The Community Foundation of the Endless Mountains is pleased to have been invited by the New Milford Borough Council to collect donations to renovate the public pool in the New Milford Recreation Park. The pool has been a popular respite on hot summer days for generations of families from throughout Susquehanna County and the time has arrived to complete general maintenance such as resurfacing, installing new steps, and repairing a leak. A lift system also needs to be installed to safely allow handicapped swimmers access to the pool. Overall $100,000 needs to be raised so that work can begin as soon as possible so the pool can reopen when warm weather arrives.

To date more than $30,000 has been raised from generous contributions from Constitution Pipeline, and from Equipment Transport LLC, of which local native David Florence is President, and also from the Hallstead-Great Bend Lions Club. Additional donations can be sent to The New Milford Pool Renovation Fund at The Community Foundation at 270 Lake Avenue Montrose, PA 18801. Online donations may also be made at www.community-foundation.org. In 2012 more than 4,000 locals enjoyed the pool and with a little bit of help another summer full of memories can be made.

On March 21, the New Milford Area Rotary Club hosted a dinner at the Green Gables for student participants in various Rotary programs, as well as for their families and school guidance counselors. Among the youth activities represented were the International Exchange Student program, where the club arranges for local students to live and study in a foreign country for a year, and in turn host foreign students in this country.

Pictured (l-r) are: Barbara Hill (Club president), Melody Haley (Club student coordinator), Kristina Fallon (2010 exchange student – Chile), Sydney Avery (2013 exchange student - France), Donna Porter (Mountain View school counselor), Amber Dubranowitz (2012 RYLA participant – Susquehanna), Kyle Heide (2013 exchange student – The Netherlands), Ashley Miller (2012 RYLA participant – Susquehanna), Rebecca Perkins (2012 RYLA participant Mountain View), Leif Axel Berg (2012 RYLA participant – Blue Ridge), Bridget O’Neill (Susquehanna school counselor).

This year two local students will be going overseas and the club will be hosting one foreign student. Also attending the dinner were participants in the 2012 Rotary Youth Leadership Awards program, a week-long event held at Keystone College designed to develop leadership skills. The club sponsored 5 students in RYLA 2012 from Mountain View, Blue Ridge and Susquehanna high schools.

A scholarship is being established by the family and friends of Tony Bistocchi, a 2009 MASD graduate who lost his life in an automobile accident in May of 2012. Tony was blessed with an incredible sense of humor and strong commitment to his family and friends.

The goal is to collect funds in order to make the scholarship application available to 2013 graduating seniors and organize an event for spring/summer that will fund this scholarship for future graduates.

If you are interested in donating please drop off or mail your donation to: Pennstar Bank, 36 Public Avenue, Montrose, PA 18801. Please make checks payable to the “Tony Bistocchi Scholarship”.

If you have any questions, please contact Renee Hare at rhare@masd.info or Jack Keihl at jkeihl@masd.info.

HARRISBURG – The Center for Rural Pennsylvania has re-elected state Senator Gene Yaw (R-Lycoming) to serve as Chairman of its 11 member Board of Directors.

The Center is a bipartisan, bicameral legislative agency that serves as a resource for rural policy within the Pennsylvania General Assembly.

“I am again very humbled to be re-elected Chairman of the Board for the Center for Rural Pennsylvania,” said Yaw. “As a state Senator and resident of rural Pennsylvania, I find the research and reports conducted and distributed by the Center for Rural Pennsylvania invaluable to our work in Harrisburg and also to many individuals, groups and organizations in my district, and across the Commonwealth.”

The Center works with the legislature, educators, state and federal executive branch agencies, and national, statewide, regional and local organizations to maximize resources and strategies that can better serve Pennsylvania's 3.4 million rural residents.

“Approximately 27 percent of the state’s 12.7 million residents live in 48 rural counties,” Yaw added. “By 2030, Pennsylvania rural counties are projected to have a total population of 3.57 million people, a 3 percent increase from 2010. This further amplifies the importance of the work provided by the Center for Rural Pennsylvania.”

Created in 1987 under Act 16, the Rural Revitalization Act, the Center for Rural Pennsylvania promotes and sustains the vitality of Pennsylvania's rural and small communities by: · sponsoring research projects to identify policy options for legislative and executive branch consideration and action; · collecting data on trends and conditions to understand the diversity of rural Pennsylvania; · publishing information and research results to inform and educate audiences about the diverse people and communities of rural Pennsylvania; and · participating in local, state and national forums on rural issues to present and learn from best practices.

During the meeting, the Board of Directors also elected state Senator John Wozniak (D-35) as Vice Chairman, Dr. Nancy Falvo of Clarion University as Secretary and state Representative Garth Everett (R-84) as Treasurer.

To learn more about the Center for Rural Pennsylvania, click on www.rural.palegislature.us.

The Conservation Reserve Enhancement Program (CREP) has protected your soil and water resources and enhanced wildlife habitat on thousands of acres in Northeastern Pennsylvania. All during the year the landowners in CREP perform conservation practice maintenance activities and early spring may be the best time to check those tree and shrub plantings.

In CREP riparian buffer areas the trees and shrubs protective tree tubes around them should be inspected. Bob Wagner USDA Natural Resource Conservation Service Conservation Technician noted that …”Early spring is a good time to clean out of any grasses, weeds, bird, bees, ant and/or rodent nests from the tree tubes. The tubes need to be cleaned out to remove plant competition from the trees and/or to stop the development of excess moisture. Removal of the debris is needed on some of the tree tubes so that excess moisture does not develop and create a mushy, moldy condition that could kill an otherwise healthy tree. It is not just the small trees and shrubs that landowners have to worry about. The older trees still inside the tubes can grow quite fast and obtain a large enough diameter near the base that they can get very close to the sides of the tubes. This closeness to the sides of the tube can create unfavorable growing conditions (moisture, mush or mold) to develop inside the tree tube. If this is the case the landowner should decide to do one of the following: remove the tube, remove part of the tube or slice the tube along its entire length to get more air around the tree. Spring maintenance also includes making sure that tree tubes and stakes are straightened up and the stakes pounded back into the ground. Make sure the tube bottom also goes into the ground at least 1 to 2 inches. It easier to do this maintenance work before the grass and weeds start greening up and the ground is still easily workable.”

What else is happening on your Conservation Reserve Enhancement Program (CREP) fields during the early spring? Multiflora rose is also starting to green up. This is one plant that should not be growing in your CREP fields, as it is on the State list of noxious weeds and is required to be controlled on your CREP contract fields. Control and removal of this invasive is a constant battle, however you can begin the battle now!

How, you may ask? Wagner advised…”to do a basal area stem spray on the green areas of the multiflora rose plants with a glyphosphate product. Use either a backpack or a handheld sprayer to apply the glyphosphate product. Spray it as a heavy drip or stream, not a mist and only apply it to the green basal area of the multiflora rose plant. This will prevent overspray onto the existing grasses.” Wagner also stated he has done this on his own property, “It does work. I have sprayed in previous years during the months of March and early April when the daytime temperatures was at least above 45 degrees. The multiflora rose plants that I sprayed were dead by early summer and I am planning on spraying again this year to get the plants that I missed.” Spraying herbicides, such as glyphosphate, now allows you to get a jump on your spring work and to take care of an invasive that you do not want in your CREP fields.

Positive things to look for in your CREP fields in Mid March will be the early return of bluebirds and red wing blackbirds scouting out areas for nesting (other grassland birds will be doing the same as spring progresses). In many fields (CREP and regular hayfields) there are cool season grasses such as orchardgrass that are starting to green up as are some clovers, forbs and other low lying broadleaf weeds. If you were to go out in the fields and look at the orchardgrass, which is one of the first to start growing (early to mid March), you would most likely see that it is green, it is growing and may have been grazed back by the wildlife.

Questions about maintenance on the riparian buffer and questions about enrolling your land into the CREP riparian buffer program can be answered by calling your local offices of the Natural Resources Conservation Service or the Farm Service Agency.

To sign up for CREP contact your local USDA Farm Service Agency offices: Susquehanna County – Diane Nowalk at 278-1011, ext. 100; Wayne & Lackawanna Counties – Jon Stinavage 282-8732 ext. 2.

For more complete details about herbicide spraying of glyphosphate call Bob Wagner at the USDA NRCS office 278-1011, ext. 108.

HARRISBURG – A bipartisan resolution to study the demand for natural gas service by Pennsylvanians was unanimously approved by the full state Senate, according to Senator Gene Yaw (R-23).

Senate Resolution 29, sponsored by Yaw, authorizes and directs the Center for Rural Pennsylvania, a bi-partisan, bi-cameral legislative research agency of the General Assembly, to study the demand for residential, commercial and industrial natural gas service in the state by collecting and analyzing information on the: · estimated demand for natural gas service in un-served and under-served areas of the Commonwealth; estimated price consumers are willing to pay for access or conversion to natural gas service; regional differences in consumer demand and willingness to pay for natural gas service; and relevant economic information on the costs and benefits to expand natural gas distribution infrastructure.

“As Chairman of the Center for Rural Pennsylvania, we have convened several discussions on rural residential and commercial gas distribution,” Yaw said. It is clear, we have an abundant natural resource beneath us, which can be used to help consumers lower their energy heating costs, improve consumer satisfaction, provide for increased economic development opportunities, and create jobs in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania,” Yaw added. “I look forward to reviewing the Center’s findings in the coming months.”

Yaw added that his office has received numerous inquiries from his constituents and from other legislator’s offices whose constituents want to be able to benefit from this less expensive form of energy.

The Center would be responsible to report its findings, plans, and recommendations to the General Assembly no later than August 1, 2013.