Mountain Club of Md. Host to hiking in the area

On November 27th, the Mountain Club of Maryland will conduct a hike on marked trails in the Soldiers Delight Natural Environmental Area at Owings Mills. The paths lead through serpentines, fields and forest areas. For more details and start time, email millerswlcom@msn.com. Also on November 27th, the club is running a 10-11 mile loop hike in Frederick County, starting from Hamburg Road via the Catoctin Trail and other forest trails. Email for start time and details about this hike Trailsaunders@gmail.com

Texas Park becomes a certified International Dark Sky Park

The National Park Service and the International Dark Sky Association have certified the LBJ Ranch Unit at Lyndon B. Johnson National Historical Park in Stonewall, Texas as an International Dark Sky Park. This certification recognizes the exceptional quality of the park’s night sky and offers additional opportunities to enhance the visitor experience through astronomy-based interpretation programs. The International Dark Sky Places Program was founded in 2001 as a non-regulatory and voluntary program to encourage communities, parks and protected areas around the world to conserve and protect dark places through responsible lighting policies and public education. Lyndon B. Johnson National Historical Park is now among more than 180 locations that have gone through a rigorous application process that shows solid community support for Dark Sky certification.

Local hunter charged with bait hunting black bears

The Maryland National Resources Police charged a Sabillasville man with illegal bear hunting in Frederick County. On October 25, police were on patrol to check a potential bear bait spot when they spotted 50-year-old Donald Noble with a rifle on a ladder stand. According to the police, Noble’s booth was where the police had found corn kernels the day before. Maryland law requires a hunter, and any bear a hunter shoots, to be at least 150 meters away from bait for other species. Noble initially denied knowing the area was baited, but later admitted that there was corn there and claimed he removed it 10 days earlier, police said. Upon completion of the investigation, police accused Noble of using bait to hunt a black bear. He could face fines of up to $ 1,500.

Chevron recently pledged $ 500,000 to Ducks Unlimited to support projects along the Louisiana Gulf. The grant will support two projects under DU’s Gulf Coast Initiative: the Cameron Prairie National Wildlife Refuge Moist Soil Enhancement Project to support the management of 1,200 hectares of wetlands in Cameron Parish and the Port Fourchon Terracing and Living Shoreline Project to restore and protect of 650 hectares in the parish of Lafourche. For more information, visit ducks.org.