Leonard Harrison State Park - Ecology

Ecology

Descriptions from early explorers and settlers give some idea of what the Pine Creek Gorge was like before it was clearcut. The forest was up to 85 percent hemlock and white pine, with the rest hardwoods. Many animal species that are now vanished inhabited the area. A herd of 12,000 American Bison migrated along the West Branch Susquehanna River in 1773. Pine Creek was home to large predators such as Wolves, Lynx, Wolverines, Panthers, Fishers, foxes and Bobcats, all save the last three now locally extinct. The area had herds of Elk and deer, and large numbers of Black Bears, River Otters, and Beavers. In 1794, two of the earliest white explorers to travel up Pine Creek found so many rattlesnakes on its banks that they had to sleep in their canoe. Further upstream, insects forced them to do the same.

The virgin forests cooled the land and streams. Centuries of accumulated organic matter in the forest soil caused slow percolation of rainfall into the creeks and runs, so they flowed more evenly year-round. Pine Creek was home to large numbers of fish, including trout, but dams downstream on the Susquehanna River have eliminated the shad, salmon, and eels once found in the creek. The clearcutting of forests destroyed habitat for animals, but there was also a great deal of hunting, with bounties paid for large predators.