Photo by Gerri Miller
Barnum Road Wetlands, Eldred, PA
Thursday’s high, 35; Overnight low, 27; .125” snow
FRI-AM CLOUDS CLEAR OUT, HIGH 47
FRI NIGHT– LOW 31
SAT-MORE SUN, HIGH 54
SAT NIGHT-LOW 35
SUN-SUNNY, HIGH 58
SUN NIGHT-LOW 30
To hear the complete weekend forecast, click on arrow below.
Youth Gobbler season starts tomorrow—regular spring gobbler season begins next Saturday….Efforts are being made to stop migration of invasive insect which could threaten hardwoods….Two area residents arrested on drug charges…..Elk County authorities continue to investigate simple assault occurring last week at the Ridgway Middle School…..
The approach of spring gobbler season has Pennsylvania hunters eager to get afield. That they’ll be participating in the state’s 50th anniversary spring-gobbler hunt further sweetens the pot.
Properly licensed junior hunters and mentored youth can head afield Saturday, April 21 to participate in Pennsylvania’s annual youth spring turkey hunt. A week later, on April 28, all hunters can head into Penn’s Woods in pursuit of spring gobblers.
The forecast for the coming season is a statewide turkey population numbering between 210,000 to 220,000 birds, said Mary Jo Casalena, the Pennsylvania Game Commission’s wild turkey biologist.
“Pennsylvania’s turkey population will provide plenty of excitement for those who choose to head afield for the Commonwealth’s golden anniversary spring turkey hunt,” Casalena said. “Make no mistake, Pennsylvania remains one of America’s premier turkey-hunting destinations.”
Turkeys are coming through a relatively mild winter, and they again had a tremendous acorn crop last fall to help them with winter survival. A light fall harvest – preliminarily estimated at 11,780 – sparked by greater supplies of fall foods and fewer hunters afield also has helped kindle increased expectations for the spring hunt.
“Last spring, hunters took 38,101 birds in the state’s turkey seasons,” Casalena said. “I expect a similar harvest this spring, somewhere between 36,000 and 38,000 turkeys.”
Hunters should note the second spring gobbler license only is on sale prior to the start of the season. Once April 28 rolls around, it’s too late to purchase one.
“So, hunters who want to ensure their best opportunity to hunt as many days of the season as they can need to buy the license soon,” Casalena said. “There’s promise for a great season.”
With spring and the accompanying emergence of insects upon us, grape growers, orchardists, nursery operators, homeowners and others in southeastern Pennsylvania are bracing for infestations of spotted lanternfly, an invasive pest from Asia that appeared for the first time in the United States in Berks County nearly four years ago.
Potentially at stake are Pennsylvania’s grape, tree-fruit, hardwood and nursery industries, which generate agricultural crops and forest products worth nearly $18 billion annually. The insect also can cause damage to high-value ornamentals in home landscapes and can affect quality of life for residents.
After the lanternfly’s discovery in 2014, the state Department of Agriculture imposed a quarantine regulating the movement of plants, plant-based materials and outdoor household items out of the quarantine area. Originally covering parts of eastern Berks County, the quarantine now encompasses all of Berks, Bucks, Chester, Lehigh, Montgomery, Northampton, Carbon, Delaware, Lancaster, Lebanon, Monroe, Philadelphia and Schuylkill counties.
Penn State Extension educators and College of Agricultural Sciences researchers are working with state and federal agriculture officials to study the insect, develop control strategies and educate local leaders, growers and the public about what to do if they find spotted lanternflies or their eggs. The goal is to stop the pest’s spread and, ultimately, to eradicate it.
Emelie Swackhamer, Penn State Extension horticulture educator based in Montgomery County, her Northampton County-based extension colleague Amy Korman, and other Penn State specialists have spoken at scores of public meetings and industry workshops, authored articles and fact sheets, served as expert sources for news media stories, trained Penn State Master Gardeners and other volunteers, and testified at General Assembly committee hearings.
Swackhamer said enlisting the public to help control lanternfly populations is a top priority. “This is a community problem, and it’s going to take a community effort to solve it,” she said.
Part of that effort is ensuring that citizens and businesses don’t unwittingly carry lanternflies or their eggs to other areas. “Spotted lanternflies are great hitchhikers, and they will lay eggs on a multitude of outdoor objects, such as cars, RVs and campers, plant materials, and other items that could be transported out of the quarantine area,” Swackhamer said. “To raise awareness, the state Department of Agriculture is using the slogan, ‘Look before you leave,’ emphasizing the need to inspect vehicles and other items before traveling out of a quarantined county.”
Lanternfly eggs are expected to hatch in late April or early May, so knowing what egg masses look like and destroying any that are found is an important control tactic, she said. But as eggs hatch, what can a grower or homeowner do to combat an infestation?
“When I get calls from residents seeking advice, I talk them through an integrated pest management (IPM) thought process,” Swackhamer said. “Start with mechanical approaches, such as scraping and destroying egg masses and swatting or vacuuming nymphs and adults, if practical. If you kill one female that could lay 100 eggs in its lifetime, you can have an impact on next year’s population.”
She also recommends conserving natural enemies such as spiders and praying mantids that prey on lanternflies. “If someone wants to use pesticides, they can try least-toxic options first, and they must take timing into account — not all methods will work on all life stages of the insect.”
The pest does not attack fruit or foliage. Rather, it uses its piercing-sucking mouthparts to feed on the woody parts of plants, such as grape vines and the trunks and branches of trees, where it excretes a substance known as honeydew and inflicts wounds that weep with sap.
The honeydew and sap can attract bees and other insects and provide a medium for growth of fungi, such as sooty mold, which covers leaf surfaces and can stunt growth. Plants with heavy infestations may not survive.
To develop near-term solutions for managing lanternfly infestations, Korman and Swackhamer have done applied research to test the efficacy of various pesticides, both contact insecticides and systemic products that are applied to plants and kill the pests when they feed on the sap. They also have looked at “softer,” lower-toxicity products.Researchers at Penn State’s Fruit Research and Extension Center in Biglerville, Adams County, also have conducted pesticide efficacy trials with an eye toward providing control solutions for growers of grapes and apples.
Until research bears more fruit, Penn State Extension and Penn State’s Department of Entomology are deploying state and federal funds to add staff and enhance extension programming. Entomologists also are seeking additional USDA grants to continue research on spotted lanternfly biology and behavior, the development of biocontrols such as natural enemies, and other topics related to this exotic and unusual pest.
As the battle against spotted lanternfly rages on, Korman urges homeowners and others not to let the “good-idea fairy” persuade them to use unconventional — and perhaps illegal — control methods that may be hazardous to themselves or harmful to the environment. .
For more information about how to identify and control spotted lanternfly, how to report an infestation and how to comply with quarantine regulations, visit the Penn State Extension website at https://extension.psu.edu/spotted-lanternfly or the Pennsylvania Department of Agriculture website at http://agriculture.pa.gov.
Two area residents have been arrested on drug charges. .State police at Kane cited 19 year old Caden Lloyd of Port Allegany for possession of drug paraphernalia and summary traffic offenses. Troopers claim when they stopped Lloyd on Aok Street in Port Allegany just afternoon Thursday, they found drug paraphernalia inside his car.
Emporium state police arrested 21 year old John Wilson from that town for possession of suspected marijuana. Wilson was a passenger in a car stopped by police in a driveway on Sycamore Street on the afternoon April 11. Authorities claim they smelled pot while talking to the d river and allegedly found Wilson had been smoking the drug.
State police in Ridgway say a number of agencies are investigating a simple assault case allegedly taking place last Friday afternoon at the Ridgway Middle School. A 40 yearold man is suspected of assault a 14 year old on school property and during school hours.
The approach of spring gobbler season has Pennsylvania hunters eager to get afield. That they’ll be participating in the state’s 50th anniversary spring-gobbler hunt further sweetens the pot.
Properly licensed junior hunters and mentored youth can head afield Saturday, April 21 to participate in Pennsylvania’s annual youth spring turkey hunt. A week later, on April 28, all hunters can head into Penn’s Woods in pursuit of spring gobblers.
The forecast for the coming season is a statewide turkey population numbering between 210,000 to 220,000 birds, said Mary Jo Casalena, the Pennsylvania Game Commission’s wild turkey biologist.
“Pennsylvania’s turkey population will provide plenty of excitement for those who choose to head afield for the Commonwealth’s golden anniversary spring turkey hunt,” Casalena said. “Make no mistake, Pennsylvania remains one of America’s premier turkey-hunting destinations.”
Turkeys are coming through a relatively mild winter, and they again had a tremendous acorn crop last fall to help them with winter survival. A light fall harvest – preliminarily estimated at 11,780 – sparked by greater supplies of fall foods and fewer hunters afield also has helped kindle increased expectations for the spring hunt.
“Last spring, hunters took 38,101 birds in the state’s turkey seasons,” Casalena said. “I expect a similar harvest this spring, somewhere between 36,000 and 38,000 turkeys.”
Hunters should note the second spring gobbler license only is on sale prior to the start of the season. Once April 28 rolls around, it’s too late to purchase one.
“So, hunters who want to ensure their best opportunity to hunt as many days of the season as they can need to buy the license soon,” Casalena said. “There’s promise for a great season.”
With spring and the accompanying emergence of insects upon us, grape growers, orchardists, nursery operators, homeowners and others in southeastern Pennsylvania are bracing for infestations of spotted lanternfly, an invasive pest from Asia that appeared for the first time in the United States in Berks County nearly four years ago.
Potentially at stake are Pennsylvania’s grape, tree-fruit, hardwood and nursery industries, which generate agricultural crops and forest products worth nearly $18 billion annually. The insect also can cause damage to high-value ornamentals in home landscapes and can affect quality of life for residents.
After the lanternfly’s discovery in 2014, the state Department of Agriculture imposed a quarantine regulating the movement of plants, plant-based materials and outdoor household items out of the quarantine area. Originally covering parts of eastern Berks County, the quarantine now encompasses all of Berks, Bucks, Chester, Lehigh, Montgomery, Northampton, Carbon, Delaware, Lancaster, Lebanon, Monroe, Philadelphia and Schuylkill counties.
Penn State Extension educators and College of Agricultural Sciences researchers are working with state and federal agriculture officials to study the insect, develop control strategies and educate local leaders, growers and the public about what to do if they find spotted lanternflies or their eggs. The goal is to stop the pest’s spread and, ultimately, to eradicate it.
Emelie Swackhamer, Penn State Extension horticulture educator based in Montgomery County, her Northampton County-based extension colleague Amy Korman, and other Penn State specialists have spoken at scores of public meetings and industry workshops, authored articles and fact sheets, served as expert sources for news media stories, trained Penn State Master Gardeners and other volunteers, and testified at General Assembly committee hearings.
Swackhamer said enlisting the public to help control lanternfly populations is a top priority. “This is a community problem, and it’s going to take a community effort to solve it,” she said.
Part of that effort is ensuring that citizens and businesses don’t unwittingly carry lanternflies or their eggs to other areas. “Spotted lanternflies are great hitchhikers, and they will lay eggs on a multitude of outdoor objects, such as cars, RVs and campers, plant materials, and other items that could be transported out of the quarantine area,” Swackhamer said. “To raise awareness, the state Department of Agriculture is using the slogan, ‘Look before you leave,’ emphasizing the need to inspect vehicles and other items before traveling out of a quarantined county.”
Lanternfly eggs are expected to hatch in late April or early May, so knowing what egg masses look like and destroying any that are found is an important control tactic, she said. But as eggs hatch, what can a grower or homeowner do to combat an infestation?
“When I get calls from residents seeking advice, I talk them through an integrated pest management (IPM) thought process,” Swackhamer said. “Start with mechanical approaches, such as scraping and destroying egg masses and swatting or vacuuming nymphs and adults, if practical. If you kill one female that could lay 100 eggs in its lifetime, you can have an impact on next year’s population.”
She also recommends conserving natural enemies such as spiders and praying mantids that prey on lanternflies. “If someone wants to use pesticides, they can try least-toxic options first, and they must take timing into account — not all methods will work on all life stages of the insect.”
The pest does not attack fruit or foliage. Rather, it uses its piercing-sucking mouthparts to feed on the woody parts of plants, such as grape vines and the trunks and branches of trees, where it excretes a substance known as honeydew and inflicts wounds that weep with sap.
The honeydew and sap can attract bees and other insects and provide a medium for growth of fungi, such as sooty mold, which covers leaf surfaces and can stunt growth. Plants with heavy infestations may not survive.
To develop near-term solutions for managing lanternfly infestations, Korman and Swackhamer have done applied research to test the efficacy of various pesticides, both contact insecticides and systemic products that are applied to plants and kill the pests when they feed on the sap. They also have looked at “softer,” lower-toxicity products.Researchers at Penn State’s Fruit Research and Extension Center in Biglerville, Adams County, also have conducted pesticide efficacy trials with an eye toward providing control solutions for growers of grapes and apples.
Until research bears more fruit, Penn State Extension and Penn State’s Department of Entomology are deploying state and federal funds to add staff and enhance extension programming. Entomologists also are seeking additional USDA grants to continue research on spotted lanternfly biology and behavior, the development of biocontrols such as natural enemies, and other topics related to this exotic and unusual pest.
As the battle against spotted lanternfly rages on, Korman urges homeowners and others not to let the “good-idea fairy” persuade them to use unconventional — and perhaps illegal — control methods that may be hazardous to themselves or harmful to the environment. .
For more information about how to identify and control spotted lanternfly, how to report an infestation and how to comply with quarantine regulations, visit the Penn State Extension website at https://extension.psu.edu/spotted-lanternfly or the Pennsylvania Department of Agriculture website at http://agriculture.pa.gov.
Two area residents have been arrested on drug charges. .State police at Kane cited 19 year old Caden Lloyd of Port Allegany for possession of drug paraphernalia and summary traffic offenses. Troopers claim when they stopped Lloyd on Aok Street in Port Allegany just afternoon Thursday, they found drug paraphernalia inside his car.
Emporium state police arrested 21 year old John Wilson from that town for possession of suspected marijuana. Wilson was a passenger in a car stopped by police in a driveway on Sycamore Street on the afternoon April 11. Authorities claim they smelled pot while talking to the d river and allegedly found Wilson had been smoking the drug.
State police in Ridgway say a number of agencies are investigating a simple assault case allegedly taking place last Friday afternoon at the Ridgway Middle School. A 40 yearold man is suspected of assault a 14 year old on school property and during school hours.
