Young campers from PA American Water Co.’s ‘Wonderful World of Water’ camp were eager to inspect toads, salamanders, and millipedes during a visit to the wetlands of the Lehman Sanctuary in Lehman Township on Tuesday. Whenever they gathered in a cluster like this, there was bound to be a tiny creature cupped in a camper’s hands.
Mary Therese Biebel | Times Leader
Following a suggestion from Lehman Sanctuary volunteer John Ferrante, the young campers from PA American Water Co.’s ‘Wonderful World of Water’ camp reached skyward, the way a tree reaches toward the sunlight.
Mary Therese Biebel | Times Leader
These ‘Wonderful World of Water’ campers weren’t at all squeamish about holding a toad in the wetlands at the Lehman Sanctuary.
Mary Therese Biebel | Times Leader
Lehman Sanctuary volunteer John Ferrante and founder Chris Miller, both standing at right, tell the ‘Wonderful World of Water’ campers what they can expect in the wetlands they are about to enter. It will be shady, Ferrante said, and that will be extra nice on a very hot day.
Mary Therese Biebel | Times Leader
Participants in the ‘Wonderful World of Water’ camp learned that a majestic pine tree, hundreds of years old, is part of the ecosystem in the wetlands of the Lehman Sanctuary that helps keep water clean.
Mary Therese Biebel | Times Leader
Penn State urban forest Vinnie Cotrone, at right, encourages the ‘Wonderful World of Water’ campers to look for salamanders in the wetlands at the Lehman Sanctuary on Tuesday. Their 4-day camp, based at Wilkes University, also included field trips to the Lands at Hillside Farms and to the River Common for a fishing expedition.
Mary Therese Biebel | Times Leader
Campers from the ‘Wonderful World of Water’ camp lean in to touch a tiny birch tree that appears to be growing out of an old fallen tree in the wetlands at the Lehman Sanctuary.
Mary Therese Biebel | Times Leader
Eight-year-old Chryselle Bergey listened attentively as Chris Miller, founder of the Lehman Sanctuary, talked about an especially large, old pine tree that dates back to pre-Revolutionary War days.
Mary Therese Biebel | Times Leader
“Can I hold him?”
“Can I hold him next?”
“I didn’t hold him yet!”
Again and again, youngsters who were attending a “Wonderful World of Water” camp clustered around a fellow camper or an adult who might have just picked up a toad. Or a salamander. Or a millipede.
“Cup your hands,” Penn State urban forester Vinnie Cotrone cautioned the kids who were exploring the wetlands at the 18-acre Lehman Sanctuary in Lehman on Tuesday morning. “And we’ll put them back where we found them.”
Eight-year-old Anna Maruska, who attends the Pittston Area School District, was particularly enthusiastic about cradling the little critters, whose presence is evidence that the water in the wetlands is clean.
“The toad has a slimy belly,” she said, expressing the delight of a budding scientist.
Perhaps even better, Anna confided in a low voice to a reporter, “We’re gonna get ice cream later, if we’re all good.”
The ice cream was to be part of an afternoon visit to the Lands at Hillside Farms, where the campers’ lessons about watersheds, ecosystems, and clean water would continue.
The chance to go fishing on the River Common along the Susquehanna River in Wilkes-Barre was also scheduled as part of the camp, as was the chance to view macroinvertebrates such as mayflies, which are visible to the naked eye and indicate that water is healthy.
The free camp was based at Wilkes University and hosted by PA American Water Co. in partnership with Penn State Extension’s Master Watershed Stewards and the Riverfront Parks Committee.
A second edition of the camp, also designed for 7- to 11-year-olds, is planned for Aug. 3–6 and will be based at the Valley Community Library in Peckville. It will focus on the Lackawanna River. (To register, contact Penn State Extension at 570-825-1701.)
“We’re so fortunate to have our local rivers as the focal points of these camps,” said John Maday, executive director of Wilkes-Barre’s Riverfront Parks Committee, noting that the program has taken children “into the environment for hands-on learning about one of our most precious resources” for 15 years, “allowing campers to learn how they can protect them.”
For the Luzerne County group of campers, Tuesday’s visit to the Lehman Sanctuary was also a chance to get away from digital screens and get close to nature.
“Use your eyes. Look up, look down,” sanctuary volunteer John Ferrante urged the children.
Showing them one of his favorite places in the sanctuary, he pointed to a fallen log. “Holy moley, this tree is dead as a doornail,” he said. But new life was springing up in the form of a young birch tree growing in the same spot. The young tree most likely had sprouted from a seed deposited by wind, the volunteer said.
“The seed knew where the soil was,” Ferrante told the group. “And now we have a beautiful little tree growing up along the old dead tree.”
In one of the moister sections of the wetlands, Cotrone pointed to a plant with large green leaves and stalks.
“It looks like celery,” one camper remarked.
But what does it smell like? Cotrone asked.
“A skunk!” 11-year-old Kirk Borino from the Pittston Area School District said, helping to correctly identify skunk cabbage. Kirk later explained he was familiar with the smell of a skunk. “My grandma’s dog got sprayed.”
Trees, skunk cabbage, and other plants at the sanctuary act as a natural filtration system, slowing stormwater runoff and keeping pollutants out of larger bodies of water, such as the Chesapeake Bay, Cotrone said.
Even the dead trees are part of the cycle, he said, explaining they provide habitat and enrich the soil as they decay.
Another important lesson Cotrone hoped campers would take away from the camp was how a riparian barrier of trees and plants protects waterways. The vegetation helps keep out industrial and agricultural pollutants as well as chemicals that people spread on roadways and lawns, often without thinking about how that will affect the watershed.
“What we do on land affects the water,” he said.
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