The Department of Conservation and Natural Resources Thursday announced the designation of a new Wild Plant Sanctuary in Chester County.

The Robert B. Gordon Natural Area for Environmental Studies, a property managed by West Chester University of Pennsylvania, has been accepted into the DCNR Wild Plant Sanctuary Program, recognizing commitment of the administration, faculty, and staff to preserve the site in perpetuity.

“The Wild Plant Sanctuary Program’s goals are twofold: promote conservation of natural areas and native plants while also recognizing landowners who serve as models of good conservation and stewardship of these special resources,” DCNR Secretary Ellen Ferretti said. “By offering strategies to conserve rare plants as part of their management plans, these properties serve as models for other landowners.”

The 164-acre Gordon Natural Area has benefited from a history of protection by university administration and faculty who recognize its value as an educational resource. Considered a natural laboratory, its streams, forests and open meadows are used actively by faculty and students from a variety of departments, providing many avenues for important research. The site also provides students an escape from sometimes busy college lifestyles.

Autumn bluegrass (Poa autumnalis), a Pennsylvania Endangered species, can be found within the area’s alluvial forest that parallels a shaded stream. The forested slopes of the property also provide sanctuary for nodding trillium (Trillium cernuum), a proposed Pennsylvania Threatened species.

Many other locally uncommon native plants have been recorded at the Gordon Natural Area, making it an important reservoir of biodiversity. A comprehensive survey in 2007 showed 343 native plants inhabit the sanctuary grounds off Stadium Drive in West Goshen Township.

With much of southeastern Pennsylvania’s forestland fragmented by development, the natural area functions as a critical, and relatively contiguous, island of habitat for many species.

A recent 12-acre addition linked the two separate parcels and assured protection for the stream on the properties managed by the university.

The Wild Plant Sanctuary designation was announced and celebrated late last year during festivities marking the area’s 40th anniversary.

The Wild Plant Sanctuary Program was established through the Wild Resource Conservation Act of 1982 to establish a voluntary statewide network of native plant sanctuaries on private and municipal lands.

Landowners agree to protect the area and educate others about the importance of native and wild plants and habitats.  In return, they receive assistance with a management plan if needed, and have access to technical assistance and ecological checkups.

For more information, visit the DCNR Wild Plant Sanctuary Program webpage, contact DCNR’s Bureau of Forestry at 717-787-3444 or email to: RA-PAPlandSanctuary@state.pa.us.

2/10/2014