Thomas Darling Preserve

Seeing ourselves as responsible for and tasked with taking care of the land, plants, and animals around us, we have taken every effort to protect and revitalize the land at the Thomas Darling Preserve. We value biodiversity, and conduct research to best provide the vital habitat for species who need it. We realize the benefit young forests have for our planet and are working to increase the acreage of young forests while educating the public and connecting them to the collage of beauty around us.

Located near Blakeslee, the Thomas Darling Preserve is home to one of Pennsylvania’s largest spruce forests. The preserve is made up of parcels owned by Wildlands Conservancy, The Nature Conservancy, and Tobyhanna Township.

The 2,500 + acre Thomas Darling Nature Preserve is a phenomenal example of glacial relicts and natural features including pristine wetland meadows, acidic bogs, glacial bogs, and northern hardwood forests. The preserve also protects pristine watersheds and headwaters of Two Mile Run, as well as spring seeps, vernal pools and expansive wetlands.

Forest to Farm to Forest

This land, originally a forest was cleared in the late 1800s for agricultural use. Subsistence farming continued for many decades, which is a farm where people only grow food for their family's survival. By the 1930s, the land was already abandoned likely due to the highly acidic and rocky soil not conducive to profitable agriculture. The area that is now Darling later grew into what is called old forest. The image below shows the change over 50 years.

With Wildlands Conservancy's management, this old forest is now being converted into a young forest.

Land Acquisition

In 1995, the nearly 1,500 acres of land, then known as the "Yamulla Tract" was acquired. From there, land has been sold and obtained leaving Wildlands Conservancy with about 1,411 acres shown on the map. The Nature Conservancy and Tobyhanna Township own and manage parcels of land adjacent to Wildlands Conservancy. Together make up the total area of more than 2,500 acres which is the Thomas Darling Reserve.

As previously mentioned, Two Mile Run is a vital, nature maintained habitat. This is why Wildlands Conservancy and The Nature Conservancy set their sights on protecting this land.

We are managing the area adjacent to the bog because some birds require hundreds of acres of young forest. Thus, we are connecting more young forest to the habitat already present at Two Mile Run and providing extra habitat for the birds found in the bog but not in the mature forests of the area.

By turning mature forests into young forests, we are adding to the region's diversity of forest age and structure. Biodiversity is essential to nature and a key motivator of our work. This young forest holds different conservation values and many species prefer young forest habitats. We can't have biodiversity without habitat diversity and young forests play a critical role in creating that diversity.

The Meadow

When doing baseline research (that is taking inventory of the species already present on the land) there were some very interesting results. The 50-acre land used for Phase 1 was studied for over a year before any alterations were made to the forest. In studying the avian population, mist nets were placed at random within the 50 acres. These birds are caught alive, marked with serially numbered metal bands, and released unharmed.

In total, 29 species of birds were found during our initial mist netting. However, 2/3 of the species were found in the tiny goldenrod meadow where the old farmstead used to be, while the other 1/3 was found in the rest of the 49 acres, strongly suggesting that the existing forest wasn't providing high conservation value. After 5 years of restoration, 107 species of birds are now found in the study site.

When the land was released from being used for agriculture, it grew into a forest that was cut several times. The healthy pines, oaks, cherries, and hemlocks were taken out allowing diseased beech trees to take over.

A fungus attacked these trees creating beech bark disease. When beech is stressed the trees do what is called root suckering. This means that as the parent tree dies it sends sprouts through its root system to grow. This forest was comprised largely of diseased beech and beech brush.

Natural Resource Management

More trees were left in the area that underwent Phase 2 because this habitat was tailored more specifically to Cerulean Warblers. These birds have lost 70% of their population from 1966 to 2008 due to habitat loss. Like the Golden-winged Warbler, these birds are neotropical migrants that breed in the Pocono area.

The Cerulean Warblers like more mature forests and spend most of their time in canopies, but they enjoy the breaks in the canopy. More trees were left because these birds are not ground nesters. They often nest at the breaks in the overstory but they are vigilant to have leaves underneath to ensure their nests cannot be spotted from below.

Fire Management

In the spring of 2018, we conducted a control burn on a 40 acre unit of Phase 2. This control burn was implemented later than originally intended to ensure it met all the safety guidelines.

Fire is a natural management tool that we used to control the beech brush. Using this method rather than the hack and squirt done on Phase 1, cut our chemical use by 50% and our labor by 60%. These fires are good for returning nitrogen to the soil for plants to grow, and they don't burn down big trees. In fact, these fires burn with a low enough heat that even this red eft salamander could find a place to hide and be found after the burning.

Opportunities

In managing forests, economic opportunities present themselves. Since a significant number of trees were being removed, these trees could be salvaged and went for chips for particle board and wood pellets.

There is value in salvaging these diseases and malformed trees. Money from the salvage goes back into the project of supporting young forest habitats.

Flying Squirrels

In 2016 we installed boxes to find flying squirrels that nest on the property. We are looking for Northern flying squirrels since they are threatened and rare to Pennsylvania as they are being displaced by their southern counterparts.

We conducted this baseline research for two years to ensure our prescribed fire would not harm the critters. We found a few Southern flying squirrels, but no Northern flying squirrels. However, there is still hope as we found potential Northern flying squirrel habitat outside our burn area.

Fire Success

Since the prescribed burn, we've been collecting data through students at different universities. A Pennsylvanian student studying at the University of Freiburg was studying the effects this fire had on the regeneration of the beech trees. This was collected in areas treated with fire and without fire.

Bumble Bee

From changing the landscape we have also found new species. Spotted and studied on the property was a North American critically endangered, nest parasite bumblebee known as the  Ashton's Cuckoo Bumblebee.  This bee has only been spotted throughout North America in 7 other locations. This demonstrates the payoff of the valiant effort put in by our team, partners, and volunteers.

Avian Studies

Another indicator of our stewardship can be seen through our avian studies. Our baseline research showed 29 species of birds. However, just by changing the landscape of Phase 1 and Phase 2, we have found over 107 species of birds. We used a technique called mist netting, which is a safe and effective way to capture and rerelease birds for scientific study. The net is virtually invisible to birds and when it is hung they fly into it and become trapped. We wait to track which birds have become trapped before releasing them. The other tool we use to track the growth of bird species is ARUs.

A new portion of land in the Thomas Darling Preserve has been allocated for further restoration. The land restoration will follow a Shelterwood cut system. This cut promotes the establishment of a younger generation of trees when a forest is primarily a forest of all the same age. Younger trees within a forest provide structural diversity which increases conservation value and new opportunities for habitat.

Due to the land's previous history (Forest to Farm to Forest), the land had gone through the process of secondary succession. Secondary succession occurs when an area of land is cleared due to a disturbance whether that be man-made or natural leads to a change in the ecosystem. Since fields were left abandoned nature was able to repopulate itself, and the dominant species prevailed which was Beech and Maple because of their tolerance to shade. Due to the previous harvesting practices the most valuable species such as Oak, Cherry, and Pine were taken out because of their higher value. What was left behind was a shady forest that did not allow for trees needing much light to grow back which were these higher value trees. This ecosystem has not experienced any other disturbances, the Beech and Maple species that dominated a hundred years ago continue to dominate now. This type of forest is only hospitable to certain species that are evolved for the high density with little underbrush.

The Shelterwood would be performed in what is called a two-stage system. This cut reduces the number of older, taller trees, and leaves healthy, high-quality trees to thrive for many more years before being cut when the young forest has been established. With less overstory cover, the understory is able to receive light and new types of habits for species. This management allows a young forest to be established while increasing the health and vigor of the stands to grow with less competition.

The first cut that occurs is called Pre-commercial thinning, which will be used to remove thick understory and species that are unwanted. We will remove the "bad wood" which are the Beech trees that were sick or at risk of becoming sick. We begin with the application of herbicide to allow for removal. Then in 10 to 15 years, the second portion of the cut is known as the "commercial cut" which is meant to create uniform cuts throughout the forest. This amount of time allows the desired trees to grow taller and stronger. The trees that are cut are not wasted but instead sold and the revenue is used to continue work to create the most diverse and inclusive environment for the optimum amount of species.

The Process of converting Phase 3 will take many years to complete and upkeep is necessary in order to maintain the land in this way. The forest is dynamic and will continue to age till it reaches a climax state. At this climax, we must work to once again recreate the "young" forest in the landscape. As we can see from Phase 1 and Phase 2, the land has been transformed into habitats for many types of species that have lost their habitats over time, mostly due to human intervention. We will continue to monitor all of these Phases with devices such as the ARUs to track how change is occurring and research the effectiveness of our work. Humans have altered the land so greatly over time that it takes the strong hand and work of humans to recreate what was lost but will inevitably heal the Earth.

For the next 10 years, Wildlands has a plan for the continued management, improvement of public access, and research of the land. However, just as nature changes, our plans alter with the needs of the habitat and wildlife.

The diseased beech will continue to be monitored and managed. By dividing the land into management units we can better treat the area with prescriptions that are tailored for success. For example, an area with a lot of beech brush should be prescribed with fire, but a parcel of land with less beech can be cut and replanted. This will help us reach one of our main goals which is continuing to increase biodiversity.

Being community-oriented, our other goals are to increase public access to this beautiful and rare Pennsylvanian habitat. We will continue to increase signage, and walking paths, and even connect our trails with The Nature Conversancy's trails.

We will continue to have ongoing research and internship opportunities and we plan to increase community and educational programs on our property.

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