December 9, 2008
Hikers: Circle April 18 on your calendar, and get those shoes ready.
That’s the date of the Wilmington Trail Club’s annual “End to End” hike on the Brandywine Trail – 32 miles in one day.
The trail starts in southern Pennsylvania and ends at Brandywine Creek State Park in northern Delaware.
Visit wilmingtontrailclub.org for details and to sign up.
December 8, 2008
Volunteers are sought at two Delaware state nature reserves in central Delaware – the St. Jones Reserve, near Dover, and the Blackbird Creek Reserve, near Townsend.
“We could use more help with our conservation programs and educational events,” said Harvey Zendt, volunteer coordinator for the Delaware National Estuarine Research Reserve, which includes St. Jones and Blackbird Creek.
Volunteers are sought for photography, newsletter writing and design, herbarium work, general administrative assistance, gardening and outdoor projects, educational programming and marketing and outreach.
Adults and high school students are both welcome. Contact Zendt at Harvey.zendt@state.de.us or (302) 739-3436, ext. 10.
December 8, 2008
Annual passes for Delaware State Parks are now on sale, being touted as great holiday gifts for outdoors-lovers. The parks folks are tossing in a $5 discount on Kevin Fleming’s Wild Delaware book.
Passes are $27 for Delaware vehicles, $54 for out-of-staters, $27 for active-duty military personnel, $12 for Delaware seniors and $24 for out-of-state seniors. Passes get you in without paying a daily fee from March 1 to Nov. 30 – so for a Delaware resident, they pay for themselves in just seven day trips.
Passes can be picked up at any park office, the Dover office of the Department of Natural Resources and Environmental Control, or online at Delaware.gov. Call (302) 739-9220.
December 7, 2008
Coastal Sussex County boaters have a new option for launching their vessels, with the opening of a new boat ramp near Lewes.
The Division of Fish and Wildlife opened the new ramp, with triple the number of parking spaces at the old site, at the north end of Pilottown Road late last month.
It can handle 128 vehicles with trailers and 17 without. It eliminates a 20-minute, no-wake boat ride from the old boat ramp, near downtown Lewes, to get to Roosevelt Inlet.
The old boat ramp will be demolished for work on the Lewes Canalfront Park.
It’s handicapped-accessible and has an 8-foot-wide riverwalk for disabled visitors and walkers.
November 29, 2008
There’s not much opportunity to ski on Delmarva, seeing as how it’s so flat and all, but the Wilmington Ski Club is organizing several regional trips this season. Check ‘em out online or stop by their next meeting, 7:30 p.m. Dec. 11 at Hockessin Memorial Hall.
November 28, 2008
With Thanksgiving under our belts, this weekend looks to be a relatively relaxing one – not much going on in the way of events and activities, and with good weather it’s a perfect opportunity to get outdoors.
For folks looking for some organized events, however, there’s an interesting program on reptiles at Cape Henlopen State Park (near Lewes, Del.) on Saturday, focusing on reptiles from the coastal area. It’s 2 p.m. Saturday at the nature center, $2 per person, limit 30, pre-registration required.
South of the border, in Maryland at Assateague Island National Seashore, there are two Saturday shindigs: an 11 a.m. aquarium talk and a 2 p.m. half-mile “Beach on the Move” guided tour of the sea’s edge.
Also Saturday, from 1-2 p.m. at the Chincoteague National Wildlife Refuge, there will be a presentation on nature photography from Jim Clark, a contributing editor for Outdoor Photographer magazine and the author of three books. The event is part of the wrap-up of Waterfowl Week at the refuge. It will be held at the Herbert H. Bateman Educational and Administrative Center.
November 28, 2008
(This is one of the very few times this blog will dip into commentary.)
Consider an alternative holiday gift this season for your someone special. Don’t buy your kids another Wii game for Hanukkah, or your spouse another tie or necklace for Christmas. Don’t clog the malls and outlet stores, fighting for that great deal on that got-to-have item. (You don’t got to have it, really. Unh-uh.)
Instead, make a gift yourself – something from the heart, highlighting a special memory or time in your lives. Or perhaps even better, make a gift to help someone in need. Consider donations in your friends’ names to one of the many charities that are helping people in your neighborhood or around the globe. Or contribute to an environmental or outdoors cause. (Your nephews and nieces will get a kick out of how they helped save the Bengal tigers!)
Go simple this holiday. The world and your friends and family will thank you.
November 27, 2008
There’s nothing quite like the shock to your system from a lungful of crisp, clear, cold air just minutes after rolling out of your warm sleeping bag. Winter camping is loads of fun, though here on Delmarva it’s slightly different than in other locales. Following generic winter camping tips won’t get you very far – when was the last time we had enough snow here to build a snow shelter?
For general advice and tips, the late great sastrugi couldn’t be beat. (What is a sastrugi? I didn’t have a clue, either.) But it’s closed now, abdicating its role to wintercampers.com. Go check it out, and make sure you’ve got enough gear and clothing to keep you and yours warm and cozy.
November 26, 2008
I’m a fan of “bandana maps” – they look sharp, are a great conversation starter, and are useful for general navigation, too. I guess you do have to worry about fading, though. Maryland has two available – one for Janes Island State Park and one for Fair Hill NRMA. Good holiday gifts, hint, hint…
November 26, 2008
The staff at the Delaware Nature Society have launched a blog with updates, information and photos from their programs and events. So far it includes items on birding expeditions, the first snow and a Young Naturalist canoeing trip at Abbott’s Mill. Details at delawarenaturesociety.org/blog.
If you have experience in education or the natural sciences and are looking for a new gig, the DNS might be looking for you. There’s currently a job opening for a manager of the new DuPont Environmental Education Center in the Russell W. Peterson Urban Wildlife Refuge on the Wilmington Riverfront. The center will open summer ’09.
