From staff reports
The Friends of Cook Forest has organized its first educational hike and celebration of the Susquehannock Hemlock, the largest known eastern hemlock by volume north of the Great Smoky Mountains. Everyone is invited to take a short hike through the woods on this interpretive walk, led by Cook Forest State Park’s environmental education specialist, to find out more about this beautiful tree.
They will discuss what’s threatening its existence and all eastern hemlocks across their range, and what the Bureau of Forestry and Friends of Cook Forest are doing in an attempt to protect these trees.
To join them for the hike, meet at 1 p.m. Saturday, June 17, at Deer Meadow Campground pavilion on Forest Road in Cook Forest. The program goes rain or shine and ends by 2:30 p.m.
The Friends of Cook forest will have refreshments available, along with a bake sale, a 50/50 raffle, and gift basket drawings. All proceeds from the event will go directly towards the program to protect the eastern hemlocks in Cook Forest State Park.
Friends of Cook Forest is a non-profit organization under the Pennsylvania State Parks and Forests Foundation. The “friends” have organized other events in the park such as the springtime garlic mustard pull and four-mile canoe launch path workdays, hemlock woolly adelgid surveys, interpretive programs, and have raised funding for park equipment.
The Friends of Cook Forest are always looking for a few more good volunteers to help with the betterment of our forest.