Potter County
In north central Pennsylvania, within the Appalachian Plateau province, lies Potter County. The northern two-thirds of the county is within the High Plateau Section of the province and the southern one-third is within the Mountainous High Plateau section. Both sections have broad northeast-trending mountains, but, the southern section is deeply dissected by tributaries to the West Branch of the Susquehanna River which has created a landscape of high ridges and deep valleys with a strong, large-scale trellis drainage pattern (see aerial photograph).
Potter County is the only county in the Commonwealth that has three regional drainages - Atlantic Coast, Gulf Coast, and St. Lawrence (aka triple divide). Over half the county is drained by streams and rivers flowing to the Atlantic Coast via the West Branch of the Susquehanna River. One-third of the drainages in the county flow to the Gulf of Mexico via the Allegheny River, which has its headwaters in Potter county and joins the Monongahela in Pittsburgh to form the Ohio River. The Genesee River drains less than 100 square miles of the county to the north to the St. Lawrence.
Cool Finds
A highlight of the 2005 field season was finding the Great-spurred Violet (Viola selkirkii), a plant species of special concern considered to be critically imperiled in the Commonwealth and a county record for Potter County. 
This early blooming violet was found in two different locations in central Potter County and may represent the known western extent of its range in Pennsylvania. Globally, its range is circumboreal, occurring in the boreal region around the world, extending south in America to northern Pennsylvania.
A small plant, 2 to 4 inches tall with a pale purple flower, this species can be distinguished from other purple violets by the wide spur at the back of the bottom petal that is rounded at the end and resembles a nose. Hairless petals and deeply cordate or heart-shaped leaves that converge or overlap at the lobes are also distinguishing features. Habitat for this species includes cool, moist, rich forested slopes and rock crevices. Look for this rare violet in areas where Canada violet (Viola canadensis), spring beauty (Claytonia virginica), and baneberry (Actaea pachypoda) are found.
A small population of creeping snowberry (Gaultheria hispidula) that had last been observed in 1978 was relocated in Potter County. This state species of special concern reaches
the southern limit of its range in the Commonwealth and inhabits bogs and wet woods. A member of the heath family (Ericaceae) that smells of wintergreen when crushed, this diminutive plant gets its name, creeping snowberry, from its trailing leafy stems and white fruit. A small population was found along the Allegheny River on a decaying log within a hemlock palustrine forest.
Schedule of Events
o The county signed an agreement with the Western Pennsylvania Conservancy to conduct a natural heritage inventory in August 2004.
o An advisory committee was organized and our first advisory committee meeting was held on August 19, 2004 in Coudersport.
o A meeting with Potter County's new Planning Director, Amy Jo Baldoni-McClain, was held on June 22, 2005 in Coudersport.
o A second advisory committee meeting will be scheduled for sometime in early winter for review of the inventory results from the 2005 field season.
Contact
For questions about the Potter County Inventory, please contact:
Rita Hawrot
Ecologist
Western Pennsylvania Conservancy
209 Fourth Avenue
Pittsburgh, PA 15222
(412) 586-2319
rhawrot@paconserve.org