armstrong of East Stroudsburg; Cheryl Campbell of Bangor; Cynthia Campo of Stroudsburg; Martha Carbone of Shawnee on Delaware; Gordon Dana of New York, N.Y.; Caroline Eppinger of Saylorsburg; Karen Gee of White Haven; Krista Gluchoski of Cresco; Chris Graham of Bushkill; Elena Gupko of Stroudsburg; Clark Jones of Bear Creek Village; Catherine Koch of Henryville; Jeannine Ksiaskiewicz of East Stroudsburg; Richard Mooney of Springfield; Pat Mulroy of Stroudsburg; Sandra Myers of Effort; Michael Penn of Mount Pocono; Jonathan Spinner of Effort; Marynell Strunk of East Stroudsburg; John York of Henryville.
Special thanks to members Thomas R. & Christine A. Wilkins, who joined our Environmental Partnership program with a $500 donation!
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... AND THANK YOU FOR YOUR SUPPORT |
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An Earth Day online challenge
As a nonprofit organization, BWA operates completely on the generosity of donors and members like you. All this week, in honor of Earth Day 2021, we ask that you make a donation to our PayPal fundraiser in support of our ongoing work in the community.
In addition to donating to our grassroots efforts, you can show you care about clean water by tagging BWA on social media (@brodheadwatershedassociation). Show us and the Internet what you do to care for the environment, however you do it:
- being a volunteer Streamwatcher
- planting a rain garden
- using a rain barrel
- planting native plants
- composting
- picking up litter
- driving an electric car
- reducing water usage at home
- recycling
Use the hashtag #loveyourwatershed to show your support for the Brodhead watershed, and the shared waters of our community. We’d love to create a photo collage of our amazing members and friends loving their watershed in honor of another mostly distanced Earth Day celebration!
There is power in numbers, and the stronger our member base, the further our mission can go! Thank you in advance for being a part of this community collective that aims to ensure that drinkable, fishable, swimmable waters remain in the Brodhead watershed for generations to come!
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Earth Day perks for new members
Not yet a BWA member? Join April 18-25 and choose from a stainless steel reusable straw set or commemorative canvas tote to be mailed to you as a thank-you (while supplies last). Join BWA here.
Make it an automatic monthly gift with the Perennial Club. New Perennial Club members will receive a limited-edition booklet, “A Walk in the Woods,” with essays written by Carol Hillestad (while supplies last).
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