Things are starting to feel a little more normal. Beth's back from being out sick (welcome back, kiddo) so PPFF Central is once again firing on all cylinders. And everyone's gradually starting to dig themselves out of the bombogenesis hole so the photographs are starting to pop up on Facebook. There are some big winter festivals on tap for next weekend so let's hope the temperatures moderate a bit but the snow stays around for some good ol' fashioned winter fun!

This week's masthead is a gorgeous panorama at Ohiopyle taken by our friend Paul Wiegman, one heck of a good photographer. Check out the original photo which shows up along with lots of others from Paul quite frequently on the Great Allegheny Passage user group page. 

Pam Metzger
Membership Coordinator

News of note

Yes, the winter fun is uppermost in all our minds right now but we also tend to Think Spring this time of year as planning for the busy seasons ahead takes place at the beginning of each year - and at PPFF May tends to be just this side of completely insane. So committees are forming right now to help plan our two big May events (more specific information to follow shortly) - the annual awards banquet and the Highmark Walk for a Healthy Community. Can you help? Please email Beth who will gratefully put you to work!

Not all of the winners have been notified yet so I will hold off on sharing the awardees to be honored at the awards banquet until next week. Suffice to say that they are all DESERVING.

Speaking of deserving, the kidlets of the Commonwealth are always deserving of every second of outdoor time they can get and quite a few of them don't get the kind of state park time they really need due to a lack of transportation. You will recall that last year about this time we talked about the grant of $7,500 we'd received from The Foundation for Enhancing Communities as a match to new (or increased) donations we received in 2017 in order to start a pilot bus program. The year has ended; the numbers have been tallied and we raised $22,743 in qualifying donations. That puts us over the amount we needed to secure the entire $7,500. Stay tuned for how we make this happen. Thank you!

At work and play in the parks and forests

Scheduled activity returns in earnest this weekend. Hurray!

North

Learn to Ice Skate at Parker Dam tomorrow afternoon in this Get Outdoors PA fun and educational program. 

South

Eager to get outside and shake off the bombo blues? There's a winter hike this afternoon at Pinchot State Park tailor made for that.

East

Registration is required but bird counters are needed at Jacobsburg Environmental Education Center for an afternoon bird count excursion tomorrow. 

West

Birds in the east - trees in the west! Learn to identify our leafless friends with a hike at Jennings Environmental Education Center tomorrow afternoon.

No matter what region of the commonwealth you want to visit, our website Events and the DCNR Calendar of Events are great sources for things to see and do. Bookmark them!

Picture of the week

The Friends of Big Pocono's John Motz is usually eager to share photos of the "best view in the east" from Big Pocono. This week he shared the lack thereof. "It's Big Pocono," he says. "You just can't see it."

Take five for trivia

There were a lot of people hanging out with their computers last weekend, of course, Googling snowy places. Nearly everyone came up with the snowiest city being Aomori City in Japan with a whopping 312 average inches of snowfall each year. I remember running this photo in Take Five a few years ago noting that it reminded me of Somerset County when I was growing up. That's the road TO Aomori. For all that, Aomori looks like a pretty beautiful place! (For what it's worth, Erie isn't even in the Top 10, although it does take top honors in Pennsylvania.) How many of the world's Top 10 have you been to? Only three for me - Buffalo, Syracuse, and the Saguenay, Quebec. We visited the region on one of the most wonderful bike tours I've ever taken. Oh, and interestingly, this blog puts Erie ahead of Rochester for the crown of America's snowiest so let the snow wars begin!

For this week's challenge, what is the safe ice thickness for skating and fishing?

Send in your answer and we'll enter your correct response into our monthly prize drawing. All correct answers each week will go into the hat and at the end of the month we'll draw one lucky winner. The more correct answers you submit in a month (up to four or the occasional five depending on the month), the more chances you'll have to win.

In closing

- Nancy Newhall

Come to Worlds End on January 31 for the second organizational meeting of the new Friends of Worlds End. Get in touch for additional information.

Pennsylvania Parks & Forests Foundation (PPFF) is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization - contributions to which are tax deductible to the fullest extent permitted by law. The official registration and financial information of PPFF may be obtained from the Pennsylvania Department of State by calling, toll-free within Pennsylvania, to 800.732.0999. Registration does not imply endorsement.

Pennsylvania Parks & Forests Foundation is a proud member of EarthShare and is a Gold GuideStar Participant.