Characterization and Assessment of the Floristic Resources in Evansburg State Park, Montgomery County, Pennsylvania.

The central feature of Evansburg State Park is a 12.9 kilometer stretch of Skippack Creek that from a very focused perspective looks much the way it did three centuries ago before European settlers arrived. However, just beyond the narrow fringe of riparian vegetation the landscape is fragmented into small parcels of regenerated forest surrounded by agricultural land, shrub thickets, suburban development, and a well-developed network of roads. The floristic resources of the park are greatly stressed by a variety of competing uses making it difficult for the native vegetation to recover and regain its natural diversity. The lack of baseline documentation for the floristic resources has hindered the ability of land managers to develop a coordinated long-term strategy for the rehabilitation of the native flora. For this study, extensive field data collection occurred simultaneously with community mapping, the development of vegetation classifications, an assessment of the quality of regenerated forests, and an analysis of recovery potential. This report offers a fairly thorough assessment of the botanical and ecological value of the site and provides specific recommendations towards the restoration of natural habitat.