Part of Somerset County in 1876 (Koontz 1906)

A statewide “scalp act” was passed in 1885 to increase bounties on weasels, hawks and owls, but was repealed two years later because of bounty fraud and complaints about bird slaughter. 180,000 hawks and owls had been killed. In 1896 the state’s first Game Commissioners were appointed.

At the turn of the Century the commercial logging boom was in full swing with the beginning of the E.V. Babcock Lumber Company mill. The Somerset County population in 1900 was 49,416.

In 1898 The Somerset County House of Employment was re-opened as the Somerset County Hospital for patients who were mentally ill (Lepley, 1996).

The county’s first firetower, at Bald Knob, was erected by the Pennsylvania Department of Forests and Waters in 1913. The following year, the last passenger pigeon died in captivity at the Cincinnati Zoo.

In 1920 the first State Game Lands, 6,288 acres, were purchased in Elk County. Pennsylvania’s first antlerless deer season took place in two Franklin County townships in 1923. The Bakersville Trout Nursery was established in 1925.

A severe drought occurred in Somerset County from May 1930 until March 1931. That same year, the ruffed grouse became the official state game bird. Gypsy moths first appeared in the state in 1932, defoliating trees in parts of Lackawanna and Luzerne Counties.

In 1934 the first beaver trapping season in 31 years took place. Laurel Hill State Park was established in 1935, as well as the federal Soil Conservation Service.

By 1946 the Somerset State Hospital had 365 acres under cultivation to help feed its approximately 500 patients. This institution was closed in 1979 and eventually became the site for a new state prison.

The PA turnpike, which passes through the northern portion of the Kimberly Run watershed, was opened for traffic in 1935.

A Pennsylvania rabies outbreak caused 241 reported cases of the disease in 1951. The US Fish & Wildlife Service was established in 1956. In 1961 Pennsylvania’s state’s first deer check station was operated.

recent

In 2001 the Somerset County Conservancy purchased a 260-acre parcel of surplus state land at Kimberly Run (Figure 5). This culminated an effort of several years, and was achieved with the assistance and support of the Somerset County Commissioners and state legislators - State Representative’s William Lloyd, Bob Bastian, State Senator Richard A. Kasunic, and County Commissioners James C. Marker, Brad Cober and Pamela Tokar-Ickes.

Following the land acquisition, SCC applied for a matching grant for preserve planning, called a Community Conservation Partnership Grant, through the Pennsylvania Department of Conservation & Natural Resources. Grant funding was approved in 2002.

In 2003 SCC purchased a small, undeveloped property along two-lane Rt. 219, in order to keep open options for future preserve access from the west. The tract (map # 012-144-002) is 0.723 acres. Also in 2003, Kimberly Run Preserve was designated as one of Pennsylvania’s Important Mammal Areas (IMA) by the Pennsylvania Biological Survey.

INVENTORY