In This
Issue...
The
Unraveling
Ecosystem of
SGL 295 by
Barrie
Overton

The Hemlock
Volume 2, Issue 1 ( September 2008)

"The technology we need most badly is the technology of
community -- the knowledge about how to cooperate to get
things done. . . . We Americans haven't needed our neighbors
for anything important, and hence neighborliness -- local
solidarity -- has disappeared. Our problem now is that there
Hike of the is no way forward, at least if we're serious about preventing
Month: SGL the worst ecological nightmares, that doesn't involve working
together politically to make changes deep enough and rapid enough to matter." --Bill
295
McKibben
Nature
Photography
by Nathan
Welcome Back!
Fought

Hopefully much of your
summer was spent
pH and
Paradox by immersed in the natural
Mark Smith beauty of central
Pennsylvania. This is the
Marketing
first issue of the new
Students
academic year for the
Interview
online newsletter, The
Travel
Agents
Hemlock, a publication of
About
the Environmental Focus
Clinton
Group. Our goal is to help
County by
the Lock Haven University
Marlene
community develop a deeper sense of place. Thus, The Hemlock features
Jensen
articles on outdoor recreation opportunities, information on ways to
Reflecting
protect and preserve the environment, and insights into the heritage and
Upon Our
culture of central Pennsylvania. The articles are contributed by LHU
Relationship
faculty, staff, and students--if you would like to submit something for a
with the
Environment future issue, please contact Bob Myers. If you missed the previous three
by Joan
issues of The Hemlock and would like to get caught up, you can find them
Whitman
online at: Hemlock 1.1 (March 2008), Hemlock 1.2 (April 2008), and
Hoff
Hemlock 1.3 (May 2008).

Review of
Bill
McKibben's
End of Nature
by Bob
Myers

Past Issues:

The theme of this issue is environmental threat. Although The Hemlock
tries to maintain a positive tone, it is important to recognize the seriousness
of the many environmental challenges that we face. There is much work
that needs to be done by all of us.
The Unraveling Ecosystem in State Game Land 295
--Barrie Overton (LHU Biology Professor)
Just across the road from Lock Haven University's Sieg Conference Center

Hemlock 1.1
(March 2008) is a trail that follows Cherry Run through State Game Land (SGL)

295. SGL 295 was founded in 1979 and represents the largest project in
Hemlock 1.2 Pennsylvania Conservancy history to protect four mountain streams and
(April 2008) nearly 20 square miles (12,860 acres) of game-rich forested mountain
terrain in which bear, deer, squirrels, turkey, grouse, box turtles, and frogs
Hemlock 1.3
abound. You can even fish for brook trout in the limestone waters of
(May 2008)
Cherry Run (although they remain elusive prey for me). However, the
forests and mountain streams of State Game Land 295 are facing a serious
Hemlock
Hikes
threat.
Hemlock Wooly Adelgid

The dominant tree in SGL 295 is the
Pennsylvania state tree, the hemlock
(Tsuga canadensis). The hemlocks in SGL
295 are severely infested by the hemlock
woolly adelgid (Adelges tsugae) an
invasive pest from East Asia, and the
trees are currently showing signs of
stress. If nothing is done, the hemlocks
will disappear, possibly within a decade. Apart from the tragic loss of
these beautiful trees, the hemlock is a cornerstone species, and if a
cornerstone species disappears from a habitat, it will lead to fundamental
shifts in the ecosystem and the disappearance of other species from that
habitat. Without the hemlocks, the wilderness streams will no longer be
sheltered in shade, stream temperatures will rise, trout will no longer find
the stream a hospitable place, box turtles and frogs will no longer find the
area a moist and suitable habitat, there will be increased soil erosion, and
many organisms will have to move to a different location to survive or face
extinction (given that hemlock forest are declining across
PA). Furthermore, we will lose microorganisms such as fungi that are

associated with the hemlocks in symbiotic relationships.
Based on previous scientific research, we know that right now in State
Game Land 295, pine trees and oak trees are sending emails to the
hemlocks (please excuse the anthropomorphism) along a vast internet
made up of billions of tiny connections of fungal threads called mycelium
smaller than the width of a human hair. Instead of a text based email
outlining the pros and cons of university policies, the message that the pine
and oak are sending is in the form ofphotosynthates, or sugars. The
hemlocks are stressed, their products of photosynthesis are being utilized
by the woolly adelgid and the hemlocks are literally starving to death, so
pine and oak are sharing sugars they produced by photosynthesis. Sugars
are shared between tree speciesthrough a fungal network of mycelium that
mycologists, like myself, call ectomycorrhizal associations (symbiotic
associations between trees and mushrooms, in which the tree provides the
mushroom photosynthates, and the tree is compensated by the increased
efficiency of mineral absorption by fungal mycelium, and by the storage of
mineral nutrients that aren't immediately needed by the tree). You may
have seen ectomycorrhizal fungi--they are the mushrooms you find
fruiting in abundance this time of year. Mycologists do not yet understand
how the fungi determine that one of their hosts is under stress and how the
mechanism of sharing carbon (sugar) resources works, but we do know
that the process has limitations and that the hemlocks will eventually die if
the woolly adelgid is not eradicated.
Eradication of the adelgid may never occur. States such as New
Hampshire have switched almost exclusively to restoration programs
where pine and spruce are being planted to replace the hemlocks in an
attempt to maintain coniferous forests and the benefits of shade and
moisture retention they provide. There are pesticides available for treating
infected trees, but they are applicable more for the homeowner than a
12,860 acre forest. Minor advances in biocontrol have been made and some
predatory beetles are being evaluated. Recovery plans include protecting
some hemlock stands with pesticides as a seed source for breeding
programs. However, breeding programs take decades. Additionally, in
order to replant resistant trees, you need to also seed their symbiotic
fungi. The problem is that we don’t know what fungi are associated with
hemlocks in any detail.

LHU Students Puzzling Over Mushrooms with Dr. Overton

In an effort to
document the fungal
organisms that are
associated with
hemlocks, I have been
working with other
mycologists to collect
and identify fungi at
State Game Land
295. Scientists from the
New York Botanical
Garden, the Chicago
Field Museum, Cornell,
Berkley, the University of Oregon, SUNY-ESF, Howard University, Penn
State, amateur naturalists from around Pennsylvania, and international
scientists from Japan, Spain, and Estonia have helped me to generate a list
of 207 species of fungi found in State Game Land 295. This list will
continue to grow with research being conducted in an independent study
project this fall by a Lock Haven University undergraduate, A.J.
Johnson. This list will be used by scientists at other institutions who are
cloning fungi from hemlock roots and determining their identity based on
DNA sequence data. This information will be necessary for restoring
hemlocks in Pennsylvania.
To fully appreciate the importance of the need to save the hemlocks and
SGL 295, I encourage you go for a hike along Cherry Run. I think that you
will agree that this unique habitat needs to be protected. It took the
greatest Central Pennsylvania Conservancy effort in the history of the
organization to create SGL 295 and it is going to take the greatest
restoration effort in Pennsylvania history to protect it for future
generations to enjoy. Currently there are no pines or spruce being planted
along the streams to offset the loss of hemlocks, and state funding for
research in woolly adelgid control is minimal. As a result, the wilderness
streams and all of the animal and plant species that depend on them are
endangered. The ecosystem is unraveling and no-one is paying
attention. Join with me and send your copy of this publication to your
state representatives and congressional leaders and ask them to begin the
restoration project now!

For more information, visit these websites: Save Our Hemlocks, the US
Forest Service's Wooly Adelgid page (source of the adelgid picture above),
and PA DCNR's Hemlock Wooly Adelgid site.
Hike of the Month:
State Game Land 295
To see the hemlocks
described in Professor
Overton's article, try the
following 10 mile hike
(4-5 hours). First,
download the map of
SGL 295. Go to LHU's
Sieg Conference Center,
which is 14 miles from
campus (directions). Do
not turn into Sieg;
instead continue on
Narrows Road for two tenths of a mile until you reach the bridge over
Cherry Run. Park in the lot on the left and follow the red blazes to the
main trail--you will cross two (slippery!) wooden bridges before reaching
the trail, where you turn left (note the red arrow sign) and begin following
Cherry Run northeast. After 4.5 miles (about 2 hours), you will reach a
gravel road (Cherry Run Road). Turn right and follow the gravel road
south for 1/2 mile. The road continues southwest along Bear Run for 4.5
miles, gradually becoming a trail, before it connects again to Narrows
Road. Turn right on Narrows Road and a half mile later, you will be back
at your car.
This is a beautiful hike that is not terribly difficult. Most of it is level, and,
with the exception of a few muddy and rocky areas, the trail is
smooth. The hemlocks on the return leg down Bear Run seem to be the
most damaged by the wooly adelgid. You can see trout in the small pools
of Bear Run. (My thanks to my hiking partners who helped me investigate
this trail--Mark, Lisette, John, Sue, Elizabeth, and Max.)
For your convenience, we have put all of the previous Hikes of the Month
on one webpage: Hemlock Hikes.

Nature Photography by Nate Fought (LHU Art Major)

I took "Lock Haven at Sunset" on January 14th, 2008. This image of the
Susquehanna River viewed from the Woodward Boat Launch captures the
sun setting behind the city of Lock Haven. I am a Fine Art Photography
student and a member of the Fine Art Society at LHU. To view more of my
images, please visit my
website: http://www.flickr.com/photos/nathanfoughtphotography . If you
have club events that you would like photographed, please email me
at: nfought@lhup.edu.
pH and Paradox
--Mark Smith (LHU English Professor)
I remember the first time I saw the West Branch of the Susquehanna.
Newly arrived from the midwest, I walked the full length of Lock Haven
up on the levee. To me, my new hometown was just the right size. The
University, too. And the river? So clear I could see down fifteen, maybe
twenty feet. An astonishing green-hued clarity. On that day in June I
watched a loon diving for fish between the shore and Boom Island beside
the University. I watched the dark bird swimming sleek and swift as a fish,
though I didn’t see it catch anything. I had seen water this clear out west—
at Lake Tahoe, and Lake McDonald in Glacier National—but now I would
be kayaking a clean, clear river of my own. I couldn’t wait to put in,

couldn’t wait to explore.
I had the river
all wrong of
course. Within a
week of moving
here, I had
kayaked
upriver past
Queen’s Run to
Lick Run, about
five miles up.
By the time I got there unease had replaced my enthusiasm. I understood
then that the upper reaches of this river (from Lock Haven up) are all but
lifeless. Acid mine drainage (AMD) has so altered the pH that almost
nothing lives in the water. Many of the tributaries are acidic, and in spots,
garish, rust-red seeps of acid enter the river from left or right, often
staining the stones on the riverbottom. From a kayak I look down into a
rocky riverscape of almost lunar lifelessness. I often feel like the only living
thing in the river, and sometimes, of course, I am. That absence of living
things can be a strange and lonely experience.
According to E.O. Wilson’s “biophilia hypothesis” we are attracted to life
and living things because it’s in our genes. As Stephen Kellert describes it,
the hypothesis is “a scientific claim of a human need, fired in the crucible
of evolutionary development, for deep and intimate association with the
natural environment, particularly its living biota.” I have always known
that bone-deep need so my first outings on the West Branch were quite a
shock. In fact, I felt out of place, almost like a man touring a watery moon
in an alien solar system. I looked for all the river life I knew in the midwest:
the great blue herons, the green herons, the bald eagles and ospreys. I
wanted kingfishers scolding me with chittering calls. I wanted
damselflies—civil bluets and American rubyspots—alighting on my boat,
my paddle, my hands. I wanted fish streaming away for deeper water and
turtles basking on logs. I looked for these things in the West Branch but
almost nothing was there. Just the ghostly rocks, the deep green pools
sinking into blackness, the acid transparency of the water.
Oh, I’ll see some fish now and again—little ones mostly. And I’ll

sometimes see the birds. On a twenty mile trip down from Hyner I might
see a pair of bald eagles, or one green heron, or a few spotted sandpipers.
I’ve happened upon a particular snapping turtle twice now, it’s shell
stained red like the rocks. And thankfully, in my own unscientific surveys I
see a bit more life with every passing year.
And yet, despite the life-loneliness, there is a curious paradox on the West
Branch. On one hand it’s almost dead. On the other hand all that sparkling
water can be a tremendous and beautiful sight. The stony riverbottom can
be lovely to watch as it glides beneath my boat hull. In the pools, I watch
the bottom drop into holes so deep the light can’t escape. Then I watch the
blackness go to green, the green resolve itself into stones, the stones rise up
until bright rock-colors are gliding swiftly past in sun-filled rapids. The
clarity makes it easy to study the morphology of this river—a classic “pool
and riffle” pattern, with big lazy pools alternating with short easy riffles.
Mornings and evenings the sun explodes off the clear water in a million
places, a glittering glorious immersion in light. From the mountaintops,
and from cliffs overlooking the river, the water takes on rich and varied
(and often unnatural) hues in many lights and seasons. And of course on
hot summer days, the river is a perfect place to swim. After all, the water is
practically swimming-pool clear. All summer the kids of Lock Haven drift
down from the railroad bridge three miles up, their limbs draped over
inner tubes and hanging from rafts.
So the West Branch is a paradox. A lovely, but lonely place, both beautiful
and dead.
Restoring the West Branch watershed is—and will be for decades to
come—hard and costly work. According to the Pennsylvania DEP,
estimates range from 279 to 464 million dollars to do the whole thing. It
sounds like a lot of money, but of course it’s a simple question of priorities.
I have to believe we’ll get those priorities straightened out again. And
when we do, imagine the beautiful healing we will witness, as life—species
by species—returns to the West Branch. Dragonflies. Crayfish. Mollusks.
The American shad. Along with the fish, the birds that eat the fish, and also
the fisherman who eat the fish. Imagine the ripe plenitude of a healthy,
living river. The recovery might remind us of evolution greatly speeded
up, like a second Cambrian explosion of life. A moment of astounding
growth and healing. I look forward to a day when I travel the West Branch

in the full company of life. I can’t wait for the day when I startle a big
school of American shad, watch them close ranks like a liquid fist and
charge upstream into a living river once again, a living river for all of us.
Marketing Students Interview Travel Agents About Clinton County
--Marlene Jensen (LHU Marketing Professor)
LHUP
Marketing
students
recently
helped discover
the perceptions
of travel agents
about
vacationing in
Clinton
Country.
Students in my
Introduction to
Marketing class
interviewed
travel agents in Centre and Lycoming Counties, plus in their home towns
of Harrisburg, Pittsburg, Philadelphia, and Washington, DC.
Agents in the two nearest counties touted Bald Eagle State Park, as well as
Lock Haven and Renovo in general for hiking and camping. The only
negatives mentioned were that our area is more of a do-it-yourself vacation
area; one agent thought there were no outfitters here, unaware of our local
outfitter, Rock, River and Trail.
About half of the interviewed agents in Pittsburgh, Philadelphia, and
Washington had heard about Clinton County as a vacation spot. They
recommended it to customers seeking wildlife, beautiful scenery, hunting,
fishing, camping, boating, and relaxation. The negative comments of some
agents reflected a lack of knowledge about the area. For example, one
wondered where people would stay, another was concerned there was
nothing to do except going to movies, bowling and dining, while a third
was very concerned about the risks of snake bite(!) One more savvy agent

said that you would need a car to vacation in Clinton County.
This research supplemented previous think-tank sessions where marketing
students tried to identify the perfect “tag line” for promoting Clinton
County. The final recommendation was: “Clinton County – the heart of
PA.”
Reflecting upon Our Relationship with the Environment or R-E-S-P-E-CT
--Joan Whitman Hoff (LHU Philosophy Professor)
When we think of relationships, we often think of the people in our lives
and the different types of bonds we have with each of them. Whether we
are children or parents, teachers or students, buyers or sellers, our
relationships play significant roles in our lives and, perhaps, help us to
define ourselves. In many ways, the people in our lives help us to live and
grow in the world. Often, respect for the "other" in those relationships is
one of the basic values we hold – or know we should hold. We often
assume that people have "integrity" as humans and deserve to be treated in
a particular way. We may give thanks for them, and to them, throughout
our lives, though sometimes only after something awakens us and reminds
us not to take them for granted.
In a similar manner, it might be
helpful for us to think about the
kind of relationship we have
with the environment. Of
course, we can think about the
different ways in which the
environment manifests itself:
culturally, socially, biologically,
etc., and each of these may hold
their own special meaning for
us. It is also possible, and
necessary, to consider how we
interact with the environment
itself and how we see ourselves
in relation to it. Sometimes, we
may take the environment for

granted and not be as respectful as we should be. Sometimes, it may be
invisible to us as we move through our busy lives.
The word ‘relationship’ refers to a connection or alliance … a common
origin. Surely, we share much with the environment; yet, perhaps because
it remains in the ‘background’, or at least we think it does, we don’t often
see it as we should, nor treat it as we should. We may take it for granted
and view it only in terms of what it can do for us. Or, it may remain
invisible to us as we move through the day with tunnel vision, trying to
satisfy our own needs.
For some, the anthropocentric (human-centered) view we have is used to
legitimate the use, and abuse, of the environment. Even though people,
arguably, are the most important entities in our relationships, we may not
think about the impact our actions toward the environment might have on
those we love. For others, like Eagle Man, “We are all related,” and we
cannot separate who we are or what we do, and the human relationships
we have, fully from the environment. We are because it is. This nonanthropocentric view requires us to recognize what ‘mother earth’ has
given us, and it reminds us that we should give thanks to it and for it.
Environmental slogans such as, “Love your mother” and “Hug a tree”
might seem silly to some, but they surely can serve as reminders that we
owe much to the environment and the world around us as we do to those
with whom we share our lives. These reminders can wake us up and help
us to recognize that our tunnel vision may leave us with an incomplete
view of the world, and no trees left to hug.
Just as a neglected human relationship often results in a breakup, and lots
of shouting and screaming along the way, a neglected relationship with the
environment may lead to the environment shouting at us in a different
manner. As Eagle Man says, Mother Earth is showing signs of being weary
from our lack of respect. Its resources are being exploited, it water begin
wasted, and its air being polluted. We cannot continue to take without
giving something back in return; we cannot continue to be cared for and
not care in return.
John Locke (17th century) told us that we should be mindful that the things
of the world are not ours to abuse; rather, they are gifts. We need to be
mindful that they are to be used respectfully, keeping in mind that others

have needs for these things, too. This requires us to at least consider the
value of all things in the world, and not just us.
Any relationship requires give and take. One that only takes will soon
surely see its demise. The earth is shouting to us in a variety of ways,
asking us to wake up, see its beauty, take care of it, and give it a little
respect. If we choose not to do so, there may be nothing, and no one, left to
hug, nothing and no one to whom we can relate.
Maybe it’s time to give your Mother a call.
Eagle Man's essay “We are all related” can be found in Philosophies for
Living (Robert M. Timko & Joan Whitman Hoff, eds.).
Book Review: Bill McKibben, The End of Nature
--Bob Myers
A colleague recently gave me a journal that listed
the ten most important environmental books, and
one of these was McKibben's 1989 The End of
Nature, a title that I'd often come across, but had
never read. In addition to being an important
environmental book, I would also nominate it for
one of the ten best depression-inducing books,
rivaling Thomas Hardy's Jude the
Obscure. McKibben was one of the earliest
environmentalists to point to the threat of global
warming, and he does an impressive job of
compiling the evidence to show that humanity is
on the verge of disaster. The title refers to the end
of nature as a separate entity, something wild that sets limits on human
vanity. This belief that man and nature were ever fully separate has been
challenged recently by environmental critics, but McKibben's recognition
of the threat to the world as we've known it for thousands of years remains
powerful.
My depression came from the realization of how little we've done since
1989 to address this problem. Once conscious of the urgency of the crisis,
it's hard not to feel outrage at the continued indifference of our political
leaders. Or at our own continued indifference. McKibben's book makes it

clear that this crisis will not be averted by changing a few light bulbs,
recycling, and buying smaller cars. It requires a radical reduction in our
culture of consumption, what he calls a more "humble" lifestyle. We all
need to use much less than we do. And we need to do it
immediately. Perhaps it's time that we initiate a discussion about how we
as a university could reduce our consumption of paper and other
resources.
McKibben ends his book with hope: "This could be the epoch when people
decide at least to go no farther down the path we've been following--when
we make not only the necessary technological adjustments to preserve the
world from overheating but also the necessary mental adjustments to
ensure that we'll never again put our good ahead of everything else's. This
is the path I choose, for it offers at least a shred of hope for a living, eternal,
meaningful world."
The Environmental Focus Group
Bob Myers (chair), Md. Khalequzzaman, Lenny Long, Jeff Walsh, Danielle Tolton, John
Crossen, Sandra Barney, David White, Tom Ormond. The committee is charged with
promoting and supporting activities, experiences, and structures that encourage students,
faculty, and staff to develop a stronger sense of place for Lock Haven University and
central Pennsylvania. Such a sense of place involves a stewardship of natural resources
(environmentalism), meaningful outdoor experiences, and appreciation for the heritage of
the region.