The date’s set for the 2023 Spring NABA Count for Green Ridge State Forest: Saturday, April 22. Details below.
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 intersection of Swain Hollow Road and Harry Norris Road at Sideling Hill Creek (unofficially we consider the heart of the circle 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).
You’ll also see a BRAND NEW sector–the newest of Maryland’s state parks, Sideling Hill Creek State Park. We’d like to make this a regular focus of our census efforts in the Green Ridge area. It has not be part of the count before. It takes some of the old Pearre Road sector, so I’ve combined those sectors.
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! Also, if there is an area within the count circle you would like to cover and it isn’t already in a designated sector, go for it.
Some additional notes on the boundaries:
To the west:
Twin Oaks Trail on Old Cumberland Road
Campsite 28 on Sugar Bottom Road
39.675177, -78.492851 on Piclic Road
Group Site G-1 on Wallitzer Road
Wallizer Rd SE x Green Ridge Road
To the south:
Campsite 67 on Oldtown Orleans Rd
Mertens Ave x Oldtown Orleans at Campsite 64 (does not include Outdoor Club Road)
Terminus of Bonds Landing Road
Sullivan’s Camp Cacapon on WV 7
To east:
Berryville/Berkeley Springs
Burnt Factory on WV 522/White Rock Campground MD
Green Lane Road x Creek Road MD
Ravenwood Road x Green Lane Road PA
To the north:
Black Oak Church on PA 3003
Buck Valley Park
PA 310 x 327
State Game Land 49 north of York Rd x Sideling Hill Creek Road
Blackberry Lick Road x transmission ROW
Lebanon Church/Bennett Cemetery
Double Pine Road to PA border
Old Cumberland Road to Twin Oaks Trail
Because the original searches for AGS and Olympia Marble were supported by MD DNR, we did not extend our searches into neighboring PA. There is good reason to believe that AGS might still persist on transmission ROW property near Artemas, specifically from Columbia Energy Group north to PA 2001/Artemas Road
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