Cacapon Currents

Newsletter: Spring 2003

Editor: Donald Robinson

On Line Volume I

Frog Sounds

One of the happiest sounds I ever hear (especially after a long cold winter like this one!) is the delightful peeping of the spring peepers (Hyla crucifer). You can hear them in most places where an ephemeral pond has collected snowmelt and spring showers. These ponds usually form due to the relatively high water table in spring months, and are usually gone by early June at the latest. The peeping sounds are quite loud, and I suppose annoy some people, but it is a lovely way to be lulled to sleep for me. Those lucky enough to see one will see an X mark on their backs. It amazes me that an animal about the size of a quarter can make such noise.

Usually at about the same time you hear the 'peepers', some ponds may be filled with the wildly active wood frog (Rana sylvatica). His sound is likened to quacking or clucking. The first time I ever heard their music, I walked down along the river to look for the flock of ducks, and found the sound was coming from a small pond behind me as I faced the river. What a delight it is to see! The male frog calls (quacks) to draw the females from their woodland home for a few days of mating and egg-laying. The males look quite dark compared to the females, and the females have what looks like part of a Zorro-like mask behind the eyes.

Walking along the river bank near our house on the Cacapon in later April and May, you may hear a pickerel frog (Rana palustris). In our family we jokingly call them the 'Ralph Kramden belly' frogs. The sound is low and reminds us of the hapless bus driver's pain sound 'w-a-a-a-a-a' when he has a belly ache or pretends to have one.

Another low-pitched frog is the bull frog (Rana catesbeiana) whose 'ba-rump ba-rump ba-rump' is familiar from May through July. They are the largest North American frog. They lay eggs in the river and the tadpoles take two years to mature into frogs.

One night when the ephemeral pond near our Cacapon house was filled with water from a recent rain, we snuck up on several calling 'tree frogs'. It is my belief they were gray tree frogs (Hyla versicolor). These animals are very loud, and most people think that birds are making the noise. Usually by summer they are high in the tree-tops and will often call a few times during or after a summer rain. They are warty looking and variable in color, sometimes mimicking their environment. Their eggs hatch in a week, and it takes two months for the tadpoles to mature.

The green frog (Rana clamitans) looks a little like a small bull frog. It can be distinguished at sight by the small ridges from the nose back through the eye and to the rear of the frog. These ridges are absent in the bull frog. They have a characteristic call which certainly differs from the bull frog, as it sounds a little like a deep banjo string when plucked. One quick 'bwang', sometimes repeated.

The American toad (Bufo americanus) though not a frog, has an audible sound also. It has a dry, warty skin, unlike the slimy skin of a frog. The male makes a long trilling sound as he tries to attract a mate. If you hear several in a pond, you can usually distinguish the different pitches from each individual. They seem to call and answer each other, but it is really a competition to attract a female.

All over the Earth, amphibian populations are in decline. What can you do to help them? Don't disturb them, just enjoy them. If you are lucky enough to own property where the ephemeral ponds form in the spring, make every effort not to drain them. Ditches may breed mosquitoes, but they also breed frogs to eat them. If the mating pond of hundreds of years of generations of a frog species is drained, then the population is not likely to survive more than a few years, or until the adults die off.

I live in Frostburg, Maryland, and there are more mosquitoes in my yard than I ever see near my house on the Cacapon, since there are so many things that eat them there. The bugs you see around your lights at night are not mosquitoes, since mosquitoes are not attracted to light, and that gives me an idea for another article.

(Written by Don Robinson)

New Editor(s) for Cacapon Currents

The Cacapon Currents newsletter has previously been edited and constructed by Ms. Abby Chapple Walker. She has recently resigned from her position as board member (though she is still a member of the organization) to pursue other environmental issues with the Sierra Club. Abby is no stranger to hard work, and she and all the work she did will be missed by The Friends of the Cacapon River.

Cacapon Currents is living on in the hands of Don Robinson (webmaster), writer Barbara Tufty and fisherman Eddie Bilezikian. All are board members of FCR, and none have experience at newsletter construction. Please bear with us as we find our way and try to fill Ms. Walker's big shoes. A print version of this may later become available, but for now the print version's future is uncertain.

One thing is very clear. We can not do this without your help. If you have any ideas for a pertinent article, please send the information to dprobins@hereintown.net . Completely finished articles are welcomed, and color pictures are grand on the web.

On a further note, Cacapon River resident Marjorie Harnest was not responsible for any of the runoff noted in a previous issue of Cacapon Currents. We are sorry for any mistaken perception from the article. The owner of the property in question has taken steps to remedy the situation. Certainly no harm was intended by him. It does point to a need for property owners to educate themselves about things we should and shouldn't do to preserve the river we all love so well.

(Written by Don Robinson)

On Fast Rivers and Still Waters

Let the waters bring forth abundantly
the moving creatures that hath life.
Genesis

All that cast angle into the brook shall lament.
Isaiah

The pleasantest angling is to see the fish.
W.Shakespeare

There is no music like a little river's.
R L Stevenson

Time is but the stream I go a-fishing in,
its thin current slides away but eternity remains.
H D Thoreau

(Continued next column)

(Continuation)

To whom does the river belong?
D Malloch

It belongs to the fish.
Eddie B.

From hill to hill, from creek to creek
Potomac calls to Chesapeake.
J R Randall

Only the game fish swims upstream
J T Moore

Only the game fish swims upstream,
but the sensible fish swims down.
Ogden Nash

(Collected aphorisms by inveterate angler Eddie Bilezikian)

The Craze--- and Curse--- of ATVs

Like fireworks, guns, and cars, All Terrain Vehicles (ATVs) can be powerful... exhilarating... thrilling! But they can be other things too: lethal...macho...terrorizing! Like guns and cars, ATVs can become destructive weapons in the hands of irresponsible people.
But also, like guns, cars, and fireworks, ATVs can have wonderful uses in many ways: monitoring large properties, hauling equipment for construction of fences or buildings. They can serve as a tractor for hauling a snow plow, or mowing the lawn or plowing a garden. Also as an emergency vehicle when someone gets injured in the woods—or when a sick calf or dog needs to be transported home.
ATVs are a macho thing, no doubt. These new toys of America are wildly popular, especially with young people crazy for speed, noise, freedom.
And--- like fireworks, guns, and cars--- they need to be regulated.
The downside of these macho machines can be more destructive than the upside > fun of making a rider feel free and powerful.
For one thing, there are accidents. Thousands of people have been injured; hundreds killed. West Virginia has the highest ATV fatality rate in the nation. Then, it's not cheap. There's the cost of maintenance, repair, gas. What about air pollution it creates? Noise pollution? Pollution of the ground?
Consider their impacts on the environment—on land, rivers, wildlife, peace. Revving the motor and thundering wildly across the land not only shatters the silence of nature but ravages our natural resources. Deer, groundhogs, chipmunks, raccoons, birds are startled from their homes and habitats as these motorized vehicles tear by, ripping up saplings, shrubs, wildflowers, cleaving the tranquility. And think of all the creatures living unseen and unappreciated beneath the soil—millions of earthworms, beetles, ants, and centipedes; trillions of molds and bacteria; zillions of nematodes—all important creatures in the recycling and continuation of life on our planet which is becoming more fragile with destructive abuse from human beings. The tires and weight of ATVs pack down the ground, pounding out the air and moisture, squeezing down the open spaces, tunnels, and burrows so important to healthy soil--- making a wasteland of the terrain.
Fish and other river creatures are impacted too as ATVs churn up pebbles, sand, and rocks in the riverbed, grinding down tiny aquatic creatures and macro-organic insects that feed our river fish. It may seem great sport to ride over riverbanks, but these riparian zones are devastated by ATVs bearing down on them, crushing plants and causing severe erosion of soil that spreads into the river, muddying the water, suffocating fish eggs and vital river denizens.
Although many riders use ATVs on their own property, many others don't, and that's the problem. They think the neighbor's personal property is their own personal turf to cruise over, ignoring fences and "No Trespassing" signs. Farmers, woodsmen, home owners have become helplessly enraged over the ATV damages they have undergone. Last year, a property owner in western Morgan County was badly beaten when he tried to stop a group of young "macho?" ATV riders who were driving across his property.
Just as guns and cars were first put to use with no guidelines or restrictions, so ATVs at first have had no regulations. Today, some 45 states have rules on safety, use, speed, behavior. An ATV bill was introduced in the West Virginia state legislation early this year, but did not survive.
Questions remain: should ATVs be prohibited on any public road without a yellow center line? Who should wear a helmet and when? Should our state parks and forests prohibit ATVs? Who should give instructions on safety, on trespassing on private property, or teach responsible behavior toward the land, the rivers, the wildlife?
Many organizations and federations throughout the nation have set guidelines on using this new toy and on avoiding potential destruction. WV's Department of Natural Resources has regulations that limit the maximum speed to 30 mph; prohibit driving except on designated roads and trails; and prohibit behaving in a manner that harasses, chases, or annoys any animal or bird.
From the more than 20,000 web sites concerned with ATVs, I pulled up many guidelines set by other states to protect the land and rivers. Here are a few that apply to the environment:
   –Do not drive over fragile environments such as streambeds, meadows, muddy roads, and steep hillsides.
   –Do not burn new paths, but ride on trails that have been set aside by your County or Park specifically for ATVs.
   -Enjoy watching wildlife from a distance, without stressing species, particularly during seasons when they are raising their young.
   -Avoid running over young trees and shrubs, wildflowers and ferns, particularly in the spring and the growing season of summer.
   -Avoid riding after heavy rains when the moist soil is soft and vulnerable.

Isn't it time that our County sets some regulations on the use and behavior of ATVs?
(Written by Barbara Tufty)