The Pennsylvania Natural Heritage Program is celebrating 40 years of vital work of documenting the state’s ecological resources-- rare plants, vertebrates, invertebrates, ecological communities and geologic features.

The program’s latest newsletter describes the history of the program and how it built a reputation for current, reliable, objective ecological data and analysis to help guide conservation work and land use planning.

The newsletter features articles on--

-- PNHP Turns 40: “What began as a conversation between a few people at the Western Pennsylvania Conservancy (WPC), The Nature Conservancy (TNC), and the Department of Environmental Resources (the precursor to the Department of Conservation and Natural Resources [DCNR]) became the Pennsylvania Natural Heritage Program (PNHP) 40 years ago.”

-- PNHP People: “When it comes down to it, it’s really the people who have given their time, often starting long careers in the Natural Heritage Network, who have made the program. As with many network programs, the tenure of our staff is very high. It’s a rare dedication to mission and the intimate contact with the plants and animals that are the focus of the mission that seems to drive this dedication.”

-- Assessing Aneides: “At the dawn of PNHP, much effort was focused on gathering information from literature, museum collections, and taxa experts on the suspected rarest species in the state. One of the amphibians which rose to the top of this list was the green salamander. 

“Decades earlier, sleuthing by Carnegie Museum of Natural History herpetologists sought to more fully evaluate the northern range limit of the species, yet since 1951 the species had only been documented from their single original collection site.”

-- From Paper To Pixels: “From the very beginning of our program, one of our primary goals has been to inventory the rare and at-risk plants, animals, and natural features (plant communities, geology) of the Commonwealth.

“As we collected the information, we also had to catalog and map the locations of what we found. Our original ‘GIS’ consisted of file drawers of paper forms and USGS 7.5-minute topo maps. Our biologists collected data in the field by writing in their field notebooks and drawing locations on paper maps.

“When they returned to the office, the information was transcribed onto paper survey forms, and mapped on our full-size topo maps using color coded dots to indicate whether the location was a plant, animal, natural community, or geologic feature.”

-- Hunting For Nature’s Water Filters: “When the Heritage Program was initiated in 1982, the data about many aquatic animals in the Commonwealth, particularly freshwater mussels, were spotty. Information on the rarity, distribution, and population sizes required to assess the conservation statuses for Pennsylvania freshwater mussel fauna was lacking.

“Founding staff member of PNHP, Charles Bier, had read historical accounts of freshwater mussels in Pennsylvania by Arnold E. Ortmann, Carnegie Museum of Natural History curator in the early 1900s, and knew that French Creek, a tributary to the Allegheny River, was special.

“He set out to study freshwater mussels there and to begin filling in data gaps to better understand their status.”

-- County By County Inventories: “There are 67 counties in Pennsylvania, and all of them have had at least one County Natural Heritage Inventory (CNHI) completed over the 30+ years that PNHP has been publishing them. Our first inventories were begun in 1988, in Centre and Lancaster counties, followed quickly by Allegheny County.”

-- Work On Massasauga Turns Losses Into Gains: “The eastern massasauga [rattlesnake] has a long history of loss in Western Pennsylvania. It was one of the first reptiles listed by the Pennsylvania Fish and Boat Commission (PFBC) as state endangered in 1978.

“Prior to that, habitat destruction, fragmentation, wanton killing, and woody vegetation succession on its preferred open habitat, took its toll on the species in western Pennsylvania. The formation of PNHP in the 1980s had Charles Bier initiating the gathering of museum collection data, diving into historic accounts. and visiting sites where the massasauga held on.”

-- 4 Decades Of Environmental Permit Reviews: “When the Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection (DEP) began requiring environmental reviews for their permits, the demand for natural heritage information really picked up. Up to that point the information was nice to have but not always required.

“Then there was a breakthrough in 2004. With technical assistance from Esri, PNHP launched the groundbreaking Environmental Review (ER) Tool.

“The first of its kind anywhere, the tool allowed public users to draw the footprint of a development project or management practice on a web-map and run an analysis to screen for potential impacts on rare, threatened, and endangered species and habitats.”

-- Big Contributions From Small Habitats: “PNHP began mapping vernal pools in the early days of the program, especially those that supported rare plants and animals. But we recognized that vernal pools were keystone ecosystems in need of comprehensive mapping, assessment, and conservation effort.”

-- Improving Natural Community Classification: “Along with rare plants and animals, PNHP tracks rare plant communities as part of its core activities. These rare plant communities are a significant part of the state’s environmental review process – as rare communities often harbor, or are made up by, rare plant and animal occurrences.

“Understanding the plant communities in an area can be extremely valuable for developing comprehensive, wide-scale land management and conservation plans.”

Click Here to read the entire PNHP Turns 40 newsletter.

Visit the Pennsylvania Natural Heritage Program website to learn more about this fascinating program.

Take Action Now!

-- Tell Your Legislator NOW To Set Aside $500 Million From Federal American Rescue Funds To Support Local Environmental, State Park & Forest Projects

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[Posted: June 9, 2022]

6/13/2022