A rare opportunity to view the aurora borealis here in Pennsylvania was captured by Bill Sisson on Sunday night. A click to the pic gets a better view of other sky features. 

Take a few moments and check out the Book of Faces of Tony Bendele Photography. Tony captured and shared a 60-picture sequence of the aurora over Shikellamy State Park as well as some others he took that night. Wow!

Goodies are rolling in for the silent auction, always a popular part of the banquet. Have your eye on a special item? Sign up and join us at Little Buffalo!

Volunteers from National Fuel took part in their annual Days of Doing (what a great name) by volunteering at Chapman and M.K. Goddard state parks and Elk State Forest. 

As you can see a LOT of brush and trees were removed at Chapman in preparation for a visit later this year from the PA Outdoor Corps. They also painted signs and transplanted seedlings and trees over the course of the days on site(s). 

The company notes that last year for the inaugural event, "We had volunteers assisting with a variety of tasks including meal delivery, food reclamation, reusable bag creation and park clean ups. The National Fuel Gas Company Foundation further supported these efforts with matching grants to the nonprofits at which our employees volunteer."

Buchanan State Forest

Give a click to the pic for Jarhed Szalkowski's gigantic panorama of the gigantic view from Big Mountain Overlook in the Buchanan State Forest.

Dipping our toes further into May with our look ahead ...

Put a bookmark on the PPFF Events calendar and DCNR Calendar of Events so you never miss an announcement.

One of these things is not like the others ... the yellow trillium on the right, with its lemony fragrance, is the out-of-stater. It is native to Tennessee, Kentucky, Georgia, and North Carolina. According to the Department of Agriculture some specimens found in Michigan and Ontario are "garden escapes." 

Photo credits:

(Left): By Fungus Guy - Own work, CC BY-SA 3.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/...

(Center): TN Nursery 

(Right): Mark Pistrang.

I kind of enjoyed the visual trivia. We may have to revisit! But for this week (and to close out April), why (in simple terms) were we able to see the aurora in PA last week?

Enter each week to increase your chances of a fabulous prize at the end of the month when I'll draw one entry from all correct answers received during the month.

Green boxes are pictures and news; blue boxes are events.

A last weekend to enjoy Rothrock Week in a PA state forest (although they ARE open 24/7)!