Department of Conservation and Natural Resources Secretary Ellen Ferretti Tuesday announced the department will add more than 8,000 acres, most of which surrounds and is to the east and south of Montage Mountain, to Lackawanna State Forest with the acquisition of property in Lackawanna, Luzerne and Wayne counties.
This acquisition is part of Enhance Penn’s Woods – a two-year, more than $200 million initiative launched by Gov. Tom Corbett to repair and improve Pennsylvania’s state parks and forests.
“These properties include nearly 13 square miles of Chesapeake Bay watershed lands as well as numerous perennial streams including Stafford Meadow Brook and Green Run. They will provide recreation space, watershed protection and wildlife habitat located just minutes from Scranton,” Ferretti said. “Since Enhance Penn’s Woods was launched in February 2014 DCNR has added 15,000 acres to our state forest system.
“The lands we conserved in 2013 and 2014 have been on a Bureau of Forestry priority list for quite some time due to their high connectivity and ecological value,” Ferretti said.
The state invested $16.3 million in Growing Greener funds to purchase the land. The Conservation Fund facilitated the purchase from the Theta Land Corp.
The property contains mostly forested and prime watershed acres.
In addition to the lands around Montage, the purchase includes the nearly 100-acre Joe Palooka Mountain property that is a key connector to more than 1,000 acres of former Earth Conservancy property added to Lackawanna State Forest several years ago, as well as the 320-acre Curry Hill property that will provide residents of densely populated Plymouth Township with nearby outdoor recreational opportunities.
These lands are identified in the Luzerne-Lackawanna bi-county open space plan as a high-priority conservation area. DCNR ownership will further the goals and objectives outlined in the plan for protection of open space, and provide opportunities for outdoor activities.
“This project represents the ultimate success of more than a decade-long partnership between The Conservation Fund, DCNR, the Richard King Mellon Foundation and the counties to conserve more than 20,000 acres of the former Theta lands.
“Conservation of these lands will ensure clean drinking water for, and provide prime recreational opportunities to residents of the greater Scranton and Wyoming Valley regions,” said Todd McNew, The Conservation Fund’s Pennsylvania State Director. “More than 500,000 people live within a short drive of these lands – tens of thousands live within walking distance of the hiking, fishing, hunting and wildlife viewing opportunities that these lands provide.”
DCNR compensates local governments on an annual basis as payment-in-lieu of taxes for public lands. This is meant to replace taxes that would have been generated if these land holdings were in private ownership. Conservation of these lands also will ensure that municipalities will not have to bear costs associated with development.
For information, visit DCNR’s Enhance Penn’s Woods webpage.
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