Hollow Oak News

 

"I think having land and not ruining it is the most beautiful art

that anybody could ever want to own."

- Andy Warhol
  
March 19, 2014

Volume 2, Number 2

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160 Native Trees & Shrubs Coming to Montour Woods 
April 19, 9:00 am - 12:00 pm
  
Come celebrate the arrival of springtime with your local conservation organization, Hollow Oak Land Trust. Thanks to a TreeVitalize grant, on Saturday, April 19, Hollow Oak volunteers will plant 160 native trees and shrubs to restore habitat along Meeks Run at the Montour Woods Conservation Area. The planting will reestablish the tree canopy to help combat knotweed while restoring the stream's floodplain and providing a vegetative screen around several structures. Eight plant species have been selected by the Western PA Conservancy Watershed Program to provide the best combination of food and shelter for wildlife, while stabilizing the soil along Meeks Run, one of the cleanest streams in Allegheny County.

 

We are recruiting at least 20 volunteers (kids welcome!) for perhaps the largest habitat restoration project ever undertaken by Hollow Oak Land Trust. A light breakfast will be provided, followed by a pizza party afterward. To register for April 19/Moon, go to: www.paconserve.org/300
 
 
Calling all Plant People, Critter People and People Persons too!

 

2014 marks the year when communities are stepping up and getting out to their local conservation area by volunteering with Hollow Oak Land Trust. People like you who live and work in Moon, Kennedy, North Fayette, Hopewell, Robinson, Coraopolis and Franklin Park can now get a workout while learning more about the flora and fauna just outside your back door...and adding a new volunteer experience to your resume'. 

 

  • If you like to hike or bike - Trail Tender

  • If you like birds, bugs, fish or foxes - Critterologist

  • If you like to garden - Plant Manager

  • If water floats your boat - Waterkeeper

  • If you like managing volunteers - Crew Leader

  • Choose from many other roles, from Ranger to
    Photo Journalist, from Dumpbuster to Data Guru.
     

 

Sign up today, spread the word and tell your employer to contact us at: [email protected] 

 

 

Meet Our Intern: Coron Howard

 

This past winter, we had the pleasure of working with Coron Howard, a senior in Computer Information Systems at RMU. Coron helped set up our Facebook page, updated our database and assisted with mailings. Here is a snapshot of our first intern of 2014:

 

Coron, where are you from? I'm from the North Side of Pittsburgh, where I was a member of the Perry Traditional Academy football team.

 

What is the best thing about your internship? The best thing about my internship here is that I am gaining experience and knowledge of how a smaller non-profit organization operates and gaining a better understanding of what users want from a system they use to conduct business.

 

What are your plans after graduating from RMU? After graduation I hope to find a job in the IT field, preferably programming and/or systems development.

 

 

 

I discovered the outstanding line of Aerotech Designs bike apparel in 2013, passing their showroom on my bike commute through Coraopolis, where their high-tech garments are manufactured locally. Aerotech actually has a roomful of industrial sewing machines and fabric processing equipment, as well as seamstresses and designers, right here in Pittsburgh.

 

Last fall, I wore the Commuter Dress Shirt for an entire day of biking around Arlington and the Washington DC monuments. Because of the federal shutdown, many monuments were fenced off, so it was nice to simply pedal onward upon finding the new MLK Jr. monument closed.

 

The day was hot and humid, but the excellent wicking qualities of the Commuter shirt kept me from feeling even the least bit sweaty. During a couple hours at an outdoor Oktoberfest event, I even felt a bit snazzy with the sleeves buttoned up similar to my fly-fishing shirts. It was a welcome contrast to the usual funk of spending any extended time in a rancid bike jersey.

 

Check out the Aerotech web site or stop by their showroom in Coraopolis to see jerseys, shorts, bibs, socks and lots of accessories such as helmet covers. It's a luxury to have a local company producing quality garments, while also offering many other name brands.

 

-Sean Brady, Northside to Moon commuter

 

Nature Notes:  Mole Salamanders

 

Wetlands in early spring time are the domain of amphibians, as they emerge to make sweet love in ephemeral, murky pools. Spectacular in appearance, the mole salamanders are the season's headliners.

 

In addition to frogs such as the tiny but deafening Spring Peeper and the duck-quacking Wood Frog, Hollow Oak Land Trust conservation areas protect habitat of the black and yellow Spotted Salamander, which grows to almost 10 inches, and the bluish Jefferson Salamander, which can exceed 7 inches. These stout creatures have wide snouts for burrowing beneath hardwood forests and can live up to 32 years!

 

Differing from reptiles in their need for water in which to lay eggs, amphibians depend on pools of water that do not contain fish, which would gobble up their offspring. A temporary, "vernal" pool exists only in springtime and provides critical habitat specifically because it contains no fish.

 

On the first warm, rainy night in March, you may see hundreds of wanton salamanders heading for the pools in which they were born. Jeffersons are the first to emerge, sometimes "snowshoeing" to reach partially melted pools. Male Spotteds are known for their porpoising behavior, by which they attempt to impress females by repeatedly breaking the surface of their favored pool. The resulting jelly-like masses can be larger than a softball. The eggs hatch in a month or two, with tadpoles quickly sprouting legs and later metamorphosing in autumn to move onto land. They feed on bugs, worms and, as with most predators, will swallow any critter that fits into their mouths.

 

Hollow Oak Land Trust | PO Box 741 | Coraopolis, PA 15108 

(412) 264-5354

 

 

 

 


  
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