Northumberland County Research Articles

Deciphering the role of fungi in post-fire succession in Canada's Great Lakes–St. Lawrence forest region

Fungi are important drivers of forest health, as well as culturally important for many Indigenous communities. In Canada, increasingly intense and frequent wildfires affect fungal substrates and habitats, environmental conditions, and physiological responses of hosts with which fungi may interact. In Ontario, aggressive fire suppression raises the question of how fungal regeneration, and taxonomic compositions, may be affected when fires do appear on the landscape. This study investigates the fungal regrowth post-fire above and below-ground and the role fungal species play in post fire ecological succession in Southeastern Ontario. The study sites are two black oak savannas in restoration, previously prescribed a burn (Northumberland County, 2022 and 2023), and a recent wildfire burned mixed deciduous forest (Centennial Lake, 2023). We collected fruiting body and soil samples for fungal identification via observational and DNA methods. Above ground vegetation assays were made at 9 burned plots within these three sites and another 8 adjacent unburned (control) plots. We extracted soil DNA and will amplify fungal ITS2 amplicons by PCR. Then, we will sequence the amplified DNA using MiSeq to compare burned and unburned soil fungi. Lastly, we will use statistical methods to differentiate effects from fire and soil texture and type in burned and control plots. Thus far, we found that Pyropyxis rubra, a pyrophilous ascomycete fungus, is extremely abundant just weeks after the lightning-induced fire at Centennial Lake. Our combined observational and quantitative descriptions of above-and below ground soil fungi provide a deeper understanding of how fire affects species composition, fungal reproduction, and population dynamics in Ontario. This research may help inform other successional processes, and fungal harvesting of culturally important species.

Food bank practices, local development and the potential of community wealth building and universal basic services in the UK

In the UK, the proliferation of voluntary and community organisations (VCOs) providing emergency food aid has been the subject of critical scrutiny. Analysis has called for further work to understand and act upon the diverse practices taking place within and across food banks. We consider how co-ordinators of food banks in the county of Northumberland have responded to interlocking crises and rising demand, and how they reflect upon their practices. We embed their views and experiences within a critical, contextualised analysis of a core tension: how to provide food in a minimally stigmatising manner, while simultaneously arguing and acting for the end of such activities. We consider the implications of such tensions for approaches to local development, focusing on two key elements of a ‘transformative social innovation’ approach: system innovation and narratives of change. We argue that without significant change in, and challenges to, these ‘shades of change’, enacting (empowering) transformative social innovation in relation to food insecurity will be difficult. In doing so, we consider the potential of community wealth building (CWB) and universal basic services (UBS) to enable innovative change in social and system practices and enhance social infrastructure.

Building Sustainable Communities Through Engaged Learning: A University-Community Partnership for Sustained Change in a Central Pennsylvania Coal Town

University-community partnerships have become more collaborative, decentered, and mutually beneficial in step with changing conceptualizations of knowledge production. However, the implementation of partnerships and projects remains challenging. Models for collaboration are needed in the rural context and for smaller liberal arts universities. This article uses the partnership between Bucknell University and the City of Shamokin to argue for the utility of the sustainable communities framework for conceiving and implementing service-learning. The City of Shamokin previously hosted a prosperous and vibrant downtown district, but the closing of anthracite coal mines and factories has left Shamokin in a decades-long state of economic and population decline. Today, Shamokin faces many challenges brought by this decline: a large elder population, high rates of home and business vacancy, legacies of environmental degradation, and high rates of poverty. In 2014, the Pennsylvania Department of Community and Economic Development declared Shamokin an Act 47 Distressed City, rendering the city bankrupt. In this complex landscape, Bucknell University and its Coal Region Field Station are partnering with and across various local entities, including the city, the Anthracite Outdoor Adventure Area, Northumberland County Planning Department, and the newly formed sustainable development group Anthracite Region for Progress. The sustainable communities framework emphasizes four pillars—economic, social, cultural, and environmental—that serve as a guide for facilitating these ongoing collaborations. These partnerships form the basis of collaborative initiatives developed through community-engaged classroom projects and faculty-led research projects that seek to contribute to partners’ visions for a sustainable community.

The impacts of onshore-windfarms on a UK rural tourism landscape: objective evidence, local opposition, and national politics

Although the use of wind-turbines is widely accepted as generating clean and sustainable energy, when windfarms are sited in rural areas they are frequently opposed by locals because of their negative impacts, including on tourism. There is, however, little academic research on the role and significance of tourism in onshore-windfarm development disputes. The paper addresses this gap by way of a nuanced analysis of mixed-methods research undertaken on behalf of Northumberland County Council (NCC), UK, on the impacts of onshore-windfarms on tourism in Northumberland’s rural hinterland. We also trace the influence the research has had on NCC’s policy and land-use decision-making practices in the years since the research was completed in 2014, with particular focus on national policy changes enacted in 2016 that gave local communities more decision-making power on the siting of onshore-windfarms across the UK. From here we critique democratic decision-making on the development of onshore-windfarms more generally and consider political lessons learned from this case study that can have resonance anywhere wrestling with the same or similar issues.

Archaeological Sites in Small Towns—A Sustainability Assessment of Northumberland County

Background: Land-use change, resulting from urban expansion, has led to the unprecedented importance of rethinking our interactions with the environment in general. The consequences of anthropogenic activity on natural land, as well as sustainable land use types, is a significant concern to the detriment of small towns. In this article, I assess the changes in the urban footprint morphology of Northumberland County while evaluating the consequences of urban fragmentation on archaeological sites. Northumberland has a total population of 85,598 divided into seven municipalities and the Alderville First Nation reserve. Northumberland County is a commuting distance of one hour from Toronto, one of North America’s most important economic hubs. It is of the highest importance to measure and understand the current characteristics of land-use change and its impacts on the sustainability of small towns and local communities. Methods: A total of archaeological sites are used to test the impacts of urbanization and land-use change throughout the perimeter of Northumberland county. Spatial analysis is conducted employing spatial autocorrelation techniques (global and local) to assess the existence of hotspots of archaeological sites and the potential endangerment of these sites due to urban pressure. A hexagonal topology is used to derive a regional understanding of impacted regions within the county, allowing the richness of archaeological heritage sites as well as the possible concerns of these spatial clusters to be examined. Results: It is shown that a significant number of archaeological sites are present in Northumberland county, with a clear indication of a hotspot around Rice Lake. Future urbanization as well as land-use fragmentation may have an impact on the sustainability of these archaeological sites. It is shown that hexagonal geometries may establish relevant spatial surfaces to compare urban and archaeological sites as criteria to understand the endangerment of archaeological sites. The availability of the Global Urban Footprint (GUF) creates a particularly rigorous framework for the detection of impact on archaeological sites. Conclusion: The findings suggest that archaeological sites in small towns can benefit from high-resolution urban land-use footprints to detect impacts on archaeological sites and the relations of land-use change and intrasite management. This is of utmost importance in times of significant anthropogenic change brought by increasing urban pressure on small and medium-sized towns.

The Impact and Legacy of the Otterburn Public Inquiry, Northumberland National Park, England

The Otterburn Public Inquiry (1997 and 1999) polarized opinion as to how England’s finest countryside should best be utilized. On the one hand, the Ministry of Defence sought to realize a major development in a protected area, whereas on the other, Northumberland County Council and Northumberland National Park Authority opposed the plans, arguing that conservation and recreation should take priority. This study was undertaken several years later and took a retrospective look at the saga through a recollection of personal accounts, so as to examine the impact and legacy that was borne out of this development. Semi-structured interviews were undertaken with a number of stakeholders as part of a wider project on partnership working. It was found that the Ministry of Defence used this planning dispute to affirm that defence of the realm was a greater national interest than environmental protection. The outcome of the Public Inquiry was also found to contribute towards a radical change in the way Northumberland National Park was managed.

Patients’ experiences of a multidisciplinary team-led community case management programme: a qualitative study

ObjectivesTo explore the views and experiences of patients on the care they have received while enrolled on the Northumberland High Risk Patient Programme (NHRPP). This programme involved case finding of...

Conservation of a rare nineteenth-century iron-framed curvilinear glasshouse

ABSTRACTThe early nineteenth century saw a period of rapid advances in the science and technology of horticulture. The implementation of this development lay largely in the hands of the landed gentry with wealth and resources. They also had access to a flow of information to feed and guide their ambitions. One of the most influential contributors in the first quarter of the century was John Claudius Loudon, a Scot of prodigious energy, experimenting and sharing his ideas with anyone who could help develop and carry forward his thinking. In 1817 he published Remarks on the Construction of Hothouses, advocating the use of wrought-iron glazing bars that could be bent in any direction without loss of strength, making curvilinear roofs possible. By 1830, about the time Felton Park glasshouse was built, Loudon’s ideas had been fully absorbed by the horticultural industry and had initiated a mania for building glasshouses in iron for their light and elegant appearance.Though iron-framed structures were likely to survive longer than contemporary timber frames, very few iron glasshouses remain in the UK. Though the significance of this building has been recognised in its designation with the potting Shed as a Grade II* Listed Building, it had suffered a long period of neglect threatening irreversible decay and destruction. In 2008 English Heritage included the buildings in the North East Region Heritage at Risk Register.The recovery of the glasshouse reflects a major effort by an enthusiastic new private owner with the support of Historic England, the Heritage Lottery Fund, The Country House Foundation and Northumberland County Council. A Trial Project was set up in September 2014 to explore the scope of work necessary, to inform the technical requirements of the full contract and to arrive at an affordable conservation strategy respecting equally the integrity of the iron frame and the historic glass. The main contract was completed in October 2015 and the building has returned to horticultural use.

New light on the 1824 William Smith Northumberland County map: A joint work by Smith and Phillips

Smith's geological map of Northumberland probably was the most challenging of his 21 county maps to complete. It combined at least two earlier sets of data together with additional fieldwork in 1821 by his nephew John Phillips. This account focuses on two extant pre-publication maps and relates them to the published version. The earliest is a Smith field map drawn onto an Andrew Armstrong base map dated 1769 and the other is a pre-publication map drawn by an unknown hand onto a John Cary 1821 base map, possibly for use by Phillips as a reference map during his 1821 field work. There were significant gaps in the compilation of field data into a final master map caused by misfortunes ranging from Smith's wife's deteriorating mental state, his debt problems, brief incarceration, and a devastating fire at the Cary print works. Advancing old age also encouraged Smith to increasingly draw on the assistance of John Phillips for the final Northumberland field work. This was Phillips' first important piece of solo field mapping and was carried out late in 1821. His itinerary was designed in liaison with Smith who was concurrently working in Cumbria. Unfortunately, Phillips' field reference map misinterpreted Smith's inland Whin Sill outcrops drawn on the 1769 Armstrong base map. Consequently, Phillips in1821 did not recognise their significance and failed to include them in the 1824 published map. Nevertheless, Phillips did solve Smith's geological problems in the southwest of the county where the Hartley Burn (Midgeholme) coalfield appeared to be out of sequence along its unexposed southern margins. This was correctly interpreted as a major fault contact and was indicated by a dashed line on the 1824 published map. This is believed to be the first fault line to be drawn on any Smith map and fits closely to the northern master fault of the Alston Block now known as the Stublick Fault. Phillips also identified the northerly extension of the Burtreeford Disturbance into the area. This is also marked by a bold dashed north-south line along the valley of the River East Allen. A third (unnamed) fault-line with a northwest-southeast trend in the West Allen valley was identified on the basis of truncated mineralisation within deep mines in the High Chapel area.

Training costs fall by 80 percent at Northumberland County Council

Purpose – Explains how Northumberland County Council in England cut its training costs by 80 percent. Design/methodology/approach – Describes how a new learning-management system has improved efficiency, access and course quality and opened up new opportunities for the future. Findings – Charts the benefits as: a new online-appraisal process that will link individual performance objectives with individual and team learning and development plans; the future development of 360-degree feedback tools that will provide employees with the ability to seek and receive objective feedback on their performance and how their managers, peers and customers feel that they demonstrate the competencies and behavioral-success factors espoused by the council; having one central place for learning and improving consistency of delivery that will meet the needs of the council and its partners; savings in time and money from delivering training more quickly than with a traditional classroom approach; effective management of programs and the ability to avoid costly licensing fees; swift updates to learning, saving time and money; and extensive support offered by Learning Pool, the team that installed the learning-management system. Practical implications – Demonstrates how savings have been achieved through a combination of: online training in place of more than 10,000 hours of classroom delivery; self-service functionality for course bookings, which has saved more than 1,200 hours of administration time; the creation of more than 20 hours of bespoke content; and a reduction in CO2 omissions and fuel savings, all while improving consistency and scalability. Originality/value – Provides the inside story of how a 6,000-plus employee council revolutionized its training delivery and made significant savings into the bargain.

Pennsylvania's Revolutionary Militia Law:

For nearly a hundred years inhabitants of the proprietary owned by William Penn and his descendants argued among themselves over who would take up arms and defend the land. This impasse ended on March 17, 1777, when legislators of the newly proclaimed Commonwealth of Pennsylvania enacted a law that compelled all men between the ages of eighteen and fifty-three to enroll in the militia, attend stipulated exercise days, and muster for active duty, or pay a fine for each and every neglect of duty. To enforce this statute the House installed a lieutenant and five sub-lieutenants in each of eleven counties and the city of Philadelphia. The rise of seventy-two unheralded men to serve the state as high-ranking civil officials brought an end to a system of patronage that had long been the exclusive domain of the well-born and prosperous. Briefly put, in March 1777 the Revolution in Pennsylvania "got legs."

‘From Time Immemorial’: The Alnwick Shrovetide Football Match and the Continuous Remaking of Tradition 1828–1890

There is a widespread belief in the Northumberland county town of Alnwick that its Shrovetide football match dates from ‘time immemorial’. In fact, it dates from the mid-eighteenth century. Moreover, it has changed constantly over its 260 year history, in a paradigm case of the invention, and continual reinvention, of tradition, and would almost certainly not have survived to the present had it not done so. The article uses a mass of Victorian newspaper sources to illustrate how media perceptions and evaluations of the match changed over the nineteenth century, and how, in particular, both the match itself and perceptions of it were transformed by the emergence of ‘modern’ rugby and soccer in Northumberland from the 1880s onward. The article concludes with some reflections on popular perceptions of the match in contemporary Alnwick. It suggests that those perceptions perfectly exemplify the post-modern devaluation of history through its reduction to a kind of hackneyed pastiche.

First Report of Bacterial Spot of Tomato Caused by Xanthomonas gardneri in Pennsylvania.

Recent investigation of bacteria isolated from samples submitted to the Plant Disease Diagnostic Laboratory, Pennsylvania Department of Agriculture indicated that in 1995, Xanthomonas gardneri (ex Sutic 1957) (2) caused a leaf spot on tomato plants (Lycopersicon esculentum Mill.). In 1995, we examined 185 tomato and 36 pepper samples (13 field, 2 garden center, 38 greenhouse, 4 residence, 16 field-grown transplant, and 148 greenhouse-grown transplant samples). A processing company representative collected samples showing symptoms of bacterial spot of tomato on a hybrid, whole pack processing tomato, from a 16-ha field in Northumberland County, PA exhibiting almost 50% crop infection. Symptoms consisted of circular- to irregularly shaped, dark brown spots, <5 mm in diameter, and frequently with chlorotic haloes on leaves and stems. The center of a spot may be raised and scabby. Several spots on a single leaflet may coalesce and a portion or the entire leaflet may turn yellow or die. These symptoms were indistinguishable from those of bacterial spot caused by X. euvesicatoria, X. vesicatoria, and X. perforans. Bacterial streaming from lesions was evident under dark-field microscopy. Aerobic, gram-negative, yellow-pigmented, mucoid bacteria were isolated from the leaf spots and purified and stored in nutrient broth with 10% glycerol at -80°C. The 16S rRNA gene from a strain (PDA80951-95) typical of the cultures from these samples was sequenced (GenBank Accession No. GU573763). A BlastN search of GenBank revealed 100% nucleotide identity with the type strain of X. gardneri (XCGA2; No. AF123093). This strain also exhibited repetitive sequence-based (rep)-PCR profiles (4) identical to profiles of X. gardneri type strain XCGA2 DNA and produced a ~425-bp PCR product with BSX primers, a genetic marker indicative of X. gardneri (1). The strain was not amylolytic or pectolytic (2) and failed to utilize maltose, gentiobiose, and melezitose (3). For pathogenicity tests, inoculum was grown in nutrient broth with shaking for 24 h at 28°C. Inoculum was centrifuged, resuspended in sterile tap water, and adjusted to 2.5 × 108 CFU/ml. Lower leaf surfaces of tomato (cvs. Bonnie Best and Walter) and pepper (cvs. California Wonder and Early Niagara) plants were gently rubbed with sterile cheesecloth that was moistened with the inoculum. Strain PDA80951-95 caused leaf spots, with chlorotic haloes and occasional coalescence on both tomato and pepper, within 2 weeks at 15 s of mist per 20 min at 20 to 35°C in a secured greenhouse chamber. X. gardneri was only reisolated from symptomatic plants and its identity was confirmed by rep-PCR and absence of amylolytic and pectolytic activities. Negative controls consisting of X. campestris pv. campestris and sterile tap water did not show symptoms. A known type strain of X. gardneri was not included as a positive control for pathogenicity studies because this species is not known to occur in the United States (2). To our knowledge, this is the first report of bacterial spot on tomato plants caused by X. gardneri in Pennsylvania and the United States. Since the first occurrence in 1995, bacterial spot caused by X. gardneri reoccurred in Pennsylvania tomato fields in 2001 and consecutively from 2003 to 2009. Reference: (1) D. A. Cuppels et al. Plant Dis. 90:451, 2006. (2) J. B. Jones et al. Syst. Appl. Microbiol. 27:755, 2004. (3) A. M. Quezado-Duval et al. Plant Dis. 88:15, 2004. (4) D. J. Versalovic et al. Methods Mol. Cell Biol. 5:25, 1994.

Working together

Last year, Bedlingtonshire Community High School embarked on a Knowledge Transfer Partnership with the University of Newcastle-upon-Tyne and Northumberland County Council to help develop the independent learning capacity of students. Teacher Victoria Bonn

Developing a new service provision for challenging behaviour in older people’s care settings

At the Nottingham 2007 conference, members of the Newcastle and Northumberland County Challenging Behaviour Services presented a number of papers which described various aspects of the teams’ research including a debate around the telling of lies to people with dementia, the impact of care staff’s emotional reactions to episodes of challenging behaviour on their care giving behaviour, the use of psychotropic medication in dementia care and an overview of the development of the three challenging behaviour teams using the ‘Colombo’ approach. There was clear interest from the attendees regarding the process by which the teams were developed. As a result of this interest, a full-day workshop was held at the York 2008 PSIGE conference. This paper is a brief description of the development of the Northumberland County Challenging Behaviour Service. The service uses psychological models and is embedded in an Older People’s Psychology Service.

EFFECTS OF SULFUR-FOR-SELENIUM SUBSTITUTION ON THE STRUCTURE OF LAPHAMITE, As2(Se,S)3

To evaluate the effects of the S-for-Se substitution in the As 2 X 3 phases ( X = S, Se), the crystal structure and chemical composition of two crystals of laphamite (LAP1, LAP2) from the type locality, the Western Middle Anthracite field, Northumberland County, Pennsylvania, U.S.A., were investigated. The unit-cell parameters are: a 11.891(7), b 9.742(5), c 4.274(3) A, β 90.03(4)°, V 495.1(5) A 3 (LAP1) and a 11.934(4), b 9.804(4), c 4.268(2) A, β 90.32(4)°, V 499.4(4) A 3 (LAP2). The refinement converged to R 1 = 5.46% (LAP1, assuming merohedral twinning) and 5.15% (LAP2). Quantitative analysis led to the chemical formulae: (As 1.97 Sb 0.03 )(Se 2.28 S 0.64 As 0.08 ) and (As 1.99 Sb 0.01 )(Se 2.25 S 0.71 As 0.04 ) for LAP1 and LAP2, respectively. The crystal structure of laphamite was found to be topologically identical to that of orpiment. It is based on As X 3 pyramids linked by the sharing of X atoms to form As 2 X 3 layers parallel to (010). The refinement of the site-occupancy factor in both LAP1 and LAP2 crystals indicates Se to be disordered over the three anion positions ( i.e., X 1, X 2, and X 3), with a marked preference for the X 3 site and, to a lesser extent, for the X 2 site. Both a and b parameters increase linearly as a function of the ratio Se/(S + Se), whereas the c parameter remains substantially unchanged. No clear trend can be observed for the angle β.

A Forest for the Trees: Deforestation and Conservation Efforts in Northumberland County, Ontario 1870–1925

While much has been written on the province's involvement in reforestation projects beginning in the late-nineteenth-century, the interface between provincial initiatives and local activities has received little attention from the academic community. The exception is Diamando Diamantakos's exploration of the impact of provincial forestry legislation on municipal tree planting programmes, for which she uses Essex County in south-western Ontario as a case study. Diamantakos offers valuable insight into the failure of provincial forestry legislation to translate into planted trees at a municipal level. Specifically, she argues that the success of afforestation programn1es was 'limited by the continuing priority attached to private property rights, doubts concerning the relation between forest loss, climate and productivity, and a long-standing antagonism towards nature and forests' .2Unfortunately, her work is restricted to two nineteenth-century forestry initiatives, The Ontario Tree Planting Act, 1883 and the creation of the Clerk of Forestry in the same year. As such, Diamantakos' work provides only a snap shot of the ways in which early provincial afforestation schemes were adopted or avoided by municipalities, making it difficult to identify what aided or inhibited the success of such initiatives.

British Neolithic Rock Art in its Landscape

Studing the relationship of rock art to its landscape context can contribute to a better understanding of how it was used. This paper discusses the methods of the study of open-air rock art, using as a case study the Neolithic rock art from the county of Northumberland (northern England). A GIS analysis is employed with three primary objectives: to create a systematic and objective description of the landscape in which these rock art sites are located, to identify trends and recurrences in the location of rock art sites in relation to distinctive landscape features, and to explore the association of rock art sites with other components of the landscape in terms of intervisibility and movement. Preliminary results of this analysis indicate that variables such as relative elevation and slope were significant in the placement of rock art in Northumberland, and rock art panels appear to have been located to maximize visibility from natural routes of movement between uplands and lowlands.

Dissipation kinetics and mobility of chlortetracycline, tylosin, and monensin in an agricultural soil in Northumberland County, Ontario, Canada

A robust high-throughput method was refined to extract three growth-promoting antibiotics, tylosin (TYL), chlortetracycline (CTC), and monensin (MON), from soil. Analysis was performed by electrospray liquid chromatography tandem mass spectrometry. Soil dissipation rate studies were performed in a farm field soil for antibiotics applied with and without manure. Tylosin, CTC, and MON followed first-order dissipation kinetics with half-lives of 4.5, 24, and 3.3 d, respectively, with the addition of manure and 6.1, 21, and 3.8 d, respectively, without manure. Manure application significantly increased TYL dissipation rate, perhaps because of the introduced microbial flora, but had no significant effect on CTC or MON. Monensin dissipation half-life was found to be much shorter in the field study than in a controlled laboratory study, perhaps because of differences in microbial communities. The antimicrobials were not highly mobile. Chlortetracycline was the only antibiotic detected at 25 to 35 cm depth and only up to 2% of the initial concentration in a sandy loam soil. These antibiotics are therefore expected to degrade primarily in agricultural soils before moving to greater depths or to groundwater in significant concentrations in most agricultural systems.

Stress and the midwife

In 1994 the High Court held that an employer owed a duty to take reasonable care of the health and safety of the employee and this duty included mental health (Walker vs Northumberland County Council, 1994). Eighteen months ago we considered the law relating to stress and bullying in the context of staffing shortages in midwifery. Subsequently one of the cases discussed in the article, which was heard by the Court of Appeal (Hatton vs Sutherland; Barber vs Somerset County Council; Jones vs Sandwell Metropolitan Borough Council; Baker vs Baker Refractories Ltd, 2002), went to the House of Lords and this article considers the implications of its decision.