BETHLEHEM, Pa. — Every year, development continues to break up Pennsylvania’s wilderness, making it harder for native species to roam, migrate, mate, hunt and forage.
“And the problem of habitat loss is accelerating,” according to a new report from PennEnvironment.
“For example, despite no net population growth statewide, Pennsylvania ranks eighth in the nation for loss of agricultural land to low-density housing sprawl.
"And the loss and fragmentation of habitat is now the number one threat to wildlife in the commonwealth.”
PennEnvironment Research & Policy Center on Wednesday released a first-of-its-kind report, “Wildlife Corridors: How reconnecting habitats is protecting Pennsylvania’s native species.”
Building off a state study published last year, the report highlights 10 innovative wildlife corridor projects around the state that protect Pennsylvania’s native wildlife and aid conservation efforts.
Two ongoing projects in or near the Valley were cited in the report — the Kittatinny Ridge and Hawk Mountain Sanctuary.
‘Unconnected patchworks’
Without projects like those highlighted, habitat continues to be fragmented, officials argue, and negative impacts such as vehicle collision deaths, inbreeding and decreased climate resilience worsen, the report says.
“It’s time to take these best practices and successes to the next level, and develop the tools needed to protect our wildlife all across the state.”Stephanie Wein, clean water and conservation advocate at PennEnvironment
“From the bobcat and black bear to the millions of songbirds that cross the Keystone State every year, Pennsylvania is blessed to be home to incredible native species,” Stephanie Wein, clean water and conservation advocate at PennEnvironment, said in a news release.
“This report shows how state agencies, local governments and nonprofit groups have often collaborated to create the blueprint for successful wildlife corridor projects all across Pennsylvania.
“It’s time to take these best practices and successes to the next level, and develop the tools needed to protect our wildlife all across the state.”
While the Kittatinny Ridge and Hawk Mountain Sanctuary projects both are lauded in the report as successes, researchers noted they’re also dealing with the pressures of ongoing development.
To help bolster wildlife crossing projects statewide, recommendations from the report include “the creation of an interagency working group which, joined by conservation nonprofits already doing much of this work, should identify the highest priority areas for habitat connectivity and establish common goals across state agencies.”
Growing conservation
The Kittatinny Ridge, made up of 185 miles from Pennsylvania’s southern border, west of Chambersburg, Franklin County, up through the Poconos and to Delaware Water Gap, acts as a raptor superhighway along Blue Mountain, right in the Lehigh Valley’s back yard.
Thousands of raptors — vultures, eagles, kites, hawks, kestrels and falcons — make their annual trek through the region, using the ridge as a guide.
Lehigh Gap Nature Center’s annual Bake Oven Knob Autumn Hawk Watch tracks the migrating birds, part of an ongoing conservation research project.
During last year’s count, 9,373 migrating raptors were recorded.
In 2018, the area was designated the Kittatinny Ridge Conservation Landscape, according to the PennEnvironment report.
At the time, 20% of the more-than-2-million-acre area was conserved as state, federal or private land trusts, or through conservation easements.
By 2023, 34% of the land had been conserved.
‘Unconnected patchworks’
However, not all the conserved land is connected, and that’s an issue, researchers said.
“As hotter temperatures, worsening droughts and increased flooding alter the character of existing habitats, diverse landscapes like the Kittatinny Ridge are the best candidates to serve as climate refugia — cool, temperate habitats for species that are losing habitat elsewhere,” according to the report.
“But species displaced by a changing climate can only take refuge in habitat they can access — and as long as the Kittatinny Ridge contains unconnected patchworks of conserved lands, that potential as a climate refuge will be only partially fulfilled.”
Population growth, and the development that comes with it, is complicating the vision of the Kittatinny Ridge as a migration superhighway and climate refuge, PennEnvironment argues.
“Cumberland County, in the Harrisburg area, is the most rapidly growing in the state, with a population growth of 10% from 2010 to 2020,” according to the report.
“Lehigh (7.5% growth) and Northampton (5% growth) counties in the Lehigh Valley are close behind.
“The growing population increases the pressure to convert habitat to developments, further fragmenting the region’s remaining natural areas.”
‘Rare forest habitat’
Hawk Mountain Sanctuary, even though part of the Kittatinny Ridge, was given its own section in the report because of continuing conservation efforts.
The sanctuary is host for the longest running raptor migration count in the world, with staff and volunteers monitoring the autumnal migration since 1934 as part of conservation research efforts.
During last year’s autumn migration count, more than 12,000 trekking birds of prey were recorded, including 653 bald eagles, setting a new season-long record.
“Of particular importance is the fact that Hawk Mountain Sanctuary provides a stopover for birds that rely on ‘interior habitat’ — large swaths of intact, mature forest instead of patchy, suburban habitat,” according to the PennEnvironment report.
“While some of these ‘interior’ species like eastern wood-pewee, great-crested flycatcher, wood thrush and worm-eating warbler are declining elsewhere in their range, they remain abundant at Hawk Mountain Sanctuary, underscoring the importance of preserving this rare forest habitat.”
‘A growing matrix’
Sanctuary officials have worked with neighboring landowners, “to ensure the mountaintop is not an island,” officials said.
“As surrounding parcels have come up for sale, the sanctuary has worked to ensure their preservation in perpetuity,” according to the report.
The state Game Commission also has acquired fields on the south side of the mountain, now incorporated into public lands.
“The result is a growing matrix of private, public and nonprofit-conserved land that now extends far beyond the 2,500 acres managed by Hawk Mountain Sanctuary," the report says.
"Allowing wildlife to move freely over large areas of diverse habitat types.
“Species with large home ranges like bobcat are now thriving, underscoring how a focus on connecting habitats has broadened the impact of Hawk Mountain far beyond its original mission of raptor conservation.”
Other sites highlighted in the report include: Wetland Culverts in Fayette County, Dam Removal on the Little Sewickley Creek in Allegheny County and Map Turtle Fencing in Huntingdon County.
‘A lack of existing policy’
PennEnvironment’s report comes several months after the commonwealth’s Legislative Budget and Finance Committee published its own report on wildlife corridors throughout the commonwealth.
The 100-plus-page report, “The Current Status of Conservation Connectivity in Pennsylvania,” includes data on both the economic benefits of natural spaces to the commonwealth’s economy and wildlife-vehicle collisions, as well as best practices and recommendations moving forward.
Citing the statewide study, PennEnvironment argues in its report that “there is a lack of existing policy around wildlife corridors in Pennsylvania that would support these best practices.”
“While many of our state agencies and commissions are already independently pursuing conservation goals, including habitat connectivity, there isn’t yet a statewide habitat connectivity plan or list of priority wildlife crossings to drive a common interagency agenda,” its says.
Recommendations for action
Recommendations included at the end of the report are broken up into “leadership by the executive branch” and “legislative action.”
The former suggests state agencies should commit to prioritizing wildlife corridors in their long-term planning; the governor’s office should establish an interagency working group to create a Pennsylvania Wildlife Corridor Action Plan; and state agencies should continue to work to secure federal funding for wildlife corridors and to tackle habitat fragmentation.
Recommendations for legislative actions include:
- The state General Assembly should require commonwealth agencies, independent commissions, contractors and auto insurance carriers operating in the state to report data related to wildlife-vehicle collisions
- To better enable the commonwealth to acquire land from willing sellers for conservation, the Assembly should raise the state Game Commission’s current per-acre dollar amount for land acquisition
- The Assembly should increase funding for conservation generally and should defend cornerstone environmental programs from budget cuts, including Growing Greener, the Environmental Stewardship Fund and the Keystone Fund.
