I took a break away from working on the Lehigh to help a friend find a suitable study site for her grad project. I knew there would be trash anywhere we went and this was a good chance to see new areas and clean up some new trails. To protect potential study areas and the wildlife being studied, I am unable to give out location information. Above is the first stream we scouted. Beavers have created nice wetland areas along this stream, but this was not the type of habitat we were hoping to find.
One of the beaver dams up close. Beavers really do a great job of turning a stream into a series of ponds.
Batteries especially larger ones like these do not belong in the woods. Someone left these two on the edge of the parking lot we used for the first stop. I don't mind taking these one bit. They are one trash item that is actually worth something. If you take these to a scrap yard you can currently get around seven dollars each for them. If you are not looking to get a return, but still need to get rid of a battery like this, most automotive places will just take them off your hands. The woods is not a proper disposal site for them.
Other than the batteries this was all I found at the first site. We also did not find any sections of the stream that fit the criteria needed. It was off to the next site with hopes of better luck.
Here we went to check out the outflow on this large beaver pond. Both of us thought this outflow stream would be much better than the last site. It was not. Also, my camera ended up in this pond. It is not waterproof. Penny was along and was part of it taking a swim.
Before the camera took a dip, I was able to get a shot of this hellgrammite walking across a rock on the bottom of the pond. As I have stated in previous posts, hellgrammites will become dobsonflies as adults.
Kelly Murman is the graduate student I am helping with finding her study sites. She was kind enough to take this photo of the trash I collected on this second scouting mission of the day. It might not seem like a lot, but this was an area I did clean up last year. Much of it was new, there was some old stuff that I had previously missed. Thanks again Kelly for taking the photo!
You too can help with taking out the trash! If you get out hiking take a grocery bag with you, give it a second use and fill it with trash while you are out! Every bit helps. You can also help contributing to this project here: Help Fund Taking Out the Trash
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