b'WINEBERRIES: A TASTYOPPORTUNITY TO TAKE ACTION Have you ever been out on a midsummer night stroll and spotted a red fruit growing on a prickly bramble? This is a wineberryan invasive plant that provides delicious summer treats that you can find throughout MEET THE MARBLED Pennsylvania, New Jersey, and the Delaware Valley.SALAMANDER: AUTUMNSWineberries are a close relative of our native raspberries and blackberries.BEST-KEPT SECRET Unlike their native counterparts, wineberries are more aggressiveFor amphibian enthusiasts in the Mid-Atlantic, spreaders and more thoroughly exclude other plants. Wineberries arethe fall season marks the peak activity time so problematically prolific, but they also give us a tasty opportunity to for a spectacular salamander species. As thetake action. The more wineberries we eat, the more wineberry seeds end name suggests, mole salamanders (Marbledup in our wastewater treatment system and the fewer end up in viable Salamanders included) spend considerable timegrowing locations. underground. In fact, Marbled Salamanders andTo make life even easier for us, you can pretty much use wineberriestheir relatives typically only surface for a fewas a 1-to-1 substitute for raspberries and blackberries in the recipes you weeks every year.already have.In Pennsylvania, they are typically found in Katie Toner, Conservation Easement Stewarddeciduous woodlands with an abundance of Melissa Lee, Development Associateleaf litter, woody debris, and perhaps mostimportantly, vernal pools. Unfortunately, roads often transect the upland habitats and vernal pools that Marbled Salamanders have to migrate to and from. A road is no place for most animals, and thousands of Marbled Salamanders arekilled by vehicles every year. Luckily, several organizations (Heritage Conser-vancy included) have made efforts to assistthis species in its dangerous treks across roads. Salamander crossings, made possible by volunteers, have helped hundreds of Marbled Salamanders off the road so they can successfully breed and make it back to their overwintering grounds. Sebastian Harris, Conservation Easement Steward5'