As new residents move into the growing Grays Woods community, a recent species survey identifies rare flora and fauna that already call the Patton Township development home.
The Eastern Spadefoot Toad, which finds a home in wetlands, is hard to track because it’s often underground. Experts said they live in Grays Woods wetlands.
Throughout a 43-acre tract reserved for the planned community’s neighborhood park, more than six acres of wetland vernal pools contain teeming ecosystems of insects, amphibians and plants.
An original sketch plan for Grays Woods provided by developers Dan Hawbaker and Bob Poole showed fields interspersed throughout this wetland complex.
Last year, ClearWater Conservancy sent Patton Township a letter asking officials to tread carefully in developing the 43-acre site near Gray’s Woods Elementary School.
Patton Township hired Wilson Ecological Consulting to do a survey of the site. The final report was presented at a Patton Township Board of Supervisors meeting last week.
Wilson observed the site between March and October. The results yielded 120 wildlife species and 235 types of plants, including the nationally endangered northeastern bulrush.
Found in small wetlands, the bulrush’s stem sometimes reaches 47 inches tall and is topped by clusters of brown flowers surrounded by six rigid bristles, according to the state Department of Conservation and Natural Resources website.
In addition, the site was labeled as a possible habitat for the eastern spade-foot toad, a species on Pennsylvania’s endangered list.
Manager Doug Erickson said the township must now work with the state Fish and Boat Commission to determine an actual presence of this difficult- to-spot amphibian, which spends much of its life underground.
And the supervisors won’t allow developers to “go willy nilly in there and bulldoze everything flat,” said Supervisor Walt Wise.
Because of species concerns, the township will likely find six to ten acres of the land for safe development of amenities such as sports fields and playgrounds, and provide trails through the wetland areas, Erickson said.
Preserving the wetlands provides a learning opportunity for students at the nearby elementary school, said Supervisor Bryce Boyer.
Several planned regional facilities at Hess Field, Whitehall Road and Oak Hall will likely provide ample sports fields to support the population.
“We’ll have to look very carefully at what the need is there,” Boyer said. “This one, cost-wise, would be a lot more beneficial to people to be used as a nature-centered type park.”
A 300-foot buffer between park development and wetlands is sufficient to protect most amphibian species, which spend their lives in and around vernal pools, said ClearWater Conservancy conservation biologist Katie Ombalski.
But the buffer isn’t required by law, she said.
Other species of concern identified in the habitat don’t require any special protection, either, Ombalski said, because they don’t appear on state or federal endangered species lists.
Such species include the great blue heron and several species of dragonfly and damselfly.
“You don’t want to see a species get listed,” Ombalski said. “Although they don’t receive the same level of protection, we are hoping that the township prioritizes those as an important resource, because they are uncommon.”