Unconventional Gas Pipeline Right-of-Way Influence on Wildlife

Abstract

The development of horizontal drilling for natural gas in the Marcellus Shale in 2004 resulted in rapid exploitation of the play in the Appalachian Basin. This “unconventional” gas well drilling accesses resources deeper beneath the surface and allows for multiple wells to be co-located on a single well pad. This results in fewer, but larger, well pads on the landscape than traditional vertical wells. Pipelines are required to transport the volumes of gas produced by unconventional wells to production facilities and market. The effects of gathering pipelines, which transport gas from well pads to larger transport pipelines, are poorly studied compared to other types of disturbance. This study evaluated how ruffed grouse (Bonasa umbellus), salamanders and snakes, and pollinators use pipeline right-of-ways (ROW) in a forested environment. Forested areas of Appalachia have undergone forest maturation and young forest habitat has declined. This habitat modification led to declines of ruffed grouse and pollinator species. Although ROWs increase forest fragmentation in large forest patches, they must be maintained as herbaceous vegetation to protect pipeline integrity. The goals of this research were to determine how variation in ROW reclamation influences wildlife use of these ROWs. Difference in use can provide recommendations that enable ROWs to provide the most benefit to these species, and if they could act as an analogue for early successional habitat. All research was conducted on the Tiadaghton State Forest and Game Commission Game Lands 12, two land parcels in North-Central Pennsylvania managed by the state. These areas are heavily forested and contain a network of natural gas ROW that varied in age, width, and reclamation. Surveys from ruffed grouse and pollinators were conducted on these sites from May –August 2019 and 2020. Cover boards used to sample for reptiles and amphibians were deployed in summer 2019 and surveyed from May — August 2020. Too few ruffed grouse were observed during surveys to perform analysis, but incidental observations of white-tailed deer (Odocoileus virginianus) and eastern wild turkeys (Meleagris gallopavo) on ROWs suggests that they provide some benefits to these species. Eastern red backed salamanders (Plethodon cinereus) were used as a case study to examine the effects of the ROW on forest salamanders. Salamander occupancy increased as distance from the ROW edge increased, due to the negative effects of edge. Occupancy overall decreased as ROW age increased, and occupancy at all distances from the ROW edge decreased as ROW age increased.