The date’s set for the 2022 Spring NABA Count for Green Ridge State Forest: Saturday, April 23.
This count doubles as a census for a couple of species of conservation concern here: Olympia Marble (which is likely to still be flying), Cobweb Skipper, Silvery Blue, and — hope springs eternal — Appalachian Grizzled Skipper. It’s also a chance for us to map out the distribution of some of the Forest’s several azure species, including Spring and Northern.
As with the summer count, the circle is centered at the Citgo Station off I-68 at Exit 72. It extends roughly to Fingerboard Road to the north (in PA, and includes the southern portion of State Game Land 49); to White Rock Campground to the east (about 2 miles shy of Hancock); to Mount Nebo cemetery in WV to the south; and as far west as Old Williams Road where it intersects MD-144/National Pike.
We’re less ambitious than we are in the summer count; we have seven primary sectors which should each take a good part of the day. I did not include the various Wildlife Management Areas, although it would be great if we could see what they hold in spring (they were not very productive of summer butterflies but spring is another matter). Sideling Hill WMA looks especially promising based on my scouting last weekend.
Here’s the spreadsheet of sectors. Let me know (rborchelt@gmail.com) if you want dibs on a sector; first come, first assigned. Ideally, we’d like at least two counters per sector. If you want to propose a different sector, please do!
[UPDATE: Sector assignments as of 7 pm 4/20: Sector A, Tim Reichard. Sector B, Jim Moore and Jeff Cagle. Sector C, Lydia & Dennis Fravel. Sector D, Walt Gould. Sector E, Rick Borchelt, Sector F, Judy Gallagher and Kathy Barylski.]
[NOTE CHANGE IN PLANS FOR STARTING PLACE AND TALLY RALLY] Because temperatures are cooler in the spring, we won’t need to start as early. We plan to stage at the Oak Barrel Cafe/Citgo parking lot at 10 a.m. and disperse into the field at 10:30. We’ll wrap up for tallying at 5:30 pm at Buddy Lou’s in Hancock, MD.
LepLog 