Invasive Aliens and Alien UFO

A splendid late summer view of the Pennypack Preserve meadows along the Meadow Crossing Trail

Former Pennypack Trust Stewardship Assistant Mike Coll moved on five years ago to become the land manager at a preserve owned by another land conservancy in our area.  I consider Mike a colleague, and I contacted him when Temple University (where I am an adjunct faculty member) needed an individual to teach a class on invasive organisms.  It was a match made in heaven (both for Mike and Temple), and Mike is now teaching the class for a second year.

Mike (second from right) holding forth on restoration strategies

On Thursday, September 17, Mike brought his students to Pennypack to examine invasive plants (no shortage of them here, unfortunately) and the Trust's restoration projects.  I spent the morning accompanying the class as we walked about three miles through the preserve.

Handling (carefully!) an American chestnut burr

One of our stops was a reforestation area planted in 1994 adjacent to Papermill Woods.  We incorporated a few pure American chestnut trees into the reforestation project, and now the trees are 30 feet tall and producing fruits (more appropriately called burrs).  The trees are all infected with the non-native chestnut blight fungus, but they are pumping out burrs like crazy nonetheless.  The burrs are really prickly and painful to hold; I don't know how squirrels manage to get them open.

Preparing for liftoff

After the walk, Mike brought out his drone to show the students how these devices can be useful for examining the landscape from the air.  He flew the drone about one mile away and returned it to the launch site, a tour that took 9 minutes.  The drone has the capacity to fly for about 18 minutes on one battery charge.

UFO spotted over the preserve

Mike remotely piloted the drone to fly over the meadows and woodlands of the preserve, and then to circle the Bryn Athyn Cathedral (the right tower in the image above, one mile distant).  All the while, the drone was sending back remarkably clear video that Mike recorded on his iPad.  He promised to share the video with me; if he does so, I will post it later.

Submitted by David Robertson
Executive Director