Conserving Chesapeake Forests

An adult and a child plant a tree in a field

70,000 Native Trees and Shrubs for Big Elk Creek State Park

The Alliance’s largest-ever tree planting is complete; Big Elk Creek State Park in Chester County, Pennsylvania now has 270 acres of new forest, including over 70,000 native tree and shrub seedlings!

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Exploring the Uhler Tract: Forest Management, Invasive Species, and Biodiversity at Bowie State University

The Alliance, Bowie State University, and the Maryland Park Service are collaborating on a forest management plan for approximately 255 acres of land. Join the Alliance’s Forests program field crew as they share what they found most interesting during the forest inventory in late May.

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One Pink Lady's Slipper flower growing up from a partly sunny forest floor.

What’s Poppin’? Phenological Fun: Pink Lady’s Slipper

Symbiosis and self-compatibility! The alluring Pink Lady’s Slipper is a stunningly unique species.

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A blue bird sticking its head out of a hole in a tree.

Exploring the Intricate Relationship Between Birds and Native Trees in Spring: A Symphony of Mutualism

Spring in the Chesapeake Bay watershed is a season of renewal and rejuvenation, marked by the harmonious interplay between native trees and bird species.

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Left photo shows a branch with four small paw paw flowers. Photo on the right shows one paw paw flower straight on showing the stigma and petals.

What’s Poppin’? Phenological Fun: Paw Paw

Like a lot of fruiting trees, a paw paw cannot produce fruit on its own, and April-May is the best time to see paw paw flowers!

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A belted kingfisher hovering as it waits to catch some prey (Photo Credit: Ron Dudley).

Diving into the World of the Belted Kingfisher

Due to the abundance of fish and insects that a waterway provides, you can find a wide variety of birds while kayaking streams in the Chesapeake Bay watershed, including the belted kingfisher, Megaceryle alcyon.

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A pair of mounted passenger pigeons are frozen in time at the Royal Ontario Museum (Photo credit: rom.on.ca).

An Empty Sky: The Plight of the Passenger Pigeon

How does a species that was once so important disappear completely from the hearts and minds of those whose ancestors witnessed this spectacle? And maybe most importantly, how do we prevent something like this from happening again?

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The right side of a wood thrush perched upright on a rock.

The Forest Flautist: the Wood Thrush

Have you ever heard the flutey call of the wood thrush? These interior forest specialists are commonly found in our eastern forests, but they are vulnerable to habitat changes, like fragmentation, invasive plant infiltration, and herbivory in the forest understory.

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Knowledge is Power; Know Your Flowers (Part 2) – Flower Parts

Remember our Inflorescence Story from this past March? Take another deep dive into flowers with us in Part 2 and learn more about flower anatomy.

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What’s poppin’? Phenological Fun: Lesser celandine

Have you found this invasive perenial wildflower yet? It’s currently poppin’, so be on the look out!

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