Joseph E. Ibberson Conservation Area - The Forest

The Forest

Peters Mountain was once covered with an old-growth forest of white pine and hemlock trees. These trees were cut down during the lumber era that swept throughout the mountains of Pennsylvania during the mid to late 19th century. The largely coniferous forest was replaced by the mixture of hardwood trees that are seen today at the Joseph E. Ibberson Conservation Area. The common tree species are chestnut, red, black and scarlet oak, table mountain, white, and Virginia pine, hickory, black gum, basswood, black walnut, black birch, black cherry, sassafras, black locust, red maple, and American beech. This wide variety of trees species creates a habitat for a wide variety of woodland creatures, such as the White-tailed deer, American Black Bear, Wild Turkey, grey and red squirrels, Ruffed Grouse and a wide variety of birds.

The forest could be slowly changing from a deciduous forest back to the coniferous forest that it was before it was logged. The gypsy moth caterpillar caused widespread damage in the forests of Pennsylvania during the 1980s. These caterpillars feasted on the green leaves in the spring and summer and left the treetops bare. This allowed sunlight to reach the forest floor where the seeds of the white pine and hemlock had long lain dormant for want of sunlight. Now thousands of hemlock and white pine seedlings are pushing their way up and may possibly overtake the standing hardwoods.