Background In our earlier Blog, “Formation of the Falls Run Gorge,” we discussed the potential dynamics of how the Gorge and Falls formed during the end of the Laurentide Ice Age over 12,000 years ago. Further review of literature on similar gorges in Ohio and New York allowed us to refine these dynamics further andContinue reading “The Portage Escarpment”
Category Archives: Conservation
Hillside
Prologue: Last week the Girl Scouts of America received a record donation of $84.5 million from Philanthropist MacKenzie Scott. Among other uses, the grant is meant to “create more equitable membership opportunities in communities that have been under-engaged” and “foster meaningful program innovation informed by the current interests and needs of girls to prepare themContinue reading “Hillside”
American Chestnut
In an earlier blog, Old-Growth Forests, we described how an unbroken forest stretched across eastern North America from Canada to Florida and west to the Great Plains before America was settled by Europeans in the 1600s. In that forest, the predominant tree was the American Chestnut, Castanea dentata, dominating vast portions of the eastern U.S.Continue reading “American Chestnut”
Old-Growth Forests
Have you ever walked in an old-growth forest? Probably not, as in the Eastern United States, almost all of that majestic forest was clear-cut by 1920. However, before Europeans arrived in North America that old growth forest stretched totally unbroken, from Florida to Maine and west to the Great Plains, as the virgin forest mapContinue reading “Old-Growth Forests”
History of Franklin Township
While most history of the northwestern corner of Pennsylvania starts with settlers coming across a remote, untraveled forest, in reality, this land may have once been the ancestral home to indigenous people and the original stewards of what we now call Howard Falls. In the coming years, we hope to explore and research the indigenousContinue reading “History of Franklin Township”
Howard Falls vs Suburban Sprawl
As mentioned in a previous blog (Early Scientific Research at Howard Falls) the remoteness of Franklin Township delayed its settlement compared to other areas of Erie County. In the 1820’s the area was still very sparsely settled. There were no bridges over Elk Creek, none of the roads present today even existed, and the only roadContinue reading “Howard Falls vs Suburban Sprawl”