Monthly Archives: January 2024

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Why Wetlands Matter

Raise your hand if you’re a fan of fens?!  How about a sucker for swamps?!  Or go bonkers for bogs?! Marvel at marshes?!  Fens, swamps, bogs, and marshes are all types of wetlands you can find here in PA…and they really are worth going wild about! 

Wetlands are places where the soil holds water either permanently or seasonally. Wetland water may be visible, or it may be below the surface of the ground.

Wetlands support a wide variety of animals and insects, including migratory and resident birds, turtles, fish, snakes, frogs – making them crucial hotspots for biodiversity.  In fact, 40% of all species live or breed in wetlands!

Wetlands are not only a great place to view wildlife, but they can also offer many opportunities for recreation like boating, fishing, hunting, and canoeing.

Wildlife habitat. Clean Water.  Climate Control.  Economic Benefits.  Recreational Opportunities.  Basically, wetlands are like ecological and societal powerhouses. 

Dragonflies can be found patrolling above the water and broods of ducks raise their young at the PPL Wetlands.

NPC members have played an active role in helping to conserve these delicate ecosystems across the region.  Here’s a look at some of those conserved land:

Pennsyl & Homer Webster
These two sisters properties located just north of Wellsboro cover a large area of wetland, locally known at the “The Muck.”  The area was once used to raise lettuce and celery, but today hosts as a breeding ground for a variety of birds, including Marsh Wrens, American Bitterns, Common Snipe, Virginia Rail and Sora Rail.  It’s been designated as one of Pennsylvania’s Important Bird Areas and offers a boardwalk and wildlife viewing blind for the public to enjoy.

Cavanaugh Access
Many people know the Cavanaugh Access Area because it provides quick access to the Pine Creek Trail.  However, this 132-acre parcel of land also helps conserve important wetlands along Marsh Creek.  The wetlands are extensive, fed by Canada Run, and close to wooded areas. This allows wildlife to use the wetlands and Creek by moving from the forest to the stream and wetlands and back.  Marsh Creek is a major tributary to Pine Creek. Marsh Creek meanders and bends through this property for nearly one mile. This Creek and its associated wetlands are a huge sponge that provide water year round that helps keep Pine Creek’s water cooler in the summer.

Brid watching at the Pennsyl property
Knob Mountain conservation easement

Clinton County Solid Waste Authority (CCSWA)
Wetland mitigation is the restoration, creation or enhancement of wetlands for the purpose of compensating for unavoidable impacts to wetlands at another location.  During the 1990’s, the CCSWA worked closely with the Army Corps of Engineers to construct a mitigation wetland to replace an area that was impacted during their expansion.  Today, NPC holds a 49-acre easement on the land, protecting the wetlands’ water, soil, fish and wildlife conservation values.

PPL Wetlands
This property was the first conservation easement of any type in Montour County back in 2008.  The entire conserved property consists of nearly 109 acres and includes a 5-acre mitigation wetland constructed by PPL, 59 acres of wooded wetland, cropland, and creek frontage.  Today, dragonflies can be found patrolling above the water and broods of ducks raise their young here.

Fossil Farm
The 150-acre easement holds a variety of unique environmental values, including a beaver pond and several other large wetland areas.  Catlin Hollow Creek flows through the property before entering Crooked Creek before winding its way to the Chesapeake Bay.  This property helps to conserve the water quality of not only this region, but plays a vital role on a much larger scale as well!  

Learn more about NPC’s other conserved properties with wetlands here:  John F Logue, Logue/McMahon, Maurey, Viani, Knob Mountain.

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NPC’s ‘Anderson Hill’ property adds 102 Acres to SGL 134

Conservation happens at varying speeds. Some projects take years, if not decades to navigate and complete and other projects happen in weeks. Members of the Northcentral Pennsylvania Conservancy (NPC) invest in both slow and fast conservation. Providing the support to build trust over time and work through questions and contemplations as well as supplying the resources to act when an opportunity presents itself.

Back in March 2023 there was a need for fast conservation. NPC was contacted about two parcels adjacent to State Game Lands 134 being sold by auction about 3 weeks later. The parcels layed side by side. One sharing its western boundary with existing State Game Lands and they both shared their northern boundary with existing State Game Lands.

NPC staff and board members and PGC staff tour the Anderson Hill property in March, deciding to bid on it at auction.

A seasonal stream on the property flowed into a tributary of Plunketts Creek, just upstream from where NPC facilitated work in 2020 and 2021 with an Army Reserve Unit to remove the earthen berm. Conserving this forested land would help to improve the water quality of Plunketts Creek, building on work NPC completed in the past. Adding this property to SGL 134 also expands the wildlife corridor, enables better forest management practices, and creates improved access to these public lands.

NPC was the high bidder on the parcels at the April auction, that would come to be known as the ‘Anderson Hill’ property. To help facilitate public use of Anderson Hill during NPC’s ownership, it was enrolled in the Pennsylvania Game Commission’s Hunter Access Program.

Fast forward 10 months later, NPC is thrilled to announce that the Pennsylvania Game Commission took over ownership of Anderson Hill, officially incorporating it into SGL 134. All made possible, thanks to the  support of NPC’s members!

The Anderson Hill property was officially incorporated into SGL 134 at the close of 2023.
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NPC Members Help Conserve 29-Acres in Tioga County

Introducing the Brucklacher Conservation Easement

Just a few miles outside of the northern tier town of Wellsboro, PA, sits the 138-acre homestead of Barry and Jane Brucklacher. Originally a dairy farm, the sprawling hayfields are still productive today, harvested by a local farmer to support a mushroom grower in Kennett Square, PA. A woodland of aspen, beech, maple, and oak trees provide food and shelter for white-tailed deer, bears, bobcats, and a variety of other native wildlife. A network of trails meander through the woodland by two ponds and a winding stream on its way to Elk Creek. On the outskirts of the property, a portion of the popular Mid State Trail cuts through, providing hikers with picturesque views of the Tioga County countryside. A trio of donkeys – Jesse James, Tyrone, and Adabel – graze in the pasture. The original barn stores equipment, with the top floor converted to serve as a maternity roost for little brown bats, whose population has experienced a severe decline in the past decade.

Having bought the property in 1972, the Brucklachers enjoy simple strolls around the grounds together and continue to be grateful for the opportunity to own such a special place. With thoughts of the future, they decided to seek out options to conserve the wildlife habitat, biodiversity, farmland, and natural resources on their property for generations to come.

Jane and Barry Brucklacher donate a 29-acre conservation easement to NPC.

Initially, they enrolled 103 acres of their property in the Tioga County Agricultural Farmland Preservation Program. However, they still had hopes to conserve even more of the property. Fortunately, a like-minded neighbor shared her experience with the Brucklachers of conserving her family farm with the Northcentral Pennsylvania Conservancy (NPC).

A Conservation Easement Agreement with NPC is a voluntary, legally binding agreement between a landowner and NPC regarding the use of a property. Most often, these agreements allow for forest management, agricultural use, and some residential use; but easements can also be signed to conserve specific values – such as ecological, recreational, scenic, or historic. The landowner keeps ownership of the land while also ensuring that the land’s conservation values are sustainable.  

The Brucklachers connected with NPC Land Steward, Sara Schlesinger, to discuss their values and conservation goals. After their initial meeting and walking the land together, it didn’t take Sara long to realize that the Brucklacher’s remaining 29 acres aligned with NPC’s mission to conserve and enhance the lands and waters of Northcentral PA.

“It was clear that the land was well-loved and stewarded. The forested land along the tributary that flows into Elk Creek prevents the streambank from eroding and washing away, helping to keep excess nutrients from flowing into the creek and elsewhere downstream. Conserving the water resources, wildlife habitat, and biodiversity, on the property supports the overall environmental well-being of the community.”

Sara Schlesinger, NPC Land Steward
Conserving this stream on the Brucklacher conservation easement supports the overall environmental well-being of the community.

After a year of more meetings, paperwork, surveys, walk throughs on the land, and all the other in-betweens, NPC wrapped up 2023 with the establishment of the ‘Brucklacher’ conservation easement!  Thank you to the Brucklachers for their generosity and commitment, and a special thanks to the NPC membership for their continued support.

A family of bears roam the Brucklacher easement.
A fox family found on the Brucklacher easement.

The Northcentral Pennsylvania Conservancy (NPC) is a land trust devoted to conserving and enhancing the lands and waters of Northcentral Pennsylvania to support the environmental well-being and recreational needs of local communities. They operate in 12 counties and take on a variety of conservation projects, including working with private landowners to establish conservation easements. Thanks to the generosity of its members and donors, NPC has conserved over 5,400 acres across 52 properties through its conservation easement program. You can help support NPC’s initiatives and make a difference by donating today.

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NPC Partners with Local Sportsman to Conserve 64 Acres in Columbia County

A true sportsman understands and champions conservation.  In fact, hunters have been some of the conservation movement’s biggest advocates since the beginning.  After all, it was President Theodore Roosevelt, an avid hunter himself, who went on to create the United States Forest Service and conserved approximately 230 million acres of public land.  Roosevelt recognized that in utilizing the country’s natural resources, we also had a responsibility to ensure that those same resources were sustainable for generations to come.  He wrote, “We have fallen heirs to the most glorious heritage a people ever received, and each one must do his part if we wish to show that the nation is worthy of its good fortune.” 

This past year, the Northcentral Pennsylvania Conservancy (NPC) had the opportunity to work with a like-minded sportsman committed to doing his part through the conservation of his 64-acre property in Columbia County.  The landowner grew up hunting in the Berwick area, and through friendly connections had the opportunity to hunt this particular plot of land on Knob Mountain Road in Briar Creek Township over the years.  Sitting at the base of Knob Mountain, this stretch of land acts as a highway for white-tailed deer, turkey, bear, and other wildlife.  As the landowner explains it, the neighboring farmland is the “refrigerator”, the mountain to the north is the “bedroom,” and the property serves as the “hallway,” connecting the habitat for the wildlife to roam.  So when the property came up for sale in 2004, he jumped at the opportunity to call this piece of woodland his own.

The woodland on the Knob Mountain easement serves as the “hallway,” connecting the habitat for the wildlife to roam. 

He quickly set to work stewarding the land and enhancing the wildlife habitat.  He worked with a forester to develop and implement a forest management plan, collaborated with the Natural Resources Conservation Service (NRCS) to create wetlands, installed nesting boxes, conducted timber stand improvement activities, built brush piles for wildlife, and planted trees.  And while he connected himself more and more to the land, he created opportunities for others to connect as well.  Just as those had done for him in past, he invited friends and family to traverse and hunt the land with him.  It became a place of respite for a military friend on leave.  A learning ground for the grandson of a dear friend.  A cultivator for friendships and bonds forged like none other than during hunting season.

Wetlands on the Knob Mountain conservation easement provide food, water, and shelter for a variety of species.

Places with the ability to connect people with the land and with each other are special like that.  Knowing that he wanted to conserve the wildlife habitat for generations to enjoy beyond his lifetime, he thought back to a conversation he had with NPC Executive Director, Renee’ Carey, nearly 15 years ago.  At that time, the landowner was a member of the Fishing Creek Sportsmen’s Association.  The Association worked with NPC to establish conservation easements to ensure public access to Fishing Creek.  With that positive experience in mind, the landowner reached out to NPC to explore donating his land into a conservation easement with NPC as well.

Fast forward to December of 2023, the ‘Knob Mountain’ conservation easement is officially a part of the landowner and NPC’s legacies! 

The Northcentral Pennsylvania Conservancy (NPC) is a land trust devoted to conserving and enhancing the lands and waters of Northcentral Pennsylvania to support the environmental well-being and recreational needs of local communities. They operate in 12 counties and take on a variety of conservation projects, including working with private landowners to establish conservation easements. Thanks to the generosity of its members and donors, NPC has conserved over 5,400 acres across 52 properties through its conservation easement program. You can help support NPC’s initiatives and make a difference by donating today.

Donate Now