Wetlands observation site built in Fulton Co.

December 26, 1999

From staff reports

HARRISONVILLE, Pa. - Conservation groups, bird watchers, school groups and motorists will be able to stop and watch the wildlife at a wetlands observation deck recently completed by state workers in Fulton County.

Built by the Pennsylvania departments of Transportation and Conservation and Natural Resources, the observation deck overlooks the Haines-Seville Wetlands Restoration Area in Licking Creek Township.

The deck is about a mile and a half south of Harrisonville on Pa. 655, according to a Department of Transportation news release.

Department of Conservation and Natural Resources personnel built the deck with materials provided by the Department of Transportation, according to the news release.

The wetland site is part of the Department of Transportation's Advance Wetland Compensation Program, which creates wetland acreage to replace wetlands that will be disturbed or destroyed by future bridge and road projects.

The new wetland acreage can be used as a credit against acreage that will be displaced by new construction.

The cost of building the advance wetland site was about $1,400 an acre, according Department of Transportation Environmental Specialist Bill Savage.

When wetland sites are created after a road project, the cost can run from $50,000 to $100,000 an acre, he said.

"In addition to being more economical, we try to establish wetland sites that will be large enough to provide a wide variety of fish and wildlife species," Savage said.

The addition of the observation deck makes the site accessible to school and conservation groups.

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