DUBOIS, Pa. — Penn State DuBois Wildlife Technology students will lead the 2021 “Walk in Penn’s Woods” beginning at 1:30 p.m. on Sunday, Oct. 3, at the historic Camp Mountain Run Boy Scout camp, located at 4980 Mountain Run Rd., Penfield, Pennsylvania. Members of the public are invited to join this educational hike.
Participants will meet at the fishing pond and experience an introduction to tree identification by students in the Penn State DuBois Wildlife Technology Program. Throughout the custom, two-mile hike the group will be introduced to approximately 25 species of woody plants, including a combination of native and non-native trees, shrubs and vines.
This non-traditional, education-focused hike can be characterized as moderate in rigor, as it will span a variety of terrain ranging from wet bottomland floodplains to gently rolling, moderately dry hillside slopes that require sturdy footwear and agility to navigate through laurel thickets and narrow game trails.
This hike is not wheelchair- or stroller- accessible; however, “Walk in Penn’s Woods” also features a growing number of sites with wheelchair and stroller accessible walks. For a complete list of individual walk locations, times, descriptions, ways and places to discover Penn’s Woods all year round, and more, go to www.walkinpennswoods.org. The website is regularly updated as new walks are added, so keep checking.
This is one of the various sites across the state where Pennsylvanians of all ages have the opportunity to participate in Walk in Penn’s Woods by getting out and building appreciation for the forest, the people who own them, and the importance of caring well for them.
Since 2017, the first Sunday in October has been designated as an opportunity for Pennsylvanians to join hosted walks to learn more about Penn’s Woods and gain easy access to expert forest and wildlife professionals. Some walks have children’s activities; others highlight managed wildlife habitat or watersheds; participants may see the results of harvesting activities or plantings of native trees and shrubs; still others may demonstrate the effects of urban tree cover or riparian buffers.
The 2021 “Walk in Penn’s Woods” organizing partners include the Pennsylvania Forestry Association, The Center for Private Forests at Penn State, Penn State Forestry and Wildlife Extension, Pennsylvania Department of Conservation and Natural Resources, Pennsylvania Forest Stewards, the Pennsylvania Parks and Forests Foundation, Keep Pennsylvania Beautiful, the Pennsylvania Chapter of the Association of Consulting Foresters, and the Pennsylvania Sustainable Forestry Initiative.
For more information on this Penn State DuBois student-hosted event, contact Mike Eckley, lecturer in forestry at mce5166@psu.edu.