Plant ID walk kicks off September community science bioblitz at Centre Co.'s Musser Gap Greenway

Cat Pugh, an agroforestry educator with the Penn State Extension, offers a variety of Plant Walk programs across different public spaces in the state.

Riverkeeper note: This overview was written by West Branch Regional Director Andrew Bechdel. You can contact him directly at [email protected].  
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The second annual Musser Gap Greenway September Bioblitz kicked off last Wednesday with a guided plant walk at the Musser Gap Greenway in Centre County.

Cat Pugh, an agroforestry educator with the Penn State Extension, led participants through a regenerating streamside buffer along Slab Cabin Run, teaching the basics of plant ID and showcasing native trees and shrubs including black walnut, redbud, and swamp white oak, buttonbush, dogwood and goldenrod.

For the remainder of month, volunteers and plant enthusiasts can identify plants and submit their observations to the Musser Gap Greenway September Bioblitz project via iNaturalist.

Community Science projects, such as the Musser Gap Greenway September Bioblitz, leverage volunteer support to identify as many as species as possible over a given period of time. This could be a single day, week or month.

Volunteers can join the project by visiting the iNaturalist project homepage - Musser Gap Greenway September Bioblitz · iNaturalist.

For those new to using iNaturalist, you can download the app, create an account, and join the ‘Musser Gap Greenway September Bioblitz’ to begin submitting observations. For those unfamiliar with plant identification, iNaturalist even has a tool to help narrow the list of possible species using the photo ID.

How does this help conservation? An understanding of the plant species helps inform land conservation managers, such as Clearwater Conservancy, who manage the regenerating buffer along the stream. Clearwater is currently facilitating the process of turning this once open streamside into a shaded forest.

Jill Barskey, the Streamside Projects Coordinator at Clearwater Conservancy, emphasized the importance that these plant communities have to water quality protection wildlife.

“The streamside forest buffer, or riparian buffer, is an important type of ecosystem located in the floodplain of water bodies such as ponds, lakes and streams," said Jill Barskey, Streamside Projects Coordinator at the Clearwater Conservancy. "These streamside forests allow for groundwater recharge, erosion mitigation and creates vital habitat for native wildlife, insects and aquatic organisms.

Barksey added that native plants were essential to our ecosystems because they “Support insects, wildlife and aquatic life. Without native plant species, we lack a critical diversity in the insect and wildlife communities (because these) organisms have evolved over time to utilize the native plant species.”
 
Among some of the other plant species along this section of Slab Cabin Run are buttonbush, silky and gray dogwood, and goldenrod. These native plant species are important host species for insects and provide forage for a variety of wildlife and birds. In many areas, stream banks are crowded out with unproductive non-native and invasive species.

“Clean, healthy streams are a haven and a hub for plants and wildlife, and they all influence each other," said Musser Gap Greenway Conservation Director Mike Toolan. "You’re not likely to have a healthy stream without a healthy plant community and the quality of both of those systems will influence the abundance and variety of wildlife."

According to Toolan, the community science opportunity during the September bioblitz is a very important opportunity for anyone who cares about our natural resources.

“Those who spend leisure time outside have the potential to be ambassadors for these conservation practices because they influence the way public spaces are managed simply by using them,” he said.

Interested volunteers have until Sept. 30 to visit the Musser Gap Greenway along Route 45 in Centre County to submit the observations of tree and plant species along Slab Cabin Run. 

Learn more at ​Musser Gap Greenway September Bioblitz · iNaturalist