Forest Fragmentation In Natural Gas Drilling
From Wikimarcellus
Forest fragmentation is a key ecological concept thought to be closely related to the maintenance and promotion of biodiversity of plant and animal species requiring a forest habitat. Fragmentation essentially occurs once an undivided forest somehow becomes separated into a series of often disconnected patches thus disturbing natural habitats of occasionally very rare species whose ecological niche can primarily be found in deep forest. Natural gas drilling requires the withdrawal of some agricultural and forested acreage for at least a year or more, and it has been argued that this can be a contributing factor to fragmentation and have an ensuing impact on woodland biodiversity. Of course, many other factors can also affect forest fragmentation, and historically these have included a variety of natural and anthropomorphic sources.
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Definition of Forest Fragmentation
Fragmentation can have quite varied definitions. It is discussed in the fields of wildlife habitat, biodiversity and land-use planning. It can occur naturally or from forest management practices such as clearcut logging which took place in the 19th and early 20th century in Pennsyvania's forests. It is a complicated process that results from interaction between the forest landscape and human demands on the land to divided it into ever smaller pieces. Simply passing land from one generation to the next serves to subdivide it as different heirs find diverse uses for the land. Regardless of whether fragmentation occurs as the result of suburban development, clearcutting, agricultural use or natural gas well drilling the result is to take a contiguous native forest and divide it into smaller pieces that create a patchwork of different pieces with other vegetation and land uses.
Exurbanization
In the Northeastern U.S., urban sprawl has been the biggest cause of fragmentation. It has become increasingly popular for city residents to move into the areas between city and country--or, as it is sometimes called exurbanization--that is, when urban dwellers move to rural areas.
Parcelization
Landowners, as a group, are an agining population. Of 90 million acres of forest, 25% is owned by those 65 or older. The disposition of the acreage after the landowner's demise is of concern. The forest land is often divided upon the death of landowner into parcels and left to children or other heirs. This creates parcilization. The biggest concern is inheritance taxis. Sale of timber may not be enough to cover federal and state taxes. That creates an automatic incentive to convert the land to other uses that at least provide enough renumeration to pay the taxes.
Mitigation
Agricutural and urban development are more damaging causes of fragmentation because they may permanantly withdraw land from being a habitat for woodland birds and plantlife. Forests that are harvested for wood are less damaging. becaise they represent only a temporary withdrawal of habitat. However, conservation efforts need to focus on maintaining sufficient amouts of mature forest in order to meet the requirements of forest-interior specias. Natural gas drilling, because it only temporarily represents a withdrawal of habitat for the construction of well pads should be viewed also as less damaging than urbanization or agricultural uses of the forest.
History of Forests In Pennsylvania
Pennsylvania's vast expanse of forest was cut in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. This led to tracts of immature, regenerating forests that provided an ideal habitat for white-tailed deer, bobcats and ruffed grouse. At the time, the deer population was quite depressed, because of unregulated hunting. The deer population at the present date has more than completely recovered.
An important distiction must be drawn between a forest fragmented through urban development and agricultural uses compared to a forested landscape composed of a patchwork of mature and regenerating stands caused by timber harvesting. The former condition usually damages forest bird populations more as it represents more or less loss of destruction of habitat for an indefinite period. Timber harvesting only represents a temporary reduction in habitat for those species that live in the interior of mature stands of trees. Mature forests require much more time to regenerate. The construction of well pads, pipelines and roads to support natural gas drilling have elements of both types of disturbance. Accomodation of pipelines and roads leads to permanant withdrawal of land, but well pads once no longer needed for drilling operations are usually reclaimed in a year or two. Saplings and ground cover are seeded. So this kind of activity should be viewed as no more threatening to biodiversity than tree harvesting. Roads no longer needed are allowed to regenerate naturally, and only pipelines and their rightaway remain as permanant factors of deforestation. Effective conservation requires foresters to develop and maintain necessary habitiat for species that need a mature forest. Almost all of Pennsylvania's forest represents at the least second growth and often third, forth or fifth growth if the timber has been repeatedly harvested.
Remediation
Efforts at restoration to help reduce or eliminate forest fragmentation may result in larger patches of connected or interior forest.
