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LEHMAN TWP. — For a while, this walk in the woods seemed like the Casey McGlynn show. Naturalist Rick Koval posed questions to the Wyoming Valley Montessori students (grades 4-6), and Casey kept answering.
Where do you find a salamander?
“Where it’s warm and moist!”
Is the 250 year-old white pine deciduous or evergreen?
“Oh! It’s an evergreen!”
What kind of animals are salamanders?
“Amphibians!”
Casey’s enthusiasm clearly peaked when classmate Zachary Kile found a red-backed salamander.
“That’s mine!” Casey squealed with unbridled delight. He hadn’t lost a pet; the red-backed was the one he studied before the class visited the sanctuary to put book lessons to real world work.
“What can you tell me about it?” Koval asked.
“Sometimes it’s white with a black stripe,” Casey offered. “And they are predators.”
“I studied you a long time,” Casey told the critter in his hand.
“It looks like he lost a piece of his tail,” Koval suggested, adding it would grow back.
“Aw, little guy,” Casey comforted. “What happened?”
It wasn’t all Casey, of course. Students sprawled around the woods, avidly poking fingers into mud and lifting rocks. Zack found a red-spotted newt.
“It’s 1-year-old,” Koval said. “Sing happy birthday to him.” They did.
“What do you want to call him?” Koval asked. “Newt Gingrich?”
The pun flew so far over the youngsters’ heads, only the eagles were likely to get it.
The students also learned deer droppings could look different in different areas because of what they eat, black bears actually enjoy the malodorous skunk cabbage, the Goldthread root was used to numb tooth pain and birds sing to attract mates and claim territory, not “to call people” as one girl suggested, nor — as one boy punned in a riff on the social media app — to “twitter.”
Each time they picked up a critter, Koval reminded them to put the rock back in place and the animal near it, rather than putting the animal back and dropping the rock on it. “No salamander pancakes today!”
Chris Miller, the chronically easy-going member of the family that owns the sanctuary, grinned while talking about the success this year in making it a 501(c)(3) non-profit corporation. “I’ve been pushing this along on a dime for a decade,” he said. The new status can help raise money to fulfill two dreams.
“I’d really like to build a field station for visiting children,” he said, pointing up the hill to the grassy area where the nature walks always start. “And a boardwalk into the great marsh.” Sanctuary woods sprawl into a large marsh that boasts a wide array of flora and fauna visitors rarely see beyond what’s visible from the edge.
Enthusiasm?
“I — love — this — place!” Casey shouted as he skipped across creeks and over rocks to catch up to the group
“This is really cool,” Jason Piavis beamed after putting a mountain dusky salamander back. “I want to stay here!”
Koval had picked up a dead branch covered with lichen and explained it is the product of two organisms, a fungus that creates a spongy home for the smaller algae.
“What did the fungus say to the algae?” Koval asked. “I’m taking a lichen to you!”
Now if we could please turn the show back over to Casey …
For more information on the sanctuary or to donate, log onto lehmansanctuary.org.
