Pennsylvania Game News - January 2012 - 12

Since the creation of the Game Commission’s Wind Energy Voluntary Cooperative Agreement, 30 wind development companies have become cooperators thus agreeing to avoid, minimize and potentially mitigate any adverse impacts the development of wind energy on private lands may have on the state’s wildlife resources. This past year, in our effort to develop long term management plans for each State Game Lands, 36 separate plans were completed, bringing 2010-11 to 117, covering 504,000 acres, the number completed to date. These plans, which include infrastructure records, habitat cover, forest types, access roads and parking lots, will help ensure sound, sustainable, and efficient habitat management over the years. The Forest Inventory and Analysis Program, established in 2005, is now in its first season of re-measuring plots established in the prescribed 5-year cycle. To date, 875 permanent assessment plots have been established. These plots are being re-assessed on 5-year cycles to determine changes in growth, health, and species composition of State Game Lands forest habitats and will provide valuable habitat planning information. The FIA Section has also developed a sampling system for monitoring habitat conditions before and after the use of prescribed fire. Initial data gathering and analysis has been done on SGL 176, in Centre County, for the 2010 prescribed fire season and pre-burn and post-burn data has been gathered for the 2011 prescribed fire season. A total of 495 Pennsylvania Natural Diversity Inventory (PNDI) reviews were completed for oil and gas projects throughout the state, 252 of which were related to Marcellus shale development. The reviews involved over 795 oil/gas wells (109 Marcellus wells), over 1,645 miles of oil/gas pipeline (1,241 for Marcellus), and 13 seismic surveys totaling over 2,641 square miles of survey area. Measures were recommended or required for 111 reviews to avoid or minimize adverse impacts to wildlife Species surveys were completed at an active northern goshawk nest site, an active great blue heron rookery, two active Allegheny woodrat habitat sites, and a silver-haired bat roost site. Habitat surveys for Allegheny woodrats and/or eastern small-footed myotis were completed at three additional sites. Winter helicopter surveys were also completed in the lower Pine Creek valley to assess the potential for Allegheny woodrat and smallfooted myotis habitat delineation for the avoidance and minimization of adverse impacts to these habitats during seismic surveys. A total of 638 PNDI reviews were completed for construction and development projects throughout the state. These reviews indentified 158 potential impacts to species of special concern that were reviewed and commented on. A total of 97 environmental reviews were completed for various proposed mining or abandoned mine reclamation projects with a total acreage reviewed of over 22,105 acres. The purpose of these reviews is to provide preliminary comments to mine operators and DEP to avoid and minimize impacts to wildlife and wildlife habitat associated with mining operations being planned. The Oil/Gas and Mineral Development Section reviewed 91 oil or gas well locations and their affiliated access ways on State Game Lands. Of these, 59 were Marcellus Shale oil and gas well locations and 14 were under PGC oil/gas development leases and 45 on State Game Land surface where the PGC does not own the subsurface gas rights. These reviews and coordination resulted in improvements to parking lots and roads as well as maintenance on related Game Land culverts, bridges and gates, and enhanced erosion and sedimentation control structures, at the expense of the developer.
12 GAME NEWS

Pennsylvania Game News - January 2012

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of Pennsylvania Game News - January 2012