Pennsylvania Game News - February 2009 - 23

BLACK-EYED susans and other native wildflowers and grasses are naturalizing in the unmowed fields. was needed. There is little time to waste when working with a species experiencing steep population declines. In Pennsylvania, large grasslands have become a critically rare habitat over the past few decades. Urban sprawl and development are replacing our agricultural lands by approximately 200 acres every day in Pennsylvania. As urban sprawl consumes more land, agricultural land use intensifies. Hay fields are mowed from May through November — during the bird nesting season. Pastures are intensively grazed, and cropland is doublecropped. Idle, fallow and retired fields, which once were common, are now rare. As a result, grassland bird populations have declined more than any other group of bird species in the past 30 years. For example, in the past three decades, northern bobwhite quail have declined by 95 percent, upland sandpiper by 90 percent, grasshopper sparrow by 80 percent and eastern meadowlark by 80 percent. Randy knew the Hopewell Township managers and the YCSWA folks and put me in touch with them in hopes of protecting this rare grassland bird, its habitat and other grassland wildlife. The YCSWA already had plans to develop the area into a community recreation facility but they worked enthusiastically to modify their plans to include the wildlife community. Then, in 2006, they asked me to visit and develop Local birder, RANDY PHILLIPS, planted a seed, so to speak, when he documented a sedge wren nesting in one of the YCSWA hayfields. Here he checks a bluebird box on the landfill property. a wildlife habitat management plan for the property through the PGC’s Private Landowner Assistance Program. I was impressed by the YCSWA’s Operations & Environmental Programs Coordinator, Richard Hazenstab’s enthusiasm for wildlife and genuine desire to provide quality wildlife habitat on the site. The wildlife habitat plan was shepherded by Dave Vollero, Executive Director, who fully supported the plan and viewed it as a valuable enhancement to the site and the community. Once the final plan was complete, it was presented to the YCSWA board of directors, and they accepted it. The result is a comprehensive plan that provides grassland habitat for wildlife right along side a recreation complex for human residents. Mowing was curtailed so the grassland could begin to develop and a picnic pavilion, playground and walking trails opened in March 2008, a baseball/softball field and multipurpose field opened in September 2008. Jim Gillis, Wildlife Biologist for the Natural Resource Conservation Service (NRCS), reiterates how important the former landfill property is for grassland birds, “The YCSWA site is unique for a number of reasons. First, in terms of publicly accessible, FEBRUARY 2009 23

Pennsylvania Game News - February 2009

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