Members of the Friends of Reinstein Woods (FORW) enjoyed an “introduction to fossil collecting” at Penn Dixie Fossil Park. Penn Dixie is located in Hamburg, NY and open to the general public. Shale and limestone deposits in the park are rich with Devonian fossils that are 380 million years old! The group searched for fossils in several areas of the site. Many fossils can be found lying on the surface while some specimens needed to be chiseled away from the rock. Friends’ members quickly got accustomed to finding these incredible fossils. They found many horn corals, brachiopods, and crinoid stems. Some of the areas on site are rich with trilobite fossils! One of the young fossil hunters in our group found a small ammonite fossil that Dr. Schrieber said was very rare. The weather was perfect and everyone went home with nice fossil specimens. We look forward to seeing members join us at our next event.

Dragonflies and butterflies are very active during this summer heat wave. Flattail dam provides a great opportunity to see many dragonflies, including blue dasher, eastern pondhawk, widow skimmers, 12-spotted skimmers, black saddlebags, common whitetail, eastern amberwing, and more. In sunny areas of the trails you may see monarch butterflies, eastern comma, red admiral, and tiger swallowtail butterflies in flight. Monarch caterpillars and milkweed beetles are nibbling on common milkweed leaves. A doe with twin fawns has been seen regularly on the trails. Bucks are growing velvet antlers, some being reported with six points already. Our wildflower gardens are showing off lovely colors with this sunny weather. Bee balm is bright red, attracting ruby-throated hummingbirds and photographers. Wild bergamots pale purple flowers attract a variety of small insect pollinators. Black raspberries are also close to being ripe. Keep a lookout for hummingbird moths visiting flowers and American toadlets and leopard froglets leaving the ponds. Listen for the buzz of cicadas in the trees.

More than 500 visitors joined in the fun at Get Outdoors! Community Day, part of the statewide Outdoors Day events.  Visitors enjoyed learning a variety of skills in outdoor activities such as geocaching, birding, archery, camping, kayaking, and more. DEC Forest Ranger Tim Kennedy gave a backpacking and fire safety demonstration at the event. The Polish Villa2 and Yogurt Shack food trucks were also a big hit! Special thanks go to the  youth & recreation departments of the Towns of Cheektowaga and Amherst for supporting this event. Thank you to all that volunteered and participated at this year’s event.

Friends of Reinstein Woods Receives Grant to Expand Fundraising Efforts and Support Long-Term Viability of Educational and Stewardship Programs

 Buffalo, NY – The Environmental Protection Fund (EPF) and Parks & Trails Partnership Program has awarded Friends of Reinstein Woods a $47,411 grant to hire a Development Manager. Friends of Reinstein Woods, a non-profit support organization at Reinstein Woods Nature Preserve in Depew, raised an additional $16,803 in matching funds for a total of $63,214.

 The grant is one of 21 awards totaling $450,000 for organizations dedicated to the stewardship and promotion of New York’s State parks, historic sites, and land owned by the NYS Department of Environmental Conservation. The grants, funded through the EPF, will be matched by almost $200,000 in private and local funding. The Park and Trail Partnership Program grants are administered by the State Office of Parks, Recreation, and Historic Preservation and Parks & Trails New York, a statewide nonprofit group.

“The state’s investment in grassroots Friends Groups will complement Governor Cuomo’s extraordinary commitment to the revitalization of the entire state park system,” Parks and Trails New York Executive Director Robin Dropkin said. “These grant funds will enable groups to leverage more private and federal funding, marshal more volunteer power, and augment the state’s historic investment in parks. We look forward to seeing the transformational results from these innovative and important projects.”

“We are extremely excited about the opportunities this grant will create for Friends of Reinstein Woods as we move ahead with our strategic planning process!” Board President Terrence Boyle said. “This addition to our team will support the Friends continual efforts to introduce diverse groups to our environmental education environment which will in turn, benefit our entire community.”

Friends of Reinstein Woods is a volunteer-led, nonprofit organization dedicated to promoting programs offered by the New York State Department of Environmental Conservation at Reinstein Woods, a 292 acre environmental education center located in Depew. The Friends group provides financial and operational support for programs that connect youth, underserved neighborhoods, and the general public to nature. The Friends also supports the maintenance and preservation of the natural habitats at Reinstein Woods.

 With this grant, Friends of Reinstein Woods was able to hire a Development Manager whose primary responsibilities focus on cultivating a strong donor base and increasing fundraising efforts through corporate giving, foundation giving, and planned giving.

Hanna O’Neill, who has assumed this role, is excited about the opportunity to support the growth of Friends of Reinstein Woods and help foster improvements to the educational and stewardship programs that the organization offers. This position will allow Friends of Reinstein Woods to continue to expand outreach to underserved neighborhoods and increase environmental education throughout the community.

The Park and Trail Partnership Program grants are designed to:

• enhance the preservation, stewardship, interpretation, maintenance and promotion of New York State parks, trails, state historic sites and public lands;
• increase the sustainability, effectiveness, productivity, volunteerism and fundraising capabilities of not-for-profit organizations that promote, maintain and support New York State parks, trails, state historic sites and public lands; and
• promote the tourism and economic development benefits of outdoor recreation through the growth and expansion of a connected statewide network of parks, trails, greenways and public lands.

Parks & Trails New York is the leading statewide advocate for parks and trails, dedicated since 1985 to improving the health and quality of life of all New Yorkers by working with community organizations and municipalities to envision, create, promote, and protect a growing network of parks, trails, and greenways throughout the state for all to use and enjoy.

More information on the Park and Trail Partnership Program can be found at www.ptny.org or by calling 518-434-1583.

I recently bought a plug-in hybrid vehicle. Since then, I’ve had many people ask me about my car – both how it works, and what the buying process was like. I can sum it up like this: My car “works” like a regular car except that it runs off of electricity in addition to gasoline, and in the end, I paid less than I would have for a comparable gas-powered vehicle, both in terms of purchase price and long-term operating cost.

Thanks to incentives from New York and the federal government, hybrid and full-electric vehicles are now within reach for most people in the new car market. New York State’s Drive Clean Rebate offers up to $2,000 as a point-of-sale rebate, which means the money goes directly to the dealer and is therefore deducted from your purchase price. The federal government offers tax credits of up to $7,500. The farther a car can go on an electric charge, the higher the rebate and tax credits. And there is a range of cars that qualify, from hatchbacks to SUVs, economy cars to luxury vehicles.

If you are a National Grid customer, you can take advantage of a program that gives electric vehicle owners a lower rate on electricity if they charge their cars during off-peak hours (most electric vehicles can be programmed to charge at a certain time). They estimate this could save an average user $175 in a year!

While there are full-electric vehicles out there that can now go more than 200 miles without needing a charge, there are lots of hybrids like mine that give you the security of a gas-powered backup. And the number of charging stations across New York and the US is growing daily, with phone apps that make it easy to find them. (One thing that has surprised me is how many places offer FREE charging!)

Once you are behind the wheel of your new car, be sure to drive it to Reinstein Woods and take advantage of our solar-powered car charging station. It’s free electricity, powered by the sun! Happy driving.

– Meaghan Boice-Green, Center Director, NYSDEC Reinstein Woods

More than 90 volunteers helped care for Reinstein Woods on the first Saturday in May as part of I Love My Park Day.

These volunteers:

• planted 50 trees,
• repaired 2 trails,
• collected more than 20 bags of garbage and invasive species,
• removed a “new” patch of invasives we found late last fall,
• disassembled a large survival shelter that was an attractive nuisance,
• protected a few dozen trees from beavers by repairing existing wire enclosures,
• spread woodchips on and improved the nature play area, and cleaned our outdoor turtle enclosure.

Friends of Reinstein Woods provided pizza lunch for all the participants.

We are grateful to groups from Geico, Fiserv, Excelsior Conservation Corps, Depew High School Leo Club, Boy Scout Troop 554,  and Cub Scout Packs 451 and 619 who helped alongside individual volunteers. We hope to see everyone again next year!

Friends of Reinstein Woods is seeking a Development Manager to work closely with staff and volunteers to promote the long-term financial well-being of Friends of Reinstein. This  is a flexible part-time position, 30 hours per week. Occasional weekend and evening hours related to special events required. Resumes are due April 6, 2018. For more details and how to apply see the Development Manager Job Description.

Signs of spring are present despite the lingering cold temperatures and snow. Red-winged blackbirds and grackles flock to our bird feeders upon their return. The rattle of belted kingfishers is heard around ponds with open water. Crocuses began sprouting in people’s front yards and pussy willows showed their fuzzy buds during the thaw in late February. Wooly bears were even slinking across the trails at Reinstein Woods. I was optimistic that spotted salamanders might have migrated to their breeding pools, however this cold spell has halted that migration. Photographers have seen the red-headed woodpecker excavating holes in front of the education center. Look for soaring turkey vultures on their migration north. Ring-necked ducks, pied billed grebes, hooded mergansers and green-winged teals are common waterfowl that stop off in our ponds during spring migration.