Tamarack Swamp Natural Area is a
boreal
Boreal may refer to:
Climatology and geography
*Boreal (age), the first climatic phase of the Blytt-Sernander sequence of northern Europe, during the Holocene epoch
*Boreal climate, a climate characterized by long winters and short, cool to mild ...
(non-glacial)
bog
A bog or bogland is a wetland that accumulates peat as a deposit of dead plant materials often mosses, typically sphagnum moss. It is one of the four main types of wetlands. Other names for bogs include mire, mosses, quagmire, and muskeg; a ...
in
Sproul State Forest
Sproul State Forest is a Pennsylvania state forest in Pennsylvania Bureau of Forestry District #10. The main offices are located in Renovo, Pennsylvania in Clinton County in the United States.
The forest is located in western Clinton County an ...
, in
Clinton County, Pennsylvania, United States.
It is named for the
tamarack
''Larix laricina'', commonly known as the tamarack, hackmatack, eastern larch, black larch, red larch, or American larch, is a species of larch native to Canada, from eastern Yukon and Inuvik, Northwest Territories east to Newfoundland, and als ...
tree that is common in the surrounding wetland.
The protected natural area consists of 267 acres within the larger Tamarack Swamp complex.
Tamarack Swamp is considered an
Important Bird Area
An Important Bird and Biodiversity Area (IBA) is an area identified using an internationally agreed set of criteria as being globally important for the conservation of bird populations.
IBA was developed and sites are identified by BirdLife Int ...
by Audubon Pennsylvania,
and was named as one of the top 100 birding sites in Pennsylvania by the
Pennsylvania Game Commission.
Location and history
Tamarack Swamp is located in northern Clinton County, Pennsylvania,
northeast of the community of Tamarack and accessible via
Pennsylvania Route 144
Pennsylvania Route 144 (PA 144) is a state highway located in the U.S. state of Pennsylvania, covering a distance of about . The southern terminus is located near an interchange with U.S. Route 322 (US 322) at State Route 2015 (SR ...
, which passes near the western edge of the wetland.
The wetland has a total area of 4000 acres,
and serves as the
headwaters of
Drury Run.
Tamarack Swamp is home to the
tamarack
''Larix laricina'', commonly known as the tamarack, hackmatack, eastern larch, black larch, red larch, or American larch, is a species of larch native to Canada, from eastern Yukon and Inuvik, Northwest Territories east to Newfoundland, and als ...
tree, which is the only
deciduous conifer
Conifers are a group of conifer cone, cone-bearing Spermatophyte, seed plants, a subset of gymnosperms. Scientifically, they make up the phylum, division Pinophyta (), also known as Coniferophyta () or Coniferae. The division contains a single ...
in Pennsylvania.
In about 1827, Alexander Kelly, Montgomery Kelly, George Kelly, and Samuel Kelly settled on the western side of Tamarack Swamp. In about 1865, James Hennessy discovered several
moose antler
Antlers are extensions of an animal's skull found in members of the Cervidae (deer) family. Antlers are a single structure composed of bone, cartilage, fibrous tissue, skin, nerves, and blood vessels. They are generally found only on male ...
s buried in the wetland, indicating that moose once lived there. In a 1925 book by Francis R. Cope, the author referred to the wetland as "a little oasis in the desert."
In the early 1900s, parts of Tamarack Swamp were damaged by
logging
Logging is the process of cutting, processing, and moving trees to a location for transport. It may include skidding, on-site processing, and loading of trees or logs onto trucks or skeleton cars.
Logging is the beginning of a supply chain ...
and development.
Logging was conducted as late as the 1940s, when Hicks Jennings cut down the only remaining virgin spruce in Tamarack Swamp.
By 1947, the tamarack and black spruce trees in the wetland were significantly less healthy than they had been around 1900.
In the 1990s, the
Western Pennsylvania Conservancy added over 9400 acres to
Sproul State Forest
Sproul State Forest is a Pennsylvania state forest in Pennsylvania Bureau of Forestry District #10. The main offices are located in Renovo, Pennsylvania in Clinton County in the United States.
The forest is located in western Clinton County an ...
, including Tamarack Swamp.
There are plans to develop the Tamarack Swamp area, including plans to drill for
oil and
natural gas in the wetland.
Natural gas pipelines have been laid in the swamp.
The land that Tamarack Swamp is situated on has multiple owners.
See also
*
List of bogs
This is a list of bogs, wetland mires that accumulate peat from dead plant material, usually sphagnum moss. Bogs are sometimes called quagmires (technically all bogs are quagmires while not all quagmires are necessarily bogs) and the soil which co ...
References
{{Protected Areas of Pennsylvania
Appalachian bogs
Landforms of Clinton County, Pennsylvania
Bogs of Pennsylvania