webinar august final.reducedcompresses

8/3/2019 Webinar August Final.reducedcompresses

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A Research Update on the Effects of

Marcellus Shale exploration and developmenton wildlife habitat and birdsPRELIMINARY RESULTS

Margaret Brittingham


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Number of permits andwells drilled is increasing

exponentially

0

1000

2000

3000

4000

5000

6000

7000

2005 2006 2007 2008 2009 2010 2011

Year

N

umberwells

Permits

Wells Drilled


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Research Objectives

Use a GIS analysis to quantifylandscape elements and forest cover

pre and post Marcellus Determine local effects of well pads

on songbird populations

Determine landscape effects ofMarcellus development on birds


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Our study is focused in a 11 county region in theNorthcentral part of the state where foresthabitat is most abundant


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We focused on foresthabitat in the NC regionof the state because ofthe overlap between theMarcellus formation andcore forest habitat and

the importance of thiscore forest to wildlife


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Diversity of mammals is highest withinthe NC region of Core forest

Joly and Myers 2001


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Pennsylvania is a keystone state for many

forest interior and area sensitive species

Scarlet tanager 19% of Popin PA

Wood thrush 9% of pop

in PA


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Hunting, Ecotourism,Aesthetics, Recreationare important in this

region of the state> $5.5 Billion annually


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Gas well development changes the landscape


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Areas are cleared for the well pad


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Completed padstabilized withstone


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Locally, seismic testing, roads andpipelines create linear corridors


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We conducted a GIS analysis using availablepermit/drilled data, before and after photos,

ground truthing, and on the groundmeasurements to describe landscape change.Collaborators: Joe Bishop, Patrick Drohan,

Kevin Yoder

3147 wells 11% on public land, 89%private land

2017 pads 6% on public land, 94 %private land


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Mean well pad size is 4.9 acres

n= 29 well pads NC PA

X= 2.0 + 0.2 ha(4.9 acres)

Range 0.6 6.4

ha(1.5-15.5 acres)


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6-74-52-31

35

30

25

20

15

10

5

0

Number of Well per Pad

PercentofWellPads

Number of wells per pad

(n=26)


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Based on ~February 1, 2011 PADEP data,

wells drilled to date.

Prior land use where well was drilled


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5262 total acres

HabitatConversion

from 1190Marcelluspads in NC

region

Forest

PastureRow Crops

Developed


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Breeding bird atlas blocks were used as oursampling unit - Approximately 3.1 X 3.1 miles (6,400acres,2590 ha)

Used in first and second PA BBA project

Habitat data tied to animal abundance and distribution

W l l t d f t ti i d f bl k


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We calculated a fragmentation index for blocksin study area (Brooks et al.2009). Scoreranges from 0 (highly fragmented) to 1 (low or

no fragmentation) Index includes:

% Forest

% core forest Mean patch size Impervious surfaces

Land development index Road density For our blocks, correlation between

Fragmentation index and % forest 0.92


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2nd PA Breeding Bird Atlas Wilson and Brauning

275 blocks in studyarea ranked in top 5or 10 % for state

Mean Fragmentationscores = 0.85+0.006

Range 0.59-1.00

75% >0.78


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Fragmentation index with well pads added


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Change in number of BBA blocks byfragmentation index

Category Pre-Marcellus

PostMarcellus2011

% Change

Dark Green0.856-1.00

219 201 8%

Light +Dark Green0.768-1.0

403 388 4%


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For select blocks wemapped the entire

infrastructure


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Local Effects of Well Pads on BirdAbundance and Distribution

14 well pad sites in 6 counties

11 private land, 3 public land

122 points surveyed twice Birds surveyed for 6 min within 50 m of

point

66 points within 50 m of pad

56 points 150-250 m from pad


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57 species recorded. 15 Speciesgreater than 15 observations

Compared distribution near versusfar from pad


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Category AwayNear

30

25

20

15

10

5

0

Num

berofObservations

Expected

Observed

Black-throated Blue Warbler

Ten species were significantly more abundantaway from well pads than near well pads

2 =24.52,

p< 0.001


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Category AwayNear

20

15

10

5

0

NumberofObserva

tions

Expected

Observed

Blue-headed Vireo

Category AwayNear

40

30

20

10

0

NumberofObserv

ations

Expected

Observed

Ovenbird

2

=16.72, p< 0.001

2 =10.31,p = 0.001


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One species was significantly more abundantnear well pads than away from well pads

Category AwayNear

14

12

10

8

6

4

2

0

Numb

erofObservations

Expected

Observed

American Robin

2 =7.23 ,

p=0.007


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Ten Species were only found near wellpads and not away from well pads


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Ten Species were only found away from wellpads and not near well pads


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Determine landscape level effects ofMarcellus Development on Birds

Survey BBA blocksand mini-blocks(1/9th block) withdifferent levels ofMarcellus activity

Plan to compare bird

communities amongblocks and pre andpost Marcellus


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Well pad density by blocks andmini-blocks

Blocks:

Well pad density =0.00-0.57/km2

Mini- blocks:Well pad density =0.00-1.1/km2


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36 blocks and 24 mini-blocks surveyed

368 point counts

105 species, 3,400 individuals

Most common red-eyed vireo (344)and ovenbird(342)

Data analysis will occur this fall

Wh t ff t ill i li h ildlif


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What effects will pipelines have on wildlifecommunities? 60,000 new miles of pipeline are

predicted

Pi li


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Pipe lines actas barriers

to dispersalfor somespecies

Spotted Salamander

And asavenues

for invasionfor others

Bown-headed Cowbird


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Others use them as pathways fortravel or hunting

Raccon or opposum

D di h th m d i li


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Depending on how they are managed, pipelinesmay provide brood habitat or nesting habitat

currently limiting some species or may function

as ecological traps


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PipelineAdjacentto Road

Length(meters)

Yes 14386

No 5651


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Length

(meters)

Area(meters2)

Newroads

3611 22533

Roadswidened 4112 26870

Nochange

12313 94138


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Roads vary in habitatquality


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Traffic Changes Bradford County

3101

35653691 3947

63046008

5706

6726

0

1000

2000

3000

4000

5000

6000

7000

SR 14, Seg 0310South of Troy

SR 6, Seg 0320West of Burlington

SR 6, Seg 0420East of Burlington

SR 6, Seg 0500West of SR 220 & Towanda

Traffic 5-Year Average vs. 2010 Counts

5-Year Total Traffic Average

5-Year Truck Traffic

2010 Total Traffic Average

2010 Truck Traffic

310

1300

247

1460

274

1260

277

967

Source: PennDOT Engineering District 3-0

R ff d d i


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Ruffed grouse are edge specieswith specialized habitatrequirements

+ Open areas for feeding,insects, brood habitat

+ Possible increase in earlysuccessional and edgehabitat

-Increase in number ofmammalian predators

-Increase in disturbance-Increase in roads

Ruffed Grouse

Effects of development on


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Effects of development onturkeys will depends on localconditions and restoration

activities+ Open areas for

feeding, insects, seeds

-Loss of thermal cover,destruction of springseeps, increase in

number of mammalianpredators, increase indisturbance

Wild Turkey

D d pt bl nd ill


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Deer are very adaptable and willbenefit from openings but not

from traffic and higher huntingpressure

+ Open areas forfeeding

-Increase inroads, higherhunting pressure

White-tailed deer Identify and protect important habitat


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Identify and protect important habitatfeatures prior to development

Provide private landowners with


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Provide private landowners withassistance at the site development

stage and for pad and pipeline

restoration


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Protect critical core forest

habitat

Manage pipelines and corridors to create


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Manage pipelines and corridors to createhabitat that is not an ecological trap

Restore pads and minimize the amount


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Restore pads and minimize the amountof time that pads are non-habitat.
http://www.flickr.com/photos/neprwa/3597395241/in/photostream


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Monitor the land andreport problems

Participate in research

and monitoringprograms developed todetermine howpopulations are

responding to changes

Form broad coalitions with natural resource


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Form broad coalitions with natural resourcerelated individuals and organizations


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Special thanks to Penn State collaboratorsJ. Bishop, P. Drohan and S. Pabian

and to students working on this project E.Barton, N. Fronk, K. Yoder


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We thank the following organizationsand programs for research support

Marcellus Center for Outreach and Research(MCOR) Marcellus Research Seed GrantProgram

Heinz Endowments

PA DCNR Wild Resource ConservationProgram

Pennsylvania Game Commission State WildlifeGrants Program

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