Tamarack Swamp is located in northern Clinton County, Pennsylvania,[7][1] northeast of the community of Tamarack and accessible via Pennsylvania Route 144, which passes near the western edge of the wetland.[1][7] The wetland has a total area of 4000 acres,[7][8] and serves as the headwaters of Drury Run.[3] Tamarack Swamp is home to the tamarack tree, which is the only deciduousconifer in Pennsylvania.[3]
In about 1827, Alexander Kelly, Montgomery Kelly, George Kelly, and Samuel Kelly settled on the western side of Tamarack Swamp.[9] In about 1865, James Hennessy discovered several mooseantlers buried in the wetland, indicating that moose once lived there.[10] In a 1925 book by Francis R. Cope, the author referred to the wetland as "a little oasis in the desert."[1] In the early 1900s, parts of Tamarack Swamp were damaged by logging and development.[1]
Logging was conducted as late as the 1940s, when Hicks Jennings cut down the only remaining virgin spruce in Tamarack Swamp.[11] By 1947, the tamarack and black spruce trees in the wetland were significantly less healthy than they had been around 1900.[12] In the 1990s, the Western Pennsylvania Conservancy added over 9400 acres to Sproul State Forest, including Tamarack Swamp.[3]
There are plans to develop the Tamarack Swamp area, including plans to drill for oil and natural gas in the wetland.[3] Natural gas pipelines have been laid in the swamp.[1] The land that Tamarack Swamp is situated on has multiple owners.[4]
