Westmoreland Conservancy officials seek off-road riders who damaged reserve property

Westmoreland Conservancy officials are seeking information about who drove all-terrain vehicles and dirt bikes through the Morosini Reserve property in Murrysville, damaging a fragile ecosystem in the process.

Sometime between March 24-26, riders entered the property and drove through what is called a vernal pool off the south trail at the reserve, officials said.

Vernal pools are seasonal wet areas that provide an ideal spring nursery for the offspring of frogs and salamanders. It is a small isolated pool of water that naturally occurs in low spots, and provides an area safe from predatory fish and larger frogs at the reserve’s pond.

“The one along the south trail was vibrant and beautiful,” conservancy officials wrote in a Facebook post on Thursday. “That is until defiant trespassers brought their ATVs and dirt bikes onto the trail and decided to tear through the ‘mud hole.’”

The property’s boundaries are clearly marked and signs prohibit vehicle access on the trail.

“Westmoreland Conservancy reserves are privately-owned property that are open to the public to be used in accordance with our very simple guidelines,” officials wrote. “Shamefully, a few bad actors can make it necessary to restrict all access.”

Conservancy officials are seeking information on those responsible for the damage.

“They dragged down the gate across the easement at the western boundary of the reserve a couple years ago, then cut up the fencing to the same gate,” said conservancy President Shelly Tichy, who said people have parked along Route 66 and entered the property by going around a gate.

“They’ve also become more aggressive since Sunoco gated one of their easements last month,” she said. “They felt the ATVs were eroding the easement and asked to install the gate.”

Anyone with information is asked to email contact@westmorelandconservancy.org.