Tamarack Swamp Natural Area
Map showing the location of Tamarack Swamp Natural Area
Map showing the location of Tamarack Swamp Natural Area
Location within Pennsylvania
LocationClinton County, Pennsylvania
Coordinates41°25′22″N 77°50′28″W / 41.4228°N 77.8410°W / 41.4228; -77.8410
Area267 acres (108 ha)
Established1998

Tamarack Swamp Natural Area is a boreal (non-glacial) bog in Sproul State Forest, in Clinton County, Pennsylvania, United States.[1] [2] It is named for the tamarack tree that is common in the surrounding wetland.[3] The protected natural area consists of 267 acres within the larger Tamarack Swamp complex.[4][5] Tamarack Swamp is considered an Important Bird Area by Audubon Pennsylvania,[3] and was named as one of the top 100 birding sites in Pennsylvania by the Pennsylvania Game Commission.[6]

Location and history

Tamarack Swamp is located in northern Clinton County, Pennsylvania,[7][1] northeast of the community of Tamarack and accessible via Pennsylvania Route 144, which passes near the western edge of the wetland.[1][7] The wetland has a total area of 4000 acres,[7][8] and serves as the headwaters of Drury Run.[3] Tamarack Swamp is home to the tamarack tree, which is the only deciduous conifer in Pennsylvania.[3]

In about 1827, Alexander Kelly, Montgomery Kelly, George Kelly, and Samuel Kelly settled on the western side of Tamarack Swamp.[9] In about 1865, James Hennessy discovered several moose antlers buried in the wetland, indicating that moose once lived there.[10] In a 1925 book by Francis R. Cope, the author referred to the wetland as "a little oasis in the desert."[1] In the early 1900s, parts of Tamarack Swamp were damaged by logging and development.[1]

Logging was conducted as late as the 1940s, when Hicks Jennings cut down the only remaining virgin spruce in Tamarack Swamp.[11] By 1947, the tamarack and black spruce trees in the wetland were significantly less healthy than they had been around 1900.[12] In the 1990s, the Western Pennsylvania Conservancy added over 9400 acres to Sproul State Forest, including Tamarack Swamp.[3]

There are plans to develop the Tamarack Swamp area, including plans to drill for oil and natural gas in the wetland.[3] Natural gas pipelines have been laid in the swamp.[1] The land that Tamarack Swamp is situated on has multiple owners.[4]

See also

References

  1. 1 2 3 4 5 6 Clinton County, Natural Heritage Inventory (PDF), retrieved February 12, 2014
  2. ↑ "Sproul State Forest Wild and Natural Areas". Pennsylvania Department of Conservation & Natural Resources. Retrieved 2023-12-16.
  3. 1 2 3 4 5 6 Tamarack Swamp, The Western Pennsylvania Conservancy, retrieved February 10, 2014
  4. 1 2 Clinton County Pennsylvania Visitors Bureau, Special Wild and Natural Areas, archived from the original on December 16, 2014, retrieved February 10, 2014
  5. ↑ Fergus, Charles (2002). Natural Pennsylvania: Exploring the State Forest Natural Areas. Mechanicsburg, PA: Stackpole Books. p. 164-167.
  6. ↑ Pennsylvania Game Commission, Pennsylvania's 100 Best Birding Locations, retrieved February 15, 2014
  7. 1 2 3 Tamarack Swamp, PA, retrieved February 10, 2014
  8. ↑ Explore Biodiversity in the Tamarack Swamp, Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection, archived from the original on February 15, 2014, retrieved February 15, 2014
  9. ↑ Kettle Creek, retrieved February 15, 2014
  10. ↑ A Pennsylvania Bison Hunt, Middleburg Post Press, 1915, retrieved February 15, 2014
  11. ↑ Douglas A. Gross, PENNSYLVANIA BOREAL CONIFER FORESTS AND THEIR BIRD COMMUNITIES: PAST, PRESENT, AND POTENTIAL (PDF), retrieved February 15, 2014
  12. ↑ Edward J. Reimann (1947), Summer Birds of Tamarack Swamp 1900 and 1947 (PDF), retrieved February 14, 2014
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