As past president and a current board member of the Pennsylvania Native Plant Society (PNPS), I was dismayed to learn of the ill-advised clearing of intact forest downslope of Chimney Rocks by Hollidaysburg Borough.

For almost 50 years, the society has advocated for the conservation of native plants and habitat and promoted the increased use of native plants in the landscape.

I believe I speak for all of our members, as well as the over 17,000 plus plant enthusiasts who are part of our Facebook group, when I say these actions were not only wholly unnecessary, but will leave a long-lasting scar on this treasured natural area.

Many studies have shown that clear-cutting is a vector for the establishment and subsequent spread of invasive plants.

In Central Pennsylvania and throughout the commonwealth, one can easily find examples of natural areas where disturbance has resulted in the proliferation of non-native invasive plants.

These foreign invaders provide scant habitat for native insects, birds and other wildlife.

Some, like burning bush, honeysuckle and privet, form dense thickets that dominate the understory in forests, preventing the establishment and growth of native vegetation and resulting in sterile wastelands.

The damage these invaders cause can have wide-ranging repercussions.

Privet, for example, has been shown to decrease crucial fungal associations with native plants, reducing the biomass of native shrubs and overall native biomass.

Fungal repression was shown to continue even after privet had been removed.

Both burning bush and privet also prohibit regeneration and recruitment of native forest trees.

Where regeneration has been suppressed, forests give way to pure stands of non-native shrubs once the existing overstory trees die.

This “arrested development” of forest growth will have significant implications for future forests in Pennsylvania.

While it is too late to undo the damage done to the forest at Chimney Rocks, we encourage the borough to consider all potential outcomes before they decide to “improve” another natural area.

Intensive monitoring of the cleared area is both warranted and encouraged, followed by expedient removal of any invasive plants.

Planting native low-growing trees and shrubs will also help the area recover more quickly while maintaining the view.

Our website, https://www.panativeplantsociety.org, provides many resources that can help in the conservation of the borough’s natural areas while preventing the spread of invasives.

Sarah Chamberlain

State College