1. 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 Columbia Avenue Lancaster, Pennsylvania 17603

2. 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.

3. 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

4. Lancaster County Growth Boundaries

5. Landscape Perspective

6. Parcel Based Perspective

7. Process Components
Partnering
Protection

8. 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

9. 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

10. Development of the Partnering Tool

11. Process Components
Partnering
Protection

12. Protection Tool (GIS Analysis)
Link to Lancaster Counties GIS Database

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

14. 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

15. 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

16. Example of Cocalico Creek Watershed

17. 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

18. Priority Protection Focus Areas

19. Furnace Run Focus Area Close-up

20. 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

21. 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