Erie County has the highest number of rare, threatened, and endangered species of any county in Pennsylvania, with nearly 900 distinct populations present.  Many of these are associated with unique habitats that can be found at Presque Isle and French Creek and are found nowhere else in the state.

The Pennsylvania Natural Heritage Program recently completed the update to the Erie County Natural Heritage Inventory—the first systematic update to the document since 1993.

As many things have changed in the nearly 20 years since this first inventory, this update will provide additional information and enhanced mapping to help guide planning and conservation decisions.

The majority of the work was focused on updating older records and visiting new sites not previously surveyed.  Even visits to well-documented sites, such as Wattsburg Fen north of Union City, yielded new discoveries of species tracked by PNHP, including several interesting invertebrate records. At least a third of the total species and natural communities described in the report were new as documented by our recent inventory effort.

Two of the most notable findings during the inventory included the northern redbelly dace (Phoxinus eos) and dwarf scouring rush (Equisetum scirpoides).  The northern redbelly dace, a small fish, was thought to be extirpated in Pennsylvania, last documented in Meshoppen Creek in Tioga County in 1862. 

During fish surveys, it was discovered at several locations in the French and Brokenstraw creek basins.  It is associated with spring-fed streams especially in back channels.  Perhaps even more exciting was the discovery of a population of dwarf scouring rush which had not previously been documented in Pennsylvania.  This species was growing in a small fen community outside of the town of Girard.

Through rigorous survey effort, PNHP staff visited as many potentially significant areas as possible but there is still much opportunity for exploration in Erie County. One of our favorite tasks during an inventory is to build partnerships with the local naturalist community to help supplement our field surveys. 

The Erie region is lucky to have a network of naturalists and scientists at local colleges and universities and non-profit organizations, as well as private citizens.  By cultivating these partnerships, we will continue to receive data in years to come as these naturalists explore Erie County. 

Much of the outside data we obtained came via the Natural History collections at the Tom Ridge Environmental Center. Since this region is biologically rich, we believe that additional survey effort is likely to turn up new occurrences of plants, animals, and communities of concern.

Overall, 117 Natural Heritage Areas, representing rare species and their habitats have been delineated. While there are 80 more sites than those that appeared in the original 1993 report, these sites are more precisely mapped and therefore the total Natural Heritage Area   is actually less than that from the 1993 inventory effort.

Several land trusts including the Western Pennsylvania Conservancy, the Lake Erie Regional Conservancy, and the French Creek Valley Conservancy are active in conservation projects in the area.  The results of this project will help guide the future work of these land trusts in the identification of important properties. 

The Erie CNHI will also be used by county planners and decision makers to aid in planning for development and will be incorporated in the Pennsylvania Natural Diversity Inventory  database.  This information will also be available online through the PNHP county Inventory interactive map.

Funding for the Erie County Natural Heritage Inventory update was provided by the Department of Conservation and Natural Resources, Pennsylvania SeaGrant, and the Erie Community Foundation.

The PNHP is a partnership between the Western Pennsylvania Conservancy, the Department of Conservation and Natural Resources, the Game Commission and the Fish and Boat Commission.

The PNHP manages the PNDI  database, which is used as part of the Department of Environmental Protection environmental review process for evaluating permit applications. It is accessible to the public through the online PNDI tool that screens projects for potential impacts to species of conservation concern.

The PNDI tool as well as the full CNHI reports and other planning oriented information can be found at the PNHP website.

The Western Pennsylvania Conservancy works under contract with the Department of Conservation and Natural Resources to provide PNHP services, including the management of the PNDI database and collection of information on Pennsylvania’s natural communities and rare, threatened, and endangered species.

Visit the Statewide County Natural Heritage Inventory webpage to find out if there was an inventory in your area.

Pennsylvania Natural Heritage Program, Western Pennsylvania Conservancy

3/25/2013