Marion Brooks Natural Area is a
state forest natural area in
Moshannon State Forest in
Benezette Township,
Elk County in the
U.S. state of
Pennsylvania
Pennsylvania (; ( Pennsylvania Dutch: )), officially the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, is a state spanning the Mid-Atlantic, Northeastern, Appalachian, and Great Lakes regions of the United States. It borders Delaware to its southeast, ...
. The natural area is on the northwest edge of
Quehanna Wild Area
Quehanna Wild Area () is a wildlife area within parts of Cameron County, Pennsylvania, Cameron, Clearfield County, Pennsylvania, Clearfield and Elk County, Pennsylvania, Elk counties in the U.S. state of Pennsylvania; with a total area of , it co ...
.
[ Note: this includes four chapters on sites within the Quehanna Wild Area, Marion Brooks Natural Area (3), Beaver Run Dam Wildlife Viewing Area (4), Hoover Farm Wildlife Viewing Area (5), and Wykoff Run Natural Area (6).] It was originally known as Paige Run Natural Area; in 1975 it was renamed in honor of Marion E. Brooks, a local environmentalist. The area was set aside to protect one of the largest known stands of
white birch
''Betula papyrifera'' (paper birch, also known as (American) white birch and canoe birch) is a short-lived species of birch native to northern North America. Paper birch is named for the tree's thin white bark, which often peels in paper like ...
trees in the eastern United States; in this region the tree is fairly close to the southern limit of its native range.
[Joseph Illick, ‘’Pennsylvania trees. “White Birch”. Pennsylvania Department of Forests. Harrisburg: Wm Stanley Ray, 1914, p. 114.]
References
{{reflist
Protected areas of Elk County, Pennsylvania