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 Partnering Protection

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 and 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 Partnering Protection

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 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 Wetland Wetlands with PNDI hits NA Common wetland community No wetland present Forestland ≤ 200 acres 50 – 199 acres 20 – 49 acres 1 – 19 acres 0 – 0.99 acres Grassland Grassland with PNDI hit Common plant community/grassland No grasslands present Geologic Features Rare, fossil beds, caves, cliff community Nothing to observe Plants Greater than 3 species of state listed concern 1 or 2 species of state listed concern Common plant community 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 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 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