Department of Conservation and Natural Resources officials Monday hailed acquisition of the 486-acre former Rock Hill Scout Camp in Pike County that will boost size of the Delaware State Forest to more than 85,000 acres.

“Although bordered on two sides by Delaware State Forest, these lands are feeling the mounting pressure of surrounding development and increased use,” DCNR Acting Secretary Ellen Ferretti said. “This addition will protect critical habitat and the watershed, and provide more opportunities for the public to enjoy the outdoors.”

The property was used as a boy scout camp from the 1950s until the 1990s.

The camp is off Route 739 about five miles southeast of Lords Valley in Dingman Township, Pike County. It contains an 18-acre natural lake with a small portion of shoreline cleared for swimming and canoeing.

The state invested $1.2 million in Keystone funding through DCNR’s Community Conservation Partnerships Program to purchase the land.  Pike County facilitated the purchase.

DCNR intends to remove many buildings and other camp infrastructure to return to a natural forest landscape.

Delaware State Forest, along with the neighboring Lackawanna State Forest and its 32,000 acres, are keystones in the Pocono Forests and Waters Conservation Landscape Initiative, one of seven major land protection efforts underway across the state.

Regional in scope, CLIs partner local governments, conservancies and residents with the DCNR and other state departments in long-term planning and implementation that promotes sustainability, conservation, community revitalization and recreational projects.

“This acquisition is consistent with the Bureau of Forestry’s priority to add lands that are adjacent to existing state forests, and also with the goal of the regional CLI approach to increase the public and private land base under conservation in the Poconos,” Ferretti said.

For information, visit DCNR’s Delaware State Forest District or Conservation Landscape Initiative webpages.

12/9/2013