DCNR FOCUSES ON FORESTS: Over the past few years, DCNR has put a renewed focus on streamside forests, or the implementation of riparian forest buffers as a best management practice for water quality.

But what is a riparian forest buffer, and why are we suddenly so focused on replanting our streamside lands? The term “riparian” comes from the Latin words “ripa” and “riparius,” meaning “bank,” as in riverbanks.

According to Merriam-Webster, the current definition for riparian is “relating to or living or located on the bank of a natural watercourse (such as a river) or sometimes of a lake or a tidewater” — so a riparian forest is simply a forest along river or other waterbody.

Riparian forest buffers have come into focus in Pennsylvania as the commonwealth strives to meet the federal mandates set by the Environmental Protection Agency for reducing nutrient and sediment pollution in the Chesapeake Bay.

Streamside forest plantings are one of the most cost-effective ways to improve water quality, and Pennsylvania has a lot of work to do on water quality improvement if we’re going to come anywhere close to meeting the goals for the Chesapeake Bay.

Pennsylvania has a goal of planting 95,000 acres of streamside buffers statewide by 2025.

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BIRDS: The 2021 Great Backyard Bird Count was an incredible success. For those who participated, the following results were released:

— 6,436 species of birds identified

— 190 participating countries

— 379,726 eBird checklists submitted

— 479,842 Merlin Bird IDs submitted

— 151,393 photo submissions to Macaulay Library

— More than 300,000 estimated global participants

“No matter where your literal backyard was, our global backyard connected us to each other and the birds,” Bird Count officials said.

To see a more in-depth summary of the 4-day event and engage with interactive world maps, visit https://www.birdcount.org/2021-final-results/.