Ecologists want you — to explore and help save a natural oddity.
The oddity, a swatch of serpentine barrens called Goat Hill Public Wildlife Sanctuary, lies just over the Fulton Township line, along Red Pump Road in Chester County.
A public hike has been scheduled there from 1 to 4 p.m. Sunday, April 27.
The walk is being led by Mike Bertram, of Valley Forge, and hosted by the Friends of the State-Line Serpentine Barrens, a new group formed to protect the fragile, sparsely vegetated tract.
The Friends organization is a collaboration of local partners with The Nature Conservancy, the Forestry Bureau and the Pennsylvania Parks and Forest Foundation.
Goat Hill is owned by the state and The Nature Conservancy.
Threats to it abound.
Because the wildfires that helped maintain the unique environment have been suppressed, said The Nature Conservancy's Molly Anderson, "The forests are ... taking over these grassland habitats."
Invasive plants have taken hold, and trespassers have scarred the ground with all-terrain vehicles.
Local citizens have long helped protect the area, said Marci Mowery of the Parks and Forest Foundation.
She added that Rose Chase, a Nottingham resident who decades ago spearheaded the preservation of Goat Hill, will receive the foundation's 2008 Keystone Legacy Award.
The sanctuary is part of a chain of serpentine barrens that extends through Lancaster, Chester and Delaware counties and into Maryland. Such barrens are globally rare.
They occur in areas where chromium and nickel from the light-green serpentine rock retard normal plant growth.
Filling the gap are adaptive flora and fauna, such as the pitch pine and the whippoorwill, a declining bird species that prefers mixed forest and open land.
To register and get directions for the hike, contact Anderson at molly_anderson@tnc.org or 232-6001, ext. 117.
Jon Rutter is a staff writer for the Sunday News. His e-mail address is jrutter@lnpnews.com.
