Rod Snyder, of Shenandoah Junction, was recently appointed Senior Advisor for Agriculture to the Administrator of the US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA). The Observer spoke with Snyder about his new role and what inspired his career in public policy. The questions and responses in this article have been edited for length and clarity. Read the Full Story >>
Economy & Environment
The Singing Foxes
I’ve come to recognize some cries foxes make as their love songs. Winter is their mating season and, like birds in the spring, foxes communicate by vocalizing. Late November and early December is when you’re most likely to hear foxes sing. Read the Full Story >>
Woolly Bears and Giant Leopards
What do the giant woolly bear and the great leopard moth have in common? Quite a lot, it turns out. Read the Full Story >>
Aluminum in the Water Prompts Questions
Elks Run and its tributary, Elk Branch, are the primary source of drinking water for Harpers Ferry and Bolivar. Tests of an Elk Branch spring show a 20-fold increase in aluminum in September compared to prior months, according to reports shared with government officials in Harpers Ferry, Bolivar, and the Jefferson County Health Department. Aluminum’s health effects have been widely studied and associated with neurological disorders. Read the Full Story >>
Waters of Jefferson County
What is karst? Who is responsible for protecting surface waters and groundwater in WV? How can community members ensure the safety of their drinking water resources. This SIGHTLINE covers topics surrounding water in Jefferson County. Read the Full Story >>
The Prairie Grass Season
Years ago the highway department scraped and graded a steep bank along the road past our property. In order to prevent erosion and to enhance the area as wildlife habitat, we seeded the bare clay soil with a mixture of native perennial plants and warm season grasses. Big bluestem (Andropogon gerardi) and Indian grass (Sorghastrum nutans) are both useful and dramatically beautiful native grasses. Read the Full Story >>
Court Ruling Undoes Zoning Amendment For Industrial Solar
On August 16, Judge Debra McLaughlin, in the Circuit Court of Jefferson County, issued a ruling that invalidated the text amendment ZTA1903 to the Jefferson County zoning ordinance. The now-invalidated amendment was written to allow development of utility-scale solar power facilities as a principal permitted use in rural, residential growth and other open lands in the county. Read the Full Story >>
Tracking Solar Installations
During the discussions of the now-invalidated zoning amendment, several citizens expressed concern that the broad expansion of the amendment to include by-right development of industrial solar in rural and residential growth zones would open up most of the county as potential sites for these facilities. Read the Full Story >>
On Seeing Uncommon Butterflies
Pennsylvania. There was a bath house where electric lights burned all night in the middle of the woods. Each morning and evening, countless insects covered the side of the building around the beam of the flood lights. Read the Full Story >>
Public Meetings: Solar Zoning
Stay on top of current and upcoming opportunities for Jefferson County residents to engage in the zoning amendment process for utility-scale solar development. Read the Full Story >>
A Tree Finds A New Life
For the past five years, we worried that every time it stormed a big limb would break off of our beloved old Kentucky coffee tree and destroy our entryway fence. Now our property is safe from that disaster and a magnificent old tree remains as wildlife habitat. Read the Full Story >>
Sounds Of Summer: The Wood Pewee
As spring turns into summer, I listen for a bird song I’ve loved since childhood. I remember hearing, as soon as school closed for the summer, a rather lazy, sentimental birdsong coming from the woods across the road. Whenever I hear it now, it invokes memories of long summer days. Read the Full Story >>
Spotted Lanternfly In Jefferson County
A new menace has arrived in the county. Unlike the recent swarms of cicadas (or the more mysterious Mothman), the spotted lanternfly is an invasive species that will attack and kill many native trees, including black walnut, maple, peach, and apple trees. Read the Full Story >>
At Home With a Special Tulip Tree
For about a century, a magnificent tulip tree has stood in the front yard of our house. Read the Full Story >>
A Look at The Blue-Eyed Cicada
By the time you read this story, tens of thousands of cicadas may have already appeared in the Eastern Panhandle, filling the air with their buzzing. Read the Full Story >>