Halfway Run Natural Area

Halfway Run Natural Area
Location within Pennsylvania
Location	Union County, Pennsylvania
Nearest town	Rebersburg
Coordinates	40°59′48″N 77°10′41″W
Area	407 acres (165 ha)

Halfway Run Natural Area is a 407-acre (165 ha) protected area in Centre County, Pennsylvania, United States. It is part of Bald Eagle State Forest,^[1] and is a short distance from R.B. Winter State Park.^[2]

Description

The area protects a glaciated landscape of a type uncommon for Central Pennsylvania, along both banks of Halfway Run, which has been designated as a stream of unimpaired quality.^[3] The area is known for numerous pingo scars from the age of glaciation, in the form of ponds filling pits that formed when small ice-covered hills collapsed.^[2] Wild trout naturally reproduce in Halfway Run,^[4] and in springtime various branches of the stream contribute to vernal pools that are breeding spots for amphibians.^[5]

References

1. "Bald Eagle State Forest Wild and Natural Areas". Pennsylvania Department of Conservation & Natural Resources. Retrieved 2023-12-16.
2. Fergus, Charles (2002). Natural Pennsylvania: Exploring the State Forest Natural Areas. Mechanicsburg, PA: Stackpole Books. pp. 94–97.
3. United States Environmental Protection Agency, Assessment Summary for Reporting Year 2006 Pennsylvania, Lower West Branch Susquehanna Watershed, archived from the original on August 21, 2017, retrieved August 1, 2015
4. Pennsylvania Fish and Boat Commission (May 2015), Pennsylvania Wild Trout Waters (Natural Reproduction) – May 2015 (PDF), p. 92, archived from the original (PDF) on July 1, 2015, retrieved August 1, 2015
5. Pennsylvania Science Office of The Nature Conservancy (2000), A Natural Areas Inventory of Union County, Pennsylvania (PDF), p. 32, retrieved August 2, 2015