Pennsylvania Code › Title 25 - ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION › Part I - Department of Environmental Protection › Subpart A - Preliminary Provisions › Article I - Administrative Provisions › Chapter 9 - ENVIRONMENTAL MASTER PLAN › Subchapter D - POLICIES FOR NATURAL AREAS › GENERAL PROVISIONS › Section 9.301 - Background

Current through Register Vol. 54, No. 28, July 13, 2024
(a) The main effort
						  by the Commonwealth to achieve and maintain a desired level of environmental
						  quality has been in response to existing and potential pollution of the air,
						  land and water resources vital to the health and welfare of the general public.
						  Periodic crises created by conflicts between unplanned human activities and the
						  finite assimilative capacities of these natural resources have done much to
						  shape environmental priorities. The need for clean air and water and values
						  derived from them is immediate and clear. However, the continued maintenance of
						  the environmental quality of this Commonwealth requires a broadening of this
						  environmental perspective to include other needs that may not be as immediate
						  or conspicuous to most people as air and water pollution but that are equally
						  important in the long term. One such aspect is the need to retain the diversity
						  of the natural heritage of this Commonwealth.
(b) The natural environment of this
						  Commonwealth has undergone dramatic transformation since 1776. The abundant
						  natural resources found throughout this Commonwealth served as economic
						  stimulants for statewide growth and development. Today, Pennsylvania is the
						  fourth most populous state in the Union, the second-ranking industrial state,
						  the third largest producer of coal, and the fourth in mineral production. This
						  level of growth and intensity of resource use in a state ranked 33rd in land
						  area has had a significant impact on the composition and character of the
						  original environment. Only about 2.0% of the presettlement landscape remains
						  essentially unaltered or has reestablished a biological composition similar to
						  presettlement conditions.
(c) From
						  this small percentage of relatively undisturbed land and from those lands where
						  natural conditions have been restored are sites containing components of the
						  natural diversity of this Commonwealth commonly referred to as natural areas. A
						  natural area is a tract of land or water or a combination of land and water,
						  containing representative or unusual communities or ecosystems of plants and
						  animals, rare and endangered species or outstanding geologic, hydrologic or
						  topographic features. These areas are in public or private ownership, are
						  managed primarily to maintain natural processes, and are of scientific or
						  educational interest. Together natural areas should provide a system of
						  protected reserves for preserving all components of natural diversity in this
						  Commonwealth. Natural areas include but are not limited to such things as the
						  following:
(1) Habitats of rare, threatened or
						  endangered plant and animal species.
(2) Unique, unusual or outstanding
						  concentrations or diversities of plants or animals.
(3) Representative examples of plant or
						  animal communities of presettlement origin or present day conditions.
(4) Geologic and hydrologic features of
						  special interest.
(5) Topographic
						  features illustrative of representative or unique biogeological
						  patterns.