Along the Cacapon every summer, we always manage to see some giant moths flitting about lights, or flying into our headlight beams. It is always a time of excitement, and everyone drops what they are doing to go and look at these natural wonders. The family name of the giant silk moths is 'Saturniid' which I suppose in Latin must mean 'awfully big moths'. The order of these insects is Lepidoptera and includes all butterflies and moths.

The adult stage of these moths, of which there about fifteen varieties in West Virginia, only live for about a week, and that is usually in the early summer. There aren't many of them, and their numbers have been in decline at least in part due to the introduction of artificial night lighting. The female emits a pheremone, and the male, which 'smells' her with his chemo-sensitive 'antennae' can be drawn from miles away. They mate for a day, then the female lays about 100 eggs and dies, while the male may attempt to meet another female, but will die shortly. Many bird species feed on the young caterpillars, so few make it to adulthood. They mostly eat foliage of trees and shrubs. Generally, the caterpillars are colored in greens and browns making them hard to see. If not, then they may have fierce looking fake eyespots to scare off predators. Their cocoon is a silken pouch that is big and strong enough so that Native Americans, Mexicans, and African tribes used them for durable containers.

Here are a few paragraphs that may help you identify silk moths you might see.

A giant brownish-winged moth with a reddish body and whitish crescent shaped marks on the wings is likely to be a Cecropia moth (Hyalophora cecropia). The Cecropia is the largest of the moths in North America. A promethea moth (Callosamia promethea) is also brown, with noticable eyespots on the wingtips and waterstain type wing markings. A tuliptree moth (Callosamia angulifera) is missing the crescents and the body and wings are brown. The polyphemus moth (Antheraea polyphemus) is also brown, and has four large eyespots, the two on the hindwings being surrounded by a dark region.

The green Luna moth (Actias luna) is likely the most commonly seen, with it's long 'tails' and pale green color. The Io moth (Automeris io) has two huge dark spots on its hindwings. The male is yellowish in color with a purple-brown area near the body. The female has the same eyespots, but is more purple to brown in tint. The Royal Walnut Moth (Citheronia regalis), also called the Emperor moth and the Regal moth, has reddish brown wings with yellow spots on them. I once saw a dead one float by my dock. The Imperial moth (Eacles imperialis) is large and yellow with purplish brown markings. My wife once had one fly into our van, and wrapped it in her shirt to show me when she pulled into the cabin. It was unhurt, as she had come to a near stop when it flew in. It hung around for a while the next morning, but was gone when I looked for it in the afternoon. The Eastern Buckmoth (Hemileuca maia) is greyish with a few white markings.

The Oakworm moths (three different species: Anisota stigma,Anisota senatoria,Anisota virginiensis ) are reddish-brown to orange and pink with a light colored spot on each wing. I saw a couple of these mating, and a huge number of Saturniids (13 as I recall) on my neighbor Joe Michael's porch this summer. They must have been attracted by some chemical odor, perhaps from a dryer? I know it wasn't me. Another Saturniid on Joe's porch was the distinctive yellow and pink Rosy Maple moth Dryocampa rubicunda.

The Pine-devil moth Citheronia sepulcralis and the Bi-colored Honey Locust moth Sphingicampa bicolor are similar in their color, grey with pink markings on the hindwings.

There are 1500 known species of the giant silk moths, Saturniids, on Earth, mostly in the tropical zone. Enjoy seeing some in West Virginia!

Proposed Suggestions from F C R to Morgan County Planning Commission for revising Morgan County Comprehensive Plan
By Barbara Tufty

Members of the Friends of the Cacapon River are grateful that the Morgan County Planning Commission is reviewing the County’s Comprehension Plan. We are doubly grateful that we are given the opportunity to propose suggestions that will protect the Cacapon River.

A. PRIMARY SUGGESTIONS:

1) Establish a RIVER CORRIDOR buffer on each side of the river, suited to the terrain, ideally up to 75 feet wide. A river buffer is an area where trees, shrubs, and
ground plants form a network of roots that filter out fertilizers, pesticides, oil and other runoff pollutants, holding them back from entering the river. This riparian buffer would be maintained by the owner in natural vegetation.

2) Review the present FLOOD PLAIN ORDINANCE to identify changes to help protect the natural environment of the riparia, not just the building structures. The
riparia encompasses the riverbanks, the soils and rocks, the plants and wildlife, and the stream itself.

3) Reduce the rate of POLLUTION into the river from diffuse sources (called NON-POINT SOURCES ) such as surface runoff from agricultural (fertilizers, pesticides, livestock and poultry wastes), human habitations (leaking septic fields, gas and oil runoff from vehicles, urban or construction activities), forestry uncontrolled
logging, clear-cutting activities that drop branches, limbs, logs, and sawdust into the river).

4) Reduce the POLLUTION from specific sources (called POINT SOURCES) such as single pipe leakage into the waterway, failing septic tanks, dirt and silt from
specific eroding banks. Point sources from industrial, commercial and municipal wastes are addressed by the Clean Water Act.

5) Propose methods of disposing of “GREY WATER” (unpolluted waste water from showers, baths, laundry) into gardens or places other than the septic tanks.

6) Prohibit operation of ALL-TERRAIN VEHICLES in stream beds and on river banks, except for essential work. These vehicles can rip up stream banks and river beds, causing erosion of the banks, destroying habitat of plants, fish and other aquatic animals, and disrupting birds and other wildlife.

7) Develop methods for enforcement of regulations and develop systems for REPORTING VIOLATIONS, such as Letter to the offender; Letter to the Morgan
Messenger; Written notice to the Health Department; Letter to an environmental organization asking for suggestions. Use of dye to detect source of pollution into the river.

B. IMPORTANT, BUT SECONDARY SUGGESTIONS;

1) Take measures to EDUCATE the community and region about the importance of protecting the river---county commissioners, property owners, real estate
dealers, building construction workers, bridge builders and repairers, electricity and communication personnel. Also tourists, canoeists, summer renters, children.

The Friends of the Cacapon River has offered meetings, lectures, notices, specific pamphlets, pot-luck gatherings, canoe and wildflower trips to educate people
about protecting and enjoying the Cacapon River.

2) Create a PHOSPHATE BAN in cleaning products such as dish and laundry detergents. This should be a state ban, as urged by the Chesapeake Bay Program.

3) Define clear perking rules and regulations for septic tanks.

4)Adopt construction and maintenance practices to reduce sediment runoff from highways, county roads, and private roads and culverts.

5) Strengthen measures to control irresponsible SPRAWL as people move into the area from outside regions, and local development increases. New construction
of roads, houses, businesses should be carefully planned in order to preserve our natural resources of fresh streams, trees, open space, wildlife.

Seeing Order in the Chaos
Barbara Tufty

WHAP! WHAP! WHAP! In the fierce winter wind, the branches of the maple trees beside my cabin slap and scrape against one another. Stripped of their accouterment of summer leaves, the stark wet branches and twigs flail and bump in a jumble of sharp disoriented lines.

As I watch them silhouetted against the cold white sky, their chaotic mess makes no sense to me---no design, no reason. Yet there is a basic order within the scrambled branches—a genetic process in the way each tree grows, starting as a sprout that expands into a trunk bearing limbs that in turn put out branches that bear twigs—all in a pattern that repeats itself over and over again in various scales of magnitude as the sapling grows into a mature tree, like the one whipping its branches above me in the strong wind.

Every species of tree has an organic design and growth pattern that is difficult for humans to see, but can become particularly visible in its manner of branching. Now in winter when the branches are bare, you need patience and a keen eye to see the way the tree repeats a specific pattern of growth. For instance, the buds on my maple branches are arranged in pairs on opposite sides of the twigs., with each pair at right angles to the pair below it. Dogwood trees and the ashes have this same paired pattern of branches. Branches of pine trees, however, jut out from the trunk in whorls of three or more. Oaks and tulip trees grow branches not in pairs but in alternate steplike patterns. These patterns repeat themselves over and over as the tree grows in height.

Under perfect conditions, each species of tree could grow into its specifically programmed shape. For instance, with an adequate supply of water and nutrients, enough uncrowded space and ample supply of sunlight, my sugar maples each would grow into the shape of a huge egg standing on its broad end. A Lombardy poplar grows into an elongated oval; weeping willows form fountains. Oak grow into massive trees, stretching out powerful long branches.

But regularities are difficult to find in a mature tree, for many surprises of the biological world disrupt a tree’s natural growth into a symmetrically perfect shape. Winds bend branches and blow down trees; heavy storms of snow and ice snap twigs and limbs; droughts withhold water; and diseases destroy the heart of a tree. Woodpeckers hammer and squirrels nibble; web caterpillars enmesh; woodsmen wield axes----all working to distort, deform, stunt a living tree into a chaotic parody of its basic genetic pattern of growth—the hidden order beneath the chaos.

The system of analyzing the basic repetitive order within nature is called fractal geometry, taking the name from the Latin adjective fractus, which means fractured or broken. It gives scientists a way of defining an order of “self-similarity”—a pattern in which the same structure is repeated over and over, on smaller or larger scales of magnitude.

For instance, puffs of clouds billowing and rising from a cumulus thundercloud or from an explosion of steam and ash of an erupting volcano are forms of fractals—as are the bunched flowerlets on the head of a cauliflower or broccoli—each bunch being a similar, smaller replica of the one it sprouted from. Crystals of snow are fractal designs repeating themselves over and over as they grow larger. The six-sided snowflake repeats itself symmetrically — but no two are alike because an infinite number of forces impinge on them as they fall through the sky.

Even our Cacapon River can be considered a fractal. Take a walk along its edge and notice the irregular jumble of sand, pebbles, roots, with nooks and crannies, perhaps with a trickle of water from a soggy bank. Climb a tree and you see a longer shoreline on a bigger scale, now with rocks and bays. Take a plane and the aerial view shows you the shoreline a wiggly line indented into bays or around rocks, fed by tributaries. Take an aerial photograph higher up, and you see the Cacapon as one of other tributaries—the North River, the Shenandoah—all flowing into the Potomac which is in turn a tributary of the Chesapeake Bay–another part of a fractal.

This enlarging fractal is merely part of the magnificent concept of self-similarity; and infinite number of copies of itself repeated at different scales of magnitude. Once you understand the trick of seeing fractals and order in chaos of trees, clouds, cauliflowers, ferns, and rivers, you’ll never be the same.

FRIENDS OF THE CACAPON RIVER ANNUAL MEETING
Saturday, November 13, 2004

Great Cacapon, WV 1:00-3:15

Before the meeting, at 11:00, most board members met and put together homeowners' information packets.

Board Members present: Eddie Bilezikian, Bill Clow, Michael Holt [elected at meeting], Paula Porpilia, Don Robinson, Ruth Storhaugh, Mercedes and Paul Tibbits, Barbara Tufty, Ron Wilson
Some fifteen/twenty other members were also present
Guest speaker: George Constantz

1. President's Report
Year's accomplishments:
Reprinted homeowners packets [printed for the first time 4 years ago] and updated brochures.
Plans to expand membership to Hampshire County.
Monitoring of river quality by Eddie B.; has been difficult this year due to muddy water.
Sent statement to County Planning Commission specifying issues that FCR would like to see addressed when the Commission revises the Morgan County Master Plan.
ATVs. FCR has been monitoring this issue. Some signs ["No ATVs"] have been placed at the public access near Great Cacapon.
Hydrilla. It has not presented a problem this year due to weather conditions.
Stream bank restoration project. Water washed away last Spring's plantings. Will plant different plants in Spring.

Plans for next year:
Send homeowners' packets to Hampshire County waterfront residents.
Identify where the mud in the water comes from. Will work on this with The Cacapon Institute.
Monitor hydrilla.
Sprawl. Monitor new developments near river.
Work on creating new public access points to river.
Attract FCR members [weekenders] to work on projects.
Look into chemical analysis of water; buy a couple of GPS devices.

2. Treasurer's report.
Balance on hand in the checking account $12,337.19
Raffle tickets sold by mail $623.00
Raffle tickets sold at Apple Butter [net] $686.00
[$996.00 minus $310.00 for canoe]
Total raffle tickets sold [net] $1,309.00 [$1,619.00 minus $310.00 for canoe]
Balance in savings account $1,959.60 [grant $ will be spent soon for printing and restoration site]

Some "Cacapon River" license plates and some CDs have been sold. One half of the proceedings from the CDs is for FCR and one half is donated to the Paw Paw High School band.

3. Various. Several issues were brought up by different members:
Cleaning of roads. Call Bill Pechumer, or adopt-a-road. Cameras to catch litter bugs are being used in some places.
Community property at Briary Bottom. Issues with the estate of John Hartman.
General information available at the FCR web-site. Paper copy of newsletters will be mailed to members who do not have a computer and request the information.
Morgan County Ecology Association (MCEA). New organization to bring together Morgan County environmental groups; name might change.

4. Elections. Board members re-elected by unanimous vote: R. Wilson, President; B. Tufty, Vice-President; A. Andryshak, Board Member; P. Tibbits will complete his term having one vote [shared one vote with M. Tibbits, who is now the Secretary].

5. Raffle. Two items to be raffled: 1. canoe, jackets, and paddles, and 2. a solar shower. Tickets were picked from the box by the guest speaker: 1. Michael Holt; 2. Bridget Moss (Cordova, MD); 3. Dallas Kidre (Berkeley Springs).
- The first place winner, Michael Holt, was later elected as FCR Board Member, and before the end of the meeting announced that, as such, he felt more comfortable declining the canoe. After some discussion on this, his position was accepted by those present.
- Ron Wilson will contact the winners.

6. Guest Speaker: George Constantz. Canaan Valley Institute and founder of The Pine Cabin Run Ecology Lab, now The Cacapon Institute; author of a book on a baseline study of the ecology of the Cacapon River. It became a national model, and was requested by counties/organizations across the country. The study will be repeated in the near future.
George began his presentation by asking what issues were of importance to those present. Seven or eight issues were identified. He spoke about his book, riparian borders, watershed, etc.
- The Cacapon Institute does quarterly monitoring of the river, and compares it with the base-line
- Riparian zone of about 100 feet when developing land; protected zone should vary according to topography of terrain
- Conservationists should contact developer as soon as possible for maximum chance of securing safe development of land
- When building roads, bridges should be at right angle to creeks
- Water condition of river: muddy, due to failing banks, dirt roads [has not been quantified how much they contribute to dirty water]
- Cacapon and Lost River Land Trust. Non-profit organization that protects more than 6000 acres of land through permanent [voluntary] conservation easement agreements. FCR will look into disseminating information on land trusts
- Canaan Valley Institute: Organizes numerous workshops on different issues [leadership, conflict resolution, watershed, etc.] for organizations and groups; in its location or at the location of those interested; FCR could get a free profile of the river, and have the CVI plan workshops for the members
- Parts of Rouse Mountain are being developed. Big lots, sensible covenants
- Dam near Great Cacapon: not maintained; will disappear on its own, timeline unknown
- Appalachian Forest Heritage Area: To organize some 13 counties into an area of heritage tourism; focus on forestry
- Solid waste. Forming partnerships with other groups facilitates trash collection.
- Chemical / insect testing of river: the first gives one reading in one place at one time, the second shows conditions over time
- Political influence of non-residence weekenders. Difficult to achieve: voting gives power
- Intersex in fish. Caused by endocrine disrupters which come from pharmaceuticals in the water; antibiotics used as prophylaxes in cattle; facilitate resistance of bacteria strains

Meeting adjourned at 3:15.

Recorded by Mercedes Vidal Tibbits

President's Letter

Dear Friends,

At this time of year, the Cacapon River moves at a slower pace, as do meetings of FCR board and most of our activities.

My major project this month is to get our four Stream Partner grants from several years ago officially closed out. These grants were primarily to restore a section of stream bank just above Morgan Woods. The restoration project is almost completed, but the high water of the last year or so has not been kind to our planting. We are still working with the WV Natural Resources Conservation Service people to add some new plantings in the spring (and finish off the grant funds). We will need several work days with volunteers for this project. We are considering using this site as a larger river front demonstration project.

We had a good annual meeting in mid-November. George Constant of The Canaan Valley Institute gave a good presentation. For details of his presentation and other issues, see the minutes of the meeting elsewhere on our website. Congratulations to Bridget Moss of Cordova, MD, for winning the canoe raffle.

One of our major projects this winter will be to extract the names and address of all river front property owners in Hampshire County from the County's online computer files so that we can mail our reprinted Home Owner's Packet to them. If anyone would like to help with this project, please let me know. We will also need help for stuffing, addressing and stamping of envelopes

Another one of our major efforts this year to be to study and develop a program of chemical testing of the river water. This will also require volunteers.

Our next Board meeting, open to all members, will be Feb. 19, 10 am, at Barbara Tufty's cabin. Board meetings are open to all members.

Happy New Year. Let's hope this year brings lower, clearer and more stable river levels.

Ron Wilson, President