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PA Natural Heritage Program Releases 2023 Annual Report Highlighting New Species Discovered, Growing Impacts Of Invasive Species, State Wildlife Action Plan Update

The PA Natural Heritage Program released its 2023 annual report highlighting new species discovery, the growing and widespread impacts of invasive species and the coming deadline for updating the State Wildlife Action Plan.

Invasive Species

"Invasive species and their impacts have become more prominent and widespread. All PNHP partners are members of the Governor’s Invasive Species Council and are working with other agencies and entities in the state to organize regional approaches to combat invasive species.

"We work closely with the invasive species coordinator at PFBC [Fish & Boat Commission] and the DCNR [Department of Conservation and Natural Resources] staff in the Forest Health Division of Bureau of Forestry.

"We hired a seasonal ecologist with funds from PGC [Game Commission] to survey State Game Lands and document invasive species that could be impacting important plant populations.

"Additionally, we continue building the iMapInvasives database to serve the increased demand for up-to-date invasive species distribution information."

State Wildlife Plan

"We are in the midst of a SWAP [State Wildlife Action Plan] update, due by the end of 2025. The planners at PGC and PFBC are busy gathering information and coordinating a host of partners and data providers.

"PNHP is working on the assessment of hundreds of invertebrates and has been helping to train partner and contractor staff in the use of assessment tools developed by NatureServe.

"Although we have scant information for so many groups of invertebrates, there are several including freshwater mussels for which we have a good understanding of their distribution in the state.

"PNHP partners WPC and PFBC are working on National Fish and Wildlife (NFWF) grants that move freshwater mussel conservation to the next phase where a strategy and overall plan comes together with captive breeding and reintroduction to ensure that our native mussels are secure in the state.

"This has been the second year of an old growth study to both document existing old growth forests and provide a protocol to assess forests to determine if they have old growth characters and can be considered either old growth or developing old growth.

"The resulting tool will offer a way for foresters, both public and private, to better manage and set aside areas for biodiversity and carbon storage."

Discoveries

“With funding from the Richard King Mellon Foundation, we selected 10 sites of high botanical importance to evaluate impact from invasive species. During our surveys, we found more than the species the sites were known for.”

Among the discoveries--

-- “At Birmingham Slopes in Huntingdon County, we found a small population of the rare white alum root (Heuchera alba).

-- At Barnes Gap in Fulton County, we found the globally rare northern metalmark (Calephelis borealis) and witnessed a freshly emerged northern metalmark resting along a creek downstream of a population of its host plant, roundleaf ragwort.

-- At Rock Springs, a serpentine barren in Lancaster County, we discovered Nuttall’s milkwort (Polygala nuttallii), possibly persisting at this site because its trailside location emulates the moist pine savannas where it often occurs.

-- In 2022, PNHP staff discovered an undescribed, potentially endemic amphipod crustacean belonging to the genus Gammarus in a stream in south-central Pennsylvania. Follow-up surveys in that stream and nearby streams in the spring and fall of 2023 resulted in the collection of several other amphipod species that are believed to be undescribed or in need of redescription, indicating that significant hidden freshwater amphipod taxonomic diversity occurs in Pennsylvania.

-- PNHP and Bird Lab, a local bird conservation nonprofit, teamed up during fieldwork in July 2023 to confirm the first breeding occurrence of Swainson's warbler (Limnothlypis swainsonii) in Pennsylvania at the Western Pennsylvania Conservancy's Bear Run Nature Reserve.

Staff observed a family group, then captured and banded a hatch year bird, verifying this northernmost breeding record for the species.

-- In November, PNHP staff documented the first record in the eastern U.S. of liverwort navel, Loreleia marchantiae, an under-documented species of potential conservation concern in Pennsylvania. This fungus uniquely associates with Marchantia polymorpha, a liverwort known from quality riparian areas.

-- This year PNHP staff surveyed bumblebees in the Great Lakes watersheds of Pennsylvania. While we were working in the northeast corner of Erie County, we kept a lookout for the red-belted bumblebee (Bombus rufocinctus), because a single individual of this species—the first ever reported from the state—had been found there in 2017 by the Pennsylvania Department of Agriculture. As we were leaving the area, we decided to stop just once more, at a roadside patch of coneflowers, and found several red-belted bumblebees collecting nectar and pollen from the flowers, confirming that there actually is a resident population in this area.”

Vernal Pool Monitoring Citizen Science

“We continue to work with volunteers and partners to monitor vernal pools. This year we expanded a citizen science program at two state parks in southeastern Pennsylvania.

“We installed 30 water level staff gauges and 15 photo stations, and enrolled one wetland in the regional Vernal Pool Phenology Project.

“Additional monitoring techniques include acoustic monitoring and game cameras. Trained volunteers and park visitors use the stations to gather data on these dynamic wetland habitats including hydrology, phenology, and wildlife usage.”

Plant Regulations Update

“In 2023, DCNR updated the legal classifications of 82 plants through a rulemaking process in PA Code Chapter 45. DCNR is responsible for maintaining the list of classified plants in Pennsylvania which has only been updated twice since the mid-1990s.

This update added 24 plants in need of conservation, reclassified 28 listed plants, and removed 30 plants no longer conservation concerns.

Click Here to read the entire report.

To learn more about this program, visit the PA Natural Heritage Program website, and the PA Conservation Explorer conservation planning and PNDI environmental permitting review tool. You can also find them on Facebook. Click Here to sign up for regular updates.

Related Articles:

-- Natural Lands Acts To Preserve 14 Acre Painter Farmstead In Chester County's Hopewell Big Woods [PaEN]

-- Manada Conservancy Hosts Aug. 20 Backyard Birds For Children; Aug.22 Summer Native Plant Sale In Dauphin County [PaEN]

-- Legislative Budget & Finance Committee Releases Recommendations On Using Wildlife Corridors To Protect Wildlife, Limit Vehicle Collisions, Reconnect Habitats [PaEN]

-- PA Natural Heritage Program Releases 2023 Annual Report Highlighting New Species Discovered, Growing Impacts Of Invasive Species, State Wildlife Action Plan Update [PaEN]

-- Autumn Migration Season Kicks Off August 15; Autumn Lecture Series; Weekend Programs At Hawk Mountain Sanctuary [PaEN]

NewsClips:

-- The Center Square - Anthony Hennen: State Budget Increases In-Lieu Of Tax Payments To Local Governments, School Districts For Land Owned By DCNR, Game Commission

-- The Derrick: Fish & Boat Commission Magazine Touts Allegheny Valley Conservancy [PDF of article]

-- The Derrick: Allegheny Valley Conservancy To Hold Allegheny River Sojourn Aug. 2 [PDF of article]

-- Citizens Voice: Luzerne County Bar Assn. Donates To North Branch Land Trust

-- Pittsburgh Business Times: North Fork Lodge, A 6,800 Acre Hunting Property In Elk County Has Been Sold