The support of this community has enabled Heritage Conservancy to continue to move its mission forward and to create a positive impact for all who live here.

In the past few months, Heritage Conservancy has preserved six properties totaling nearly 350 acres of land. These preservation successes safeguard the area’s scenic views, water quality, and food sources, and they help to prevent streambank erosion and flooding.

At their core, these properties provide benefits that everyone in this community sees, breathes, drinks, and eats right here at home.

Read on to learn about three of the most recent properties that have been preserved in Bucks County.

Schimek Property, Wrightstown Township

Heritage Conservancy partnered with Wrightstown Township to preserve the Schimek property, located on Worthington Mill Road, adjacent to the Middletown Grange fairgrounds.  Co-held by Heritage Conservancy and Wrightstown Township, a conservation easement recorded on the property permanently protects approximately 62 acres of land.

The Schimek property consists mostly of active farm fields comprised of prime and agricultural soils of statewide significance. Smaller wooded areas along the property’s borders feature tributary streams to Neshaminy Creek.

The Schimek Property also features scenic viewsheds from approximately 1,800 feet of frontage along Worthington Mill Road and an additional 1,100 feet of frontage along Mud Road. Project funding was provided by Wrightstown Township. 

Scannapieco Property, Solebury Township

Heritage Conservancy partnered with Solebury Township to facilitate and serve as the holder of a conservation easement on the approximately 18-acre Scannapieco property, which is located along the Delaware River in Solebury Township below New Hope.

Featuring approximately 4,000 feet of Delaware River waterfront, the Scannapieco property consists of mostly forested floodplain and is bordered to the east by the Delaware River and the west by the Delaware Canal.

It is included in the Delaware River Conservation Landscape as identified in the Bucks County Natural Areas Inventory, which is a priority for preservation.

Funders of this easement include Solebury Township, Lower Delaware Wild & Scenic, and the William Penn Foundation.      

Lykon Farm, Buckingham Township

Bucks County and Heritage Conservancy will co-hold an agricultural preservation easement on the approximately 71-acre Lykon Farm, which is located on Lower Mountain Road in Buckingham Township.

Prime and statewide important agricultural soils are present throughout the farm. The property’s southeast border adjoins Heritage Conservancy’s Russell-Mandel Preserve.

The property provides scenic views along Lower Mountain Road with approximately 1,400 of road frontage. This section of the property is included in the Bucks County Natural Areas Inventory’s Mid-County Ridges Conservation Landscape.

Bucks County Agricultural Land Preservation Program contributed the majority of funding for this easement. Heritage Conservancy contributed $100,000 in additional funding from the Pamela and James Gory Preservation Fund.

"We always celebrate preservation projects as successes in implementing our mission," said Jeffrey Marshall, President of Heritage Conservancy. "During a pandemic, these successes are particularly gratifying, knowing that what we do is still important to property owners and our supporters. They are bursts of sunshine breaking through the gray clouds of our ‘new normal.’"

For more information on programs, initiatives, upcoming events and how you can become involved, visit the Heritage Conservancy website.

The Conservancy has facilitated the preservation of over 15,000 acres of land, and it has produced over 40 successful nominations for historic districts and individual properties in this area to the National Register of Historic Places.

(Photo: Lykon Farm.)

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[Posted: November 12, 2020]

11/16/2020