Cooperation Opens Doors For CNHI

by Jeff Wagner
County Natural Heritage Coordinator

Often, it begins with a knock on the door that leads to a discussion of local history, family lore, or farming practices. Sometimes that first encounter will yield another landowner contact down the road, or a warning about “quick sand” down in the swamp. For County Natural Heritage Inventory (CNHI) staff, meeting a landowner is a big step. It represents the culmination of the long process of site selection that, hopefully, results in a useful survey of the area’s ecological assets.


Engaging landowners, even if only to request permission to visit a feature on their property, is essential to WPC’s Natural Heritage Inventory work in counties across western Pennsylvania. For each county inventory project, WPC selects between 75 and 150 sites for visits and evaluation. Some sites cross over onto the properties of multiple landowners. Some sites are owned by businesses, corporations, non-profit organizations, authorities, or municipalities. The process includes the entire county, therefore considering both private and public land. As with private landowners, the state resource management agencies with jurisdiction over the public lands WPC visits are notified and advised of the inventory process.

One of the most important clients for CNHI projects are the counties themselves, specifically the officials who guide and influence land use decisions. All counties where WPC has completed a Natural Heritage Inventory have complete access to the results of the study and do utilize the information in their planning process. Often, counties seek additional information, inviting CNHI staff to consult on specific resource management questions.

For example, officials in Clearfield County, contacted CNHI staff regarding a proposal to harvest timber from a county park. WPC ecologists had previously surveyed the area to document plant species and ecological communities as part of CNHI fieldwork The county needed to generate revenue from the timber, but wanted more information on potential ecological impacts before proceeding. WPC Ecologist Jessica McPherson and Forestry Specialist Greg Socha met with county officials and the county’s consulting forester. They provided information about the site’s ecological features and sensitivity to timber harvest. As a result, the county developed a plan that enabled it to harvest some timber while also avoiding the site’s most sensitive ecological features, including a stream channel, small wetlands, and a mature mesic forest community.

Sometimes, WPC’s CNHI work offers a chance to build ongoing relationships. In Lawrence County, our request to survey property belonging to Westminster College resulted in further zoological work focused on the Eastern Massasauga rattlesnake. Westminster students had an opportunity to participate by checking cover boards (boards laid on the ground to attract rodents and, consequently, snakes) and we were able to furnish information to the college and faculty about ecological resources on college property. Likewise, Juniata College in Huntingdon County furnished their research field station as a base for our work during the Huntingdon County Inventory, and faculty member Dr. Chuck Yohn served on the project Advisory Committee.
Businesses are important parts of most communities in western Pennsylvania and often own significant amounts of property. In Lawrence County, for example, CNHI staff worked closely with Burner Industries and Ellwood Steel Corporation to develop surveys of company properties. The owners of both businesses became so interested in the process that they served on the project’s Advisory Committee. In Greene County, we forged agreements with Consol Energy Inc. and Duquesne Light Co. to survey their extensive land holdings. Besides the inventory report, NHI staff will furnish additional reports that will help these companies consider ecological impacts of their land management and development activities.

Local volunteer organizations are often deeply involved in county inventory projects. In some cases these groups own land, and their members are knowledgeable about the county and its residents. In Crawford County, members of the Conneaut Lake French Creek Valley Conservancy sit on the CNHI Advisory Committee. Member Karlin Marsh is a local naturalist and writer who invites CNHI staff on field outings, supplies data and promotes the project with articles in local newspapers. WPC is counting on Karlin to help with landowner contacts and perspective on county-wide resources as the Crawford County Inventory continues.

As the CNHI program goes on, staff will continue the inventory work and will help the counties and community organizations in every possible way, whether it’s assisting PA Cleanways in Lawrence County by identifying dump sites, collaborating with the Pennsylvania Native Plant Society in Centre County, or advising the Native Biodiversity Project Initiative in Cambria County on invasive species control. And we’ll keep knocking on a lot of doors across western Pennsylvania.