Nittany Valley

Nittany Valley is the intermountain region of Centre and Huntingdon counties, lying between Tussey Mountain and Bald Eagle Mountain, and drained by Spruce, Spring and Little Fishing creeks. It is significant because of its underlying geology of the Gatesburg and limestone bedrock formations.

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Nittany Valley lies precisely at the geographic center of Pennsylvania in Centre and Huntingdon counties between two long mountain ridges: Bald Eagle Mountain and Tussey Mountain. Biodiversity significance is not as much on these mountains, as within the intermountain lowlands. Here the bedrock geology is composed of multiple limestones and the rare gravelly Gatesburg Formation.

This is one of the most unique landscapes in the state and includes a mixture of pitch pine-scrub oak sand barrens habitat, dotted with vernal pools; the Spring Creek valley with its alkaline soils, limestone cliffs and rich vegetation; karst (cave permeated) valleys underlain with limestone aquifers, sinkholes and solutional caves. The outflows from groundwater reserves form some of the largest natural springs in the region and are the source for high-quality streams such as the cold and clear Spruce Creek. These unusual ecosystems harbor rare species, such as Stellmack’s cave amphipod and Franz’s cave isopod, crustaceans known from few other places on Earth.

Large intact forests exist on the adjacent mountains, but lower limestone soil-based forests are essentially not present due to a high degree of fragmentation related to agriculture, highways and expanding development. The conservation of biodiversity in Nittany Valley brings its own set of particular challenges to protecting and restoring its signature life forms and ecosystems. One particular challenge will be to assure viability by restoring lowland forests in certain areas to larger size patches and to create corridors for wildlife. Protecting groundwater quality and reducing fragmentation are other conservation goals.