Preserving Pennsylvania Landscapes

Hikers need trails, and trails need land to cross.  To hike, the land must be saved...

SATC is a strong advocate of conservation and land preservation efforts as it relates to trails and the important natural and scenic resources that contribute to the hiking experience, environmental health of our local landscapes and economic vitality of connecting communities.

Although the Appalachian Trail's path is now largely protected within a corridor of public lands, the Trail experience through wilderness and rural countryside is susceptible to irreversible change in a developing region. One's journey on the Appalachian Trail and various local and regional trails is vulnerable to major land development as well as the incremental and cumulative impacts of smaller development projects. Given those prospects, safeguarding the experience and planning for trails must be seen as an ongoing effort, requiring the sustained support and cooperation of trail users, public agencies, adjacent landowners, local communities, public agencies and nonprofit organizations.

SATC invites you to learn more about what is being done to preserve our local landscapes around Central PA ConservancyHarrisburg, Pennsylvania and the various trails that weave throughout our region.  Central Pennsylvania Conservancy has served as an important partner to SATC in these efforts, particularly in the preservation success stories of the Thousand Steps in Huntington County and the White Rocks project in Cumberland County.



Current Issues and Projects in the Region

>> URGENT: Governor Zeroes Out Keystone Grants Keystone Fund
Pennsylvania Land Trust Association reports that Governor Corbett's proposed 2012-13 budget ELIMINATES ALL CONSERVATION, PARK and RECREATION FUNDING from the Keystone Recreation, Park and Conservation Fund.   The budget goes on to propose that the termination of funding be made permanent. This means a loss of $30M for conservation in 2012-13 and far more in the long-run. It would be the biggest cut to conservation funding ever proposed in Pennsylvania. (Keystone funding for libraries and historic preservation would remain intact.)  Governor Corbett's budget is a proposal. You have the power to stop it from becoming law.  Your action is critical to showing legislators that Keystone funds are important to their districts.  We must be vocal!  To sign a petition .

ATVs>> The Plague on Streams, Farms and Forests: ATVs
They run up and down stocked Trout streams, damage crops on farmland, rip out fencing and gates on public lands, intimidate landowners who try to stop them, ride on our public roadways. These trespassers have had virtually free-rein, despite Act 68 of 2001(the ATV law).

Claim: If you give us more (legal) trails, the trespass will stop.
Fact: Legal trails have engendered more trespass. A DCNR study of 7-11-2000 stated that there was no correlation that
legal trails diminished illegal riding. In fact, the seven State Forests with ATV trails had an average of 50 more miles of illegal motorized trails.

Claim: ATVs will be the economic salvation of rural Pennsylvania.
Fact: The economic benefit of hunters, hikers, anglers and wildlife-watchers is far greater than the economic impact of ATV riders. Our forests can’t be all things to all people. The vast majority of people who visit our state lands go there for the beauty and tranquility, not as a playground where they can rip up the land. Economic salvation? Only if you’re talking about after they drive out the hunters, hikers, anglers and wildlife-watchers – the very folks who are the big money-makers for Pennsylvania’s tourism industry.

Read a report on educational suggestions for ATV solutions from the Conservation and Natural Resources Advisory Council and DCNR's Summary of Pennsylvania's All-Terrain Vehicle Law.

>> Invasive Species Prevention and Removal
Information supplied by Pennsylvania Department of Conservation and Natural Resources
Does it seem like there's more thorny stickers in the woods, and fewer wildflowers?  Free trade every day brings plants to our shores that don't belong here and crowd out the ones that do.  Mile-a-minute, multiflore (or "M.F.") rose, Japanese stiltgrass, and garlic mustard are just a few of the plants that choke off the native species of our woods and starve our wildlife.

In 2007, SATC volunteers have begun to take a stand and do our small part to combat the insidious green menace.  Springtime volunteers are especially needed to hit invasive plants before they set seed and make millions more.  If you can't recognize them, click here.   All hikers - click here to learn the small steps ALL of us MUST do.  Contact SATC and ask to become a "Weed Warrior"...before it's too late!


>> Marcellus Shale Drilling

Information provided by the PA Forest Coalition



Our landscapes are still scarred from our coal industry. We must not sacrifice the long term health and well being of our Commonwealth for short-term gain as we have in the past.

Further leasing of public lands could hurt our hunting and fishing traditions. All outdoor recreationists seek natural settings, not industrial forests. We want to preserve our rich natural heritage, not raze it for short-term financial gain.

“You can’t manage it if you can’t measure it.” Funding for research on Wildlife has been cut by 70%. Until a complete and detailed environmental impact study has been performed it is premature to even consider further leasing of DCNR lands. Mapping locations of rare, endangered and threatened species will take at least three years and require a five-fold increase in DCNR field staff.

We cannot risk damaging Pennsylvania’s billion-dollar outdoor tourism industry, which relies on scenic forests with over 2,500 miles of trails and opportunities for hunting, fishing, birding, hiking, mountainbiking, horseback riding and snowmobiling.

Pennsylvania is home to Federally-designated “wild and scenic rivers” plus innumerable HQ and EV streams in the Marcellus gas play, which are habitat for our native Brook Trout. Pennsylvania cannot allow our headwater streams to be further endangered.

DCNR currently manages our State Forests properly – but to retain FSC (Forest Stewardship Council ) certification, the forests must continue to be managed sustainably. 88 percent of the certified timber harvested in PA is from our State Forests. Additional leasing of our State Forests will imperil that certification and over 80,000 forestry jobs that depend on it.

For more information visit PAForestCoalition.org or stay tuned to StateImpact Pennsylvania - Energy. Environment. Economy. (A reporting project of local public media and NPR)

>> Kittatinny Ridge: State of the Kittatinny Report Released
The Kittatinny Ridge is one of Pennsylvania’s largest Important Bird Areas, the site of a world-famous Kittatinny Ridgeautumn raptor migration, and the path of the Appalachian Trail through much of Pennsylvania.  Audubon Pennsylvania, the Appalachian Trail Conservancy and many partner organizations have been working for years to conserve this critical landscape. A recent report details the current status of the ridge based on a series of measurements indicating some of the area’s great successes and largest remaining challenges. Click here for the report.



Conservation Organizations and Initiatives

Central Pennsylvania ConservancyLeb

Susquehanna Water Gap Coalition

Kittatinny Ridge Coalition

Dauphin County Conservation District

Shermans Creek Conservation Association

Manada Conservancy


Visit the Pennsylvania Land Trust Association's (PALTA) web site for a comprehensive list of land trusts and conservation organizations.  ConserveLand.org