Note: Fee has been suspended at the Day Use Area indefinitely!
Over the years, Blue Marsh Lake staff has increased their outreach efforts and organize volunteers for events that happen all year round. Some of the types of programs organized by the staff and volunteer groups include tours for school-age children, bird watching, Lenape Native American education, environmental programs and water safety classes.
When visiting the Day-Use Area, you can’t help but notice the large tree alongside the driveway to the lake. “Quercus alba,” or the white oak, is one of the pre-eminent hardwoods of eastern North America. It is a long-lived oak, native to eastern North America and specimens have been documented to be over 450 years old.
So named because of its pale bark, the leaves of this tree have rounded lobes distinguishing it from the red oak family which has pointed lobes. The acorns are oblong with caps covering ¼ of the acorn. It grows to be 80 to 100 feet high.
White oak wood is used for furniture, log houses, barn frames, covered bridges, railroad ties and fences. Winemakers use white oak wood as barrels to hold wine because the pores are plugged with woody cells preventing liquids from seeping through the wood.
The acorns are sweeter than other oaks. Turkeys, wood ducks, pheasants, grackles, jays, nuthatches, thrushes, woodpeckers, rabbits, mice, squirrels and deer feed on the acorns. Deer eat young shoots from these trees. They will also eat the dried oak leaves in the fall or winter when other food is hard to find. Rabbits browse twigs and can gnaw stems. The Lenape Indians, who once lived throughout Berks County, boiled the acorns to remove the water-soluble tannins and then ground them into a meal used in baking bread.
