Lancaster County Conservancy Long Range Protection Plan 2009

Lancaster County Conservancy Long Range Protection Plan 2009 Pennsylvania Land Conservation Conference Prepared for: Lancaster County Conservancy 117 South West End Avenue Lancaster, Pennsylvania 17608 Prepared by: RETTEW Associates, Inc. 3020 Columbia Avenue Lancaster, Pennsylvania 17603

Project Purpose • To develop a process of how to evaluate what properties are important to the Lancaster County Conservancy for the protection of natural environments.

GOALS • Provide a balance between open space & development • Define & Identify “Natural Gems” • Establish Priority Protection Areas • Identify Potential Green Infrastructure • Initiate a Preservation Partnering Structure with Other Entities • Inform County & Municipal Planning

Lancaster County Growth Boundaries

Landscape Perspective

Parcel Based Perspective

Process Components Partnerin Protectio g n

Partnering Tool (database) • Microsoft Access database to record and track information on parcel basis • Contains information of protected lands by other organizations (i. e. Pennsylvania Game Commission) • Includes protected land targeted lands • Identifies potential partnership opportunities

Partners of the Conservancy Contacted over 100 agencies/organizations Lancaster County Planning Commission PADEP/DCNR/PAFBC/PAGC/USFWS/PHMC Natural Lands Trust / 7 Conservancies 7 Colleges 29 Watershed Organizations 10 Historical Societies Trout Unlimited 60 Municipalities PA Audubon Society Chesapeake Bay Foundation

Development of the Partnering Tool

Process Components Partnerin Protectio n g

Protection Tool (GIS Analysis) • Link to Lancaster Counties GIS Database

Protection Tool • Identifies “Natural Gems” using GIS • Based on 7 environmental attributes of importance to the Conservancy • 65 parcels identified; 12, 133 acres

Defining Natural Gems • Step 1 – Identify Important Attributes & Develop Rating System • Step 2 – Build GIS Datasets and Test • Step 3 – Run GIS Analysis and Obtain Scores • Step 4 – Run QA/QC Data • Step 5 – Analyze GIS Output and Determine “Gem” Cut Off • Step 6 – Run Final Analysis

Natural Gem Rating Attribute Unique 7 Points Above Average 5 points Average 3 points Below Average 1 point N/A O Points Water bodies Rated “Exceptional Value” and/or wild trout waters Rated “High Quality” and/or stocked trout waters and/or wild bass waters Simply rated as warm or coldwater fishery Impaired – trumps HQ No water resources Wetlands with PNDI hits NA Common wetland community NA No wetland present Forestland ≤ 200 acres 50 – 199 acres 20 – 49 acres 1 – 19 acres 0 – 0. 99 acres Grassland with PNDI hit NA Common plant community/grassland NA No grasslands present Geologic Features Rare, fossil beds, caves, cliff community NA NA NA Nothing to observe Plants Greater than 3 species of state listed concern 1 or 2 species of state listed concern Common plant community NA No plant community or species of concern Animal (insects, amphibians, reptiles, mammals, fish and birds) Greater than 2 species of state listed concern and/or specialized habitat elements such as rookery or cave 1 species of state listed concern and/or highly diverse habitat supporting diverse animal community Semi-diverse habitat supporting common animal species – no rare, threatened or endangered species NA No habitat or species of concern Adjacent to other preserved tracts Adjacent to other Conservancy tracts Adjacent to State lands such as Gamelands – Co. Parks All other semi-private preserves NA Not adjacent to other preserved tracts

Example of Cocalico Creek Watershed

Priority Protection Focus Areas • “Smoothed” data to define large, contiguous regions, or clusters • Clusters must have a score of 20 or higher for majority of area • Must have an area of at least 15 square miles • 10 areas were identified

Priority Protection Focus Areas

Furnace Run Focus Area Close-up

Implementation & Successes • Ground Truthing • Conservancy Needs to Determine Implementation Strategy • Natural Heritage Inventory data update • Weighting Development and Analysis • Grant Infrastructure Plan Development • Threat of Loss Analysis • Partnering with: County/TNC/Municipalities/Others

Who will use data/tool? • Can be used by multiple users by changing attributes or importance of attributes • Similar tool could be developed for watershed groups, county planning commissions, and the State