On February 26, the Appalachian Land & Conservation Services Co., LLC announced it has permanently protected a 94-acre inholding inside Kettle Creek State Park and Sproul State Forest, in Leidy Township, Clinton County.
It was purchased from Richard "Rick" Doebler, of the central Pennsylvania Doebler Seed Company and the Doebler Leasehold, one of Pennsylvania's very first gas drilling companies.
The Doebler property is the last vestige of an approximately 175-year-long, large Doebler family land ownership along the banks of Kettle Creek and the hills above.
At one time the Doebler family owned over a thousand acres in the immediate vicinity, from Sugar Camp Run north to Beaverdam Run.
A great portion of today's Kettle Creek State Park was built on Doebler family land taken through eminent domain by the US Army Corps of Engineers and the Bureau of State Parks in 1959-1961.
In fact, the current park office sits on the exact location of the old Doebler sawmill and possibly an older family hunting camp. The family's last sawmill was located farther east along the bank of Kettle Creek, now submerged beneath the lake created by the Alvin Bush Dam.
Since the 1800s the Doebler family felled their sawmill's timber on the mountains that now comprise nearby Sproul State Forest, and floated logs and cut lumber down Kettle Creek to the West Branch of the Susquehanna River, and then south to the Susquehanna River and beyond.
Richard Doebler's grandfather, David, was born on the property in 1896. David Doebler was one of the very first gas drillers in Pennsylvania, drilling his own well right after Dorcie Calhoun drilled his a mile upstream in 1950.
Kettle Creek State Park now sits atop one of Pennsylvania's largest natural gas storage fields, caverns far beneath the surface now depleted of their original natural gas by the Calhouns and Doeblers in the 1950s.
The 94 acres has been left open to the public for a long time, and many park visitors have wet a line for trout in Beaverdam Run, which runs through the property for a quarter mile, or hunted elk, bear and deer on its slopes.
Others have ridden the Bearfield Run equestrian trail from the park up into Sproul State Forest; this trail and right-of-way dead-ends on the Doebler property.
Recently the Fish and Boat Commission sought permission to make further habitat improvements to Beaverdam Run.
"I no longer hunt like I used to, and I support ALCS's conservation goals, so it was time to say goodbye to it," says Rick of his family's last land in Kettle Creek.
The property hosts a wild elk herd, and as of 2018 the property and surrounding area now sit in Elk Hunting Zone 14. After two successful elk hunting seasons there, with elk taken within view and easy walking distance of the property, the elk are not as tame as they used to be!
The long, unusually thin strip of land that runs along the property's eastern boundary is an odd artifact of the frontier days. It is the residual of an 1840s court-decreed boundary between Simeon Pfoutz, the first European settler along Kettle Creek, and John Baird, an absentee land speculator and possible claim-jumper.
A large stone monument and bronze plaque at the Alvin Bush Dam overlook tells the story of Simeon Pfoutz.
"We negotiated for a year and a half to get this unique property under agreement," says Josh First, president of ALCS.
"This property's conservation values and potential public uses are through the roof: beautiful native brook trout stream and twelve-acre unspoiled stream corridor filled with native wildflowers, wild elk, interior to a state park, adjoining the state park and state forest on three sides, lots of road frontage, adjoining the equestrian camping area, fantastic views over the lake and valley,” said First. “We hope that DCNR or a land trust will partner with us in conserving this for the public, but the truth is, we cannot love Kettle Creek State Park and Sproul State Forest more than the public employees who are paid by the Pennsylvania taxpayers to steward these public resources.
“If after a year of discussions DCNR leaders pass up this rare inholding conservation opportunity, then we can do no more than what we have already done,” explained First. “By offering it for sale to DCNR subject to a fair appraisal, we have done our conservation duty and we have clear consciences, whatever happens with it next.”
If a public agency or land trust does not acquire the property, then some family or hunting club will end up with a world class outdoor recreation destination.
"ALCS is in the land conservation business, but permanent conservation requires public partners. I suppose people also need opportunities to directly and intimately interact with nature on their own terms and schedule,” said First. “So if this property stays private, then it's not such a terrible outcome when I think of it that way. There is a lot of personal exploring and nature adventure to be had on this property."
ALCS is a small land management and land investment company that seeks public conservation benefits through private markets.
For more information, contact Josh First at 717-579-0176
[Posted: February 27, 2020] PA Environment Digest
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