Complete report - Pennsylvania Fish and Boat Commission

Section III – Site Information and Analysis Page III-13
Beaver Pond and Wetlands -- Northwest from Parking Area
very common problem in all of Northeastern
Pennsylvania. Grapevines threaten tree health
and survival in some sections. There are also
several areas where the dominant trees are
either financially or physiologically mature
and in need of a forest regeneration practice.
The lack of adequate advance regeneration
(tree seedlings) is a problem here as it is in
most other parts of Wayne County. A major
reason is the extremely high deer population
over last forty years; the deer repeatedly
browse the seedlings. Beech saplings are by
far the most common species present,
especially in the southern section. There were
only a few small areas with sugar maple
sapling regeneration. Most of the regeneration
is in the seedling class. Sugar maple and white
ash seedlings are present but probably not in
the numbers needed to regenerate a forest.
The productivity of the area is considered
good for tree growth, about the standard for
Wayne County. This is based on the soils and
the general topography of the land. The only
exceptions are the wetlands and extreme tops
of some of the ridges, where the soils are too
wet or shallow for good tree growth and
survival. Almost all of the wooded areas have
very satisfactory timber growth potential.
Wetlands Importance
Wetlands have in past times been considered
wastelands, and, as a result, it is estimated that
over half of all wetlands in the nation have
been lost to development. In recent years, the
identification and protection of wetlands have
surfaced as a key environmental issue. Three
types of wetlands have been identified in
Pennsylvania: emergent, scrub-shrub, and
forested. Each type is classified according to
vegetation type. Vegetation in emergent
wetlands includes freestanding, non-woody
plants such as cattails, reed canary grass, and
rushes. Scrub-shrub wetlands are
characterized by woody plants less than
twenty feet in height. The presence of trees
such as red maple, hemlock, yellow and river
birch, pin oak and ash over twenty feet tall,
indicate a forested wetland. Standing water,
or even saturated soil, need not be present to
qualify an area as a wetland. A wetland, as
defined by the Federal Manual For
Identifying and Delineating Jurisdictional
Wetlands is any area which supports
hydrophytic plants (adapted to growth in
saturated soil), contains hydric soils (wet
soils) or where water is present at or near the
surface of the soil at some time during the
growing season.
Reining Pond Master Site Plan 04-05