Many organizations are involved in the permanent preservation of sensitive habitat and other land resources in Pennsylvania. Here’s how one organization—the Wildlands Conservancy in the Lehigh Valley—recently reorganized its land protection efforts.

The New Legacy Land Funds

By Nelson Markley, Chairman of the Board, Wildlands Conservancy

In January, the board of directors of Wildlands Conservancy approved a significant change in its land-protection program by creating the Legacy Land Funds. Acting on its conviction that land preservation is one of the most important challenges facing eastern Pennsylvania, the board established this new funding structure to provide a strong foundation for expanding the Conservancy’s work in this area. The intent of the board’s action is to position the organization to play an even greater role in land protection in the Lehigh Valley and the Lehigh River Valley.

Land protection has always been one of Wildlands Conservancy’s strengths. With many partners, it has sheltered over 43,000 acres of precious habitat in eastern Pennsylvania by purchases or by conservation agreements established with individual landowners. Over the last 32 years, many millions of dollars have flowed through this organization for all kinds of land-protection projects. We have much to be proud of and much more to do in the future.

A significant part of Wildlands’ success in land protection is found in its work with the Pennsylvania Game Commission in acquiring gamelands. Starting in 1983 under the leadership of Charlie Nehf, the Conservancy, using its own Wildlands Preservation Fund as a funding resource, has helped to protect about 32,000 acres of wildlife habitat.

Although the driving force for gamelands protection is the sporting community, this activity benefits all us. These woodlands add to the beauty of the region, protect the habitat of a diverse list of animals and plants, and provide wonderful opportunities for year-round recreation. The new Legacy Land Funds builds on Nehf’s ideas and broadens their purpose.

The broader goals of the Legacy Land Funds are to support financially the Conservancy’s mission of identifying suitable working farms, gamelands, fishing-access lands, parks, greenways, trails, reserves, preserves, and sanctuaries – and to assist in their protection through methods ranging from simple acquisitions and to a wide variety of conservation agreements. At the outset three specific funds were authorized under the umbrella of the Legacy Land Funds.

The first fund is a familiar one, and it remains unchanged in its focus. The Wildlands Preservation Fund was established by the Conservancy about 20 years ago as a flexible “revolving fund” used to assist the Pennsylvania Game Commission, the Pennsylvania Fish & Boat Commission, and the Pennsylvania Bureau of Forestry in gathering land into their land-holding systems.

Using this fund, the Conservancy has been successful in helping to protect about 32,000 acres so far, and we are surely not finished. In spite of a current scarcity of funding from these agencies, Wildlands is still very active in this area with a focus on access to existing public lands. The emphasis remains precisely the same as founder Charlie Nehf envisioned it: the protection of habitat-rich lands accessible by the public. Contributions to the Wildlands Preservation Fund are being sought from those interested in the protection of these types of public lands.

The second fund is new: The South Mountain Preservation Fund has been established to reflect the Conservancy’s renewed emphasis on the protection of the green backdrop to the Lehigh Valley: the beautiful South Mountain. Many years ago, Bob and Ardie Rodale helped launch the Conservancy into the business of protecting South Mountain by creating the original 197-acre South Mountain Preserve.

Since then, the Conservancy has added (through purchases and gifts) about 113 acres to this preserve. Coupling this preserve to an equal-sized parcel of park land to the east owned by the city of Allentown, the Robert Rodale Reserve was created in the early 1990s. To further the protection of undeveloped land on South Mountain, the Conservancy will now be actively raising funds for the new South Mountain Preservation Fund.

The third fund is also new: The Open Lands Fund has been established to help protect agricultural lands, park lands, and natural and recreational areas in the Lehigh Valley and the Lehigh River Valley. Contributions will be welcomed from all who want to support the wide-ranging land protection efforts of the Conservancy, whose staff works daily with land owners, counties, municipalities, and state agencies to acquire land for trails, parks, and other public-recreation areas.

Many of these projects require some measure of private funding. The Open Lands Fund is designed to be the flexible “revolving fund” that will enable the Conservancy to close the deal and protect more open lands for future generations.

This new configuration of funds will allow Wildlands Conservancy donors to have more control of the direction their contributions and bequests take in helping us protect land. The oversight of the Legacy Land Funds by the board of directors will assure that donations will be wisely invested in land protection that meets with the donors’ intentions.

We looking forward to working with you, our donors, as we move forward in our important land-protection work making full use of the new Legacy Land Funds.

Reprinted with permission from the Wildlands newsletter published by the Wildlands Conservancy.

8/26/2005