[Northampton County, PA] – Northampton County Executive Lamont G. McClure and the Division of Parks and Recreation is pleased to announce a Highlands Conservation Act Grant Award to permanently protect approximately 43 acres of open space within in the Borough of Stockertown.
The Highlands region spans 3.4 million acres across Pennsylvania, New Jersey, New York, and Connecticut. The iconic Highlands landscape is distinguished by Appalachian Mountain ridges, hills, and plateaus, deciduous and coniferous forests, streams, lakes, and working farms. Under the Highlands Conservation Act, the Highlands Conservation Act grant program was founded to conserve natural resources in the region and sustain key landscapes for the benefit of people and wildlife. The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service’s Office of Conservation (USFWS) Investment administers the Highlands Conservation Act grant program (HCA grant program).
Projects supported by the HCA grant program preserve land of high conservation value fulfilling the act’s conservation objectives of clean water, healthy forests, thriving wildlife populations, agriculture, and recreation opportunities. Competitive funding is distributed in the ranking of individual projects submitted by the states, consistent with the Highlands Conservation Act’s conservation goals.
PA Department of Conservation and Natural Resources (DCNR) in partnership with Northampton County, submitted a proposal for the County’s land acquisition of 43 acres, more or less. The grant award of $730,000 is the first competitive funding award in Pennsylvania this year. Northampton County will need to match the funding for the fee simple acquisition of approximately $1.4 million.
This project will conserve critical landscapes within the two-county region fulfilling a core goal in the Commonwealth’s Lehigh Valley Greenways Conservation Landscape. Lehigh Valley Greenways Conservation Landscape is a proactive, partnership approach to regional landscape conservation in Lehigh and Northampton Counties. Northampton County conserves critical landscapes, restores degraded habitats and buffered stream corridors, and promotes best management practices as core goals. The Bushkill Creek Watershed includes the regional Two Rivers Area Trailway, which co-aligns with the September 11th National Memorial Trail, connecting people to greenway and trail opportunities to promote the region’s green assets.
“This acquisition is a major step in improving trail access in the region and I am excited for the expanded recreation opportunities it will provide to the public,” Department of Conservation and Natural Resources (DCNR) Secretary Cindy Adams Dunn said. “Not only does addition of the property help the Commonwealth close a key trail gap in the Two Rivers Trailway in Northampton County, it helps the Lehigh Valley Greenways Conservation Landscape expand the LINK Trail Network and its work to build a world-class trail system within the Delaware & Lehigh National Heritage Corridor.”
“In the past decade, Northampton County has experienced exponential growth in large-scale warehouse and logistics development eliminating open space and farmland in the County at a record pace. Our acquisition protects the land from development and conserves the agricultural, environmentally sensitive habitat, and trail connections in the Bushkill Creek Watershed”, stated Lamont G. McClure, County Executive. “We are honored to be a recipient of this prestigious grant award and our staff in the Division of Parks and Recreation will continue to work in partnership with DCNR and the USFWS to conserve critical open space in Northampton County.”
The acquisition will add to the 2,380 acres of green space of parks, trails, and open space areas owned by the County of Northampton, and managed by the Department of Public Works, Division of Parks and Recreation. It will permanently protect wildlife habitat, environmentally sensitive species, and implements best management practices for agricultural use, trails, and floodplain restoration. The HCA grant award helps the County continue open space preservation to support clean water, healthy forests and wildlife, agriculture, and abundant outdoor recreation to enhance Northampton County’s Livable Landscapes.
Information provided to TVL by:
County of Northampton
669 Washington Street
Easton, PA 18042
https://www.northamptoncounty.org/
