570-799-5888 Open Year Round! Hours: Thur, Fri, Sat, Sun: 10am-6pm
Restaurant & Farm Market Banquet Hall with available Catering Christmas Tree Farm Check Website for Special Events!
Located 1 Mile Off Rt. 42 In Numidia 270 White Church Rd, Elysburg, PA
www.ponducefarms.com
Wildlife rehab Early in the life of the Montour Preserve, the maintenance area was located on an adjacent farm, and in a large chicken coop of that farm was Hess’ shop and a rehab room where they would help various birds – like hawks – rehab their flying strength before release back into the wild. “There was this red-tail hawk that was in a cage like a large dog crate, and we had to move it over to the fly room. I had a winter coat on and a pair of gloves and I thought I would be fine,” remembered Hess. “I reached in for the hawk, but of course when you reach out, the jacket pulls away from your wrist and that is where this hawk latched on. “It felt like a nail going down into the bone. I had another guy there and he tried to pull it out, but hawks use them (their talons) for killing. We had the idea to take it to the fly room and it released to face me. I was off to the doctor for a tetanus shot.” Maple sugaring The first program offered at the Montour Preserve shortly after it opened was on maple sugaring – a precursor to the popular program that continues today.
“We tapped just a few trees and had one class that first year. We boiled it down in an old butcher kettle outside the maintenance area and finished the sap on a Coleman stove in the kitchen,” he said. “By the time we got to our second year, we had built a little structure in the sugarbush area. When we put the pavilion down there, we were able to get involved with school districts.” As it was with all programs and activities at the preserve, safety and liability mindfulness was high on Hess’ lists of responsibilities. “When we had sugaring programs, I would hire a professional tree trimming program and basically write them a blank check to go down the trail through the sugarbush and take down any loose branches or anything else that may hurt someone if there was a high wind or other incident,” he said. Evolution of the lake Soon after Hess took on the full-time role with the Montour Preserve, the Pennsylvania Fish and Boat Commission was involved in stocking the lake. “When the lake was first dug out, they didn’t leave any structure on the bottom that fish could use for cover,” said Hess. “So we got involved with Scout troops
and other groups to develop structures out of old tires and Christmas trees. We mapped out where these were placed in the lake.” Hess’ role at the preserve soon had the fish and boat commission knocking at his door for another responsibility. “With me being there all the time, they wanted to have me work as a deputy for them overseeing things at the lake, going almost immediately through training programs that helped improve things from a safety standpoint,” he said. “When it came to people fishing on the ice, we would never tell people it was safe. Signs told people they would go onto the ice at their own risk,” Hess said. “We did have several drownings at the lake. The first one I was involved with, the ice went from six inches to one inch in one step and the guy was by himself and he drowned.” The lake was not only a drawing card for people, but for new species of wildlife. “Fifty different species of waterfowl came in early on that hadn’t been there before, and that attracted a lot of people to check out the waterfowl and shore bird species,” he said. “The lake also provided an important fishing component that hadn’t been available before in the area.”
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