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Wyoming Valley West sweeps District 2-4 Class 3A subregional championship

<p>There is no such thing as unspoiled wilderness in Pennsylvania.</p><p>Not anymore.</p><p>Pristine areas untouched by man no longer exist. There are places that no matter how remote and rugged they are, man&#8217;s impact is seen and felt.</p><p>And it&#8217;s not necessarily the result of the typical forms of encroachment - urban sprawl, natural gas drilling, timbering, etc. This impact is made by many and it&#8217;s done with good intentions and a high degree of naivety.</p><p>I found one such example during a recent walk while searching for shed antlers.</p><p>For hours I crossed steep hills and traversed hollows, following deer trails and scrutinizing bedding areas hoping to find a shed or two.</p><p>I found something else.</p><p>Deep in the woods, where the nearest roads aren&#8217;t that close and the ones that do exist nearby are dirt, was an object on the forest floor that caught my attention. In the leaves beneath a stand of giant oaks was something shiny and blue, flattened to the ground.</p><p>Right away I knew what it was: a latex balloon.</p><p>I find them all the time in the woods and they are a grim reminder that no place - no matter how pristine, is safe from the litter.</p><p>I&#8217;ve found latex balloons dangling from tree branches, floating in lakes, stuck in swamps and even along the banks of some of our beautiful trout streams.</p><p>Not only are the balloons, which really don&#8217;t degrade any time soon, an eyesore, they are also deadly to wildlife.</p><p>In Tennessee, a malnourished black bear was brought to the Appalachian Bear Rescue facility in January. The bear had ingested a red balloon and after a few days and medication it passed the material and began gaining weight.</p><p>Another bear at the facility required several trips to the veterinarian to dislodge trash it ingested. Dana Dodd, president of the nonprofit facility, said it&#8217;s likely the bears would&#8217;ve died in the wild after ingesting the trash.</p><p>The threat that the balloons pose to birds is well known, especially waterfowl and large seabirds such as the albatross.</p><p>Jeff Stratford, associate professor of biology at Wilkes University, spends countless hours in the field working with bird species. He said he encounters helium balloons at least once every three weeks and is always picking them up.</p><p>&#8220;It seems like they remind you that no matter how nice of an area you&#8217;re in, you can find trash from man,&#8221; he said.</p><p>Stratford also pointed out that some bird species, such as the American robin, could be vulnerable to the balloons and the ribbons that are attached because they like to incorporate such items in their nests.</p><p>&#8220;The problems probably happen more than what we seen&#8221; Stratford said.</p><p>To see just how deadly the balloons can be, take a look at the website balloonsblow.org. The site, which is dedicated to educating people why the balloons are a bad idea, is full of pictures showing the impacts. They include a bull elk with a red balloon and ribbon dangling from an antler, a gull with a partially ingested balloon protruding from its beak, and plenty of creatures killed by either eating or being entangled in balloons.</p><p>The thing that makes helium-filled balloons a serious problem is they can go anywhere. It&#8217;s not like litter tossed from a car that winds up in a roadside ditch.</p><p>Helium balloons are airborne, and they can float in the wind for miles before coming back down.</p><p>The funny thing about the helium balloons that litter our natural world is that the trash isn&#8217;t intentional. The balloons are released from birthday parties, graduations, weddings - happy events that, long after their over can have tragic consequences as the balloons drift into the woods.</p><p>It&#8217;s almost like an out of sight, out of mind effect. The balloons look pretty floating into the sky.</p><p>But to me, they look pretty ugly plastered across the forest floor.</p><style>
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<div class="neCaption">Venesky </div></div><div class="metaInfo"><photo0>https://www.timesleader.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/03/web1_Venesky-1.jpg</photo0><caption0>Venesky </caption0><photoCredit0></photoCredit0></div></div>
<div class="metaInfo"><bylineMeta><p>By Tom Venesky</p><p>tvenesky@www.timesleader.com</p></bylineMeta></div><div class="metaInfo"><shirttailMeta><p>Reach Tom Venesky at 570-991-6395 or on Twitter @TLTomVenesky</p></shirttailMeta></div>

Outdoors with Tom Venesky: Litter from the sky