Essay Example on Middle Creek Wildlife Management Area

Middle Creek Wildlife Area

It is located at the border of Lebanon ad Lancaster.

Is your time best spent reading someone else’s essay? Get a 100% original essay FROM A CERTIFIED WRITER!

Order now

It is approximately 128 km Northwest of Philadelphia

40.270882 N 76.25001 (Pennsylvania Game Commission, 2011).

BIOTIC COMPONENTS PROPERTY

A 400-acre human-made lake, embankment, and a 70 acres of pond.

6,254 acre ecosystem

Cultivated and Fallow Fields

Woodlands of oak-hickory and red cedar

ANIMALS

280 species of wild birds including Canadian and Snow Geese, Tundra Swans, Mallards, Black, Wood and Ruddy Ducks, Hooded Merganser, Bufflehead, Blue-Winged Teal, Coot, Gadwall, Northern Pintail, American Wigeon and Northern Shoveler.

Middle Creek’s habitat is unique in its predator-prey complex including Eastern Coyotes, Red Foxes, Northern Short-tailed Shrews and Meadow Voles.

The farmland areas include Cottontail Rabbits, Ringneck Pheasants and Bobwhite Quail. The forests area has many Whitetail Deer and Gray and Red Squirrels.

Hundreds of different wild-flowers during spring and summer.

ABIOTIC COMPONENTS

Average annual temperature 52.2c

Average Annual Snowfall 24.43 inches

Average Annual Precipitation

44.14 inches

Annual Average Humidity 75.48% (Pennsylvania Game Commission, 2011).

CURRENT HUMAN IMPACTS

The increasing popularity of seasonal visitors coming to Middle Creek to observe the migration of snow geese has been a growing threat.

Visitors on the main road too early in the season have been shown to disrupt waterfowl nesting efforts.

Residential development has consumed some of the fields that swans depend upon for feeding.

Developing has also caused water quality issues include runoff and increased soil erosion.

Middle Creek Wildlife Preserve

Middle Creek is managed by the Pennsylvania Game Commission and it has established policies to protect wildlife from human ECOSYSTEM disturbances.

PGC restricts road access to sensitive areas of waterfowl.

PGC controls the numbers of resident geese by only permitting seasonal and designated hunting and trapping.

Conservation practices to maintain water quality include terracing to retard siltation and prevent soil erosion.

Middle Creek considers its partnerships with conservation organizations a valuable tool. The Lancaster County Bird Club assists with educational and interpretive efforts. The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service along with the Chesapeake Bay Foundation have been instrumental in its efforts to restore wetlands to improve waterfowl and surrounding wildlife.

Reference

Pennsylvania Game Commission.(2011). The Middle Creek Story.