Office of Conservation Science

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The Office of Conservation Science (OCS) was formed in 2003 to guide Pennsylvania Department of Conservation and Natural Resources (DCNR)decisions based on best resource conservation and sound science. The Office provides leadership and coordination for many efforts including land use planning, species and habitat management and protection, green technology, biodiversity, and ecosystem management. The office is part of the Pennsylvania Department of Conservation and Natural Resources (DCNR).

Housed within the Office of Conservation Science are the Pennsylvania Natural Heritage Program, the Wild Resource Conservation Program, the County Natural Areas Inventory, and an Outreach/Education Component.

Pennsylvania Natural Heritage Program (PNHP)

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The Pennsylvania Natural Heritage Program (PHNP) is a partnership between The Western Pennsylvania Conservancy, Pennsylvania Department of Conservation and Natural Resources(DCNR), the Pennsylvania Fish and Boat Commission, and the Pennsylvania Game Commission. The Pennsylvania Natural Heritage Program conducts inventories and collects data regarding the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania’s native biological diversity. Information is stored in an integrated data management system consisting of map, manual, and computer files. The PNDI information system is continually refined and updated to include recently discovered locations and to describe environmental changes affecting known sites. The goal is to build, maintain, and provide accurate and accessible ecological information needed for conservation, development planning, and natural resource management.

One important initiative within the Heritage Program is the County Natural Heritage Inventory, which conducts county-wide inventories of threatened and endangered species as well as important natural areas. At present, completed county inventories are available for 57 counties and the remaining 10 are in progress. In addition, PNHP will return to counties and perform updates to ensure that county inventory data remains relatively current.

The PNHP has approximately 50 staff among the four partner programs, including botanists, vertebrate and invertebrate zoologists, aquatic and terrestrial ecologists, data managers and GIS specialists as well as environmental review staff. The PNHP Director and Program Manager are in the Office of Conservation Science and act as liaisons between the program partner agencies and provide leadership for program strategic direction and everyday program management.

Pennsylvania Natural Heritage Program Facebook Page

Wild Resource Conservation Program (WRCP)

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The Wild Resource Conservation Program’s (WRCP) is Pennsylvania’s biodiversity conservation program. As a part of the Pennsylvania Department of Conservation and Natural ResourcesDCNR, and working closely with the Pennsylvania Game Commission and the Pennsylvania Fish and Boat Commission, WRCP works to conserve Pennsylvania’s non-game animals, wild plants, and their habitats. Since 1982 the program has funded and facilitated hundreds of research, conservation, and education projects including the reintroduction of osprey and river otter, the ecological inventories of all 67 Pennsylvania counties, and the production of more than a dozen nature documentaries and numerous publications.

WRCP is supported by voluntary donations – it receives no general government funds.

Outreach and Education Role

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The Office of Conservation Science (OCS) works with local officials, county planning organizations, private industry, conservation organizations, legislators and state and federal agencies to ensure necessary information and technical assistance is available to make informed land use decisions. The Office also serves as an outreach and education role to bring science information to the various decision-makers in an appropriate format to allow informed decisions and sustainable resource management.

Some of the recent programs sponsored by the department have been: invasive species, sustainable community parks, private wild plant sanctuary.

Invasive Species

An invasive species is a non-native species that is likely to cause harm to human health, to the environment, or to the economy.

While not all non-native species are invasive, they can damage public and private lands by threatening biodiversity and disrupting ecosystems. Invasive species are highly adaptable to different habitats, grow quickly or reproduce abundantly, and are difficult to eradicate.

Invasive species displace native habitats and compete with native wildlife. Since the habitat lacks the predators and competitors they normally would encounter, invasive species can spread rapidly.

Fact Sheets on how minimizing the spread of invasive species while participating in recreational activities

Information on invasive plants

Invasive exotic plant tutorial

Update of invasive threats to Pennsylvania Forest Health

DCNR Invasive Species Management Plan

DCNR Invasive Species Survey Results

Sustainable Community Parks

The traditional park focuses on recreational facilities and typically consists of turf grass, with a few trees, shrubs, and flowers interspersed throughout. The layout and maintenance of these parks offers limited habitat for wildlife, may require considerable inputs of water and nutrients to maintain, and can contribute to various forms of environmental degradation.

Sustainable community parks, on the other hand, focus on creating a park environment that is beneficial for both human uses and natural resource conservation. Ideally, it is in harmony with the entire environment, both above ground and beneath the vegetation and soils. More attention is focused on selecting appropriate native plants, on minimizing human impacts to the environment, and on selecting other methods that will preserve the community’s natural resources and improve the overall quality of life.

Creating Sustainable Community Parks: A Guide to Improving Quality of Life by Protecting Natural Resources

Private Wild Plant Sanctuary Program

The Wild Resource Conservation Act (P.L. 597, No. 170) establishes the authority for the conservation of native wild plants within the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania. Pennsylvania Department of Conservation and Natural Resources(DCNR) has adopted regulations, at 17 Pa. Code Chapter 45, to implement this act. The regulations establish a plant classification system, create permit and license procedures, establish restrictions regarding threatened, endangered, and vulnerable plants, and provide for the designation of sites as private wild plant sanctuaries. The responsibility for implementing and enforcing the private wild plant sanctuary program portion of the Act has been assigned to the [list of Pennsylvania state forests| DCNR Bureau of Forestry].

Nearly 60 percent of the Commonwealth’s threatened and endangered species occur on private lands. If those lands remain unprotected, they may be put at risk of being developed, impacted by pollution and climate change, and disappearing entirely as viable habitat. In recognition of this, the Private Wild Plant Sanctuary program was created to formally commend private landowners for conserving classified native plant species and/or native plant communities.

• Establish a voluntary statewide network of native Private Wild Plant Sanctuaries on private lands;
• Recognize, inform and provide technical assistance to landowners whose properties have habitats and wild plant species of statewide or local significance, and encourage sound management approaches;
• Encourage and recognize good stewardship practices, including scientifically-sound ecological restoration, for native habitats and wild plant species;
• Provide natural reserves for native wild plant species that would be made available for research.

Status of public wild plant sanctuaries 2001

See also

• Biodiversity
• Conservation Biology
• Environmental degradation
• Environmental science
• Ecology
• Ecosystem
• Habitat conservation
• Habitat fragmentation
• List of Pennsylvania state agencies
• Sustainability
• Wildlife corridor

External links

• Pennsylvania Natural Heritage Program
• Wild Resource Conservation Program’s
• Pennsylvania Department of Conservation and Natural Resources
• Critter Quest PA Species Search