By the Greening Mountainhome Project

Even if you don’t hike, hunt, or spend any time at all in nature, the forests of Pennsylvania serve you in ways that make life better.

Views, for starters. Just seeing green views enhances mood, reduces blood pressure, and counteracts stress.

All around Barrett and Paradise townships [in Monroe County], unspoiled land protected by the Pennsylvania Game Commission and others unrolls in every direction. [State Game Lands 221]

No depressing McMansions. No cookie-cutter developments. Just open sky-scapes and the seasons unfolding as you go about your business.

Safe drinking water, too. In the process of managing forests to improve wildlife habitat, the Game Commission keeps woodlands healthy.

And healthy woodlands are the first, best defense of drinking water. As rain and snowmelt percolate through the soil, contaminants get filtered out before the water reaches Tank Creek, Devil’s Hole, and Mill Creek — or your well.

People around the country have to pay for water that’s treated to make it drinkable. Here, preserved land supplies it naturally.

Even the air is cleaner in forestland. When noxious stuff like ammonia or sulfur dioxide settles on the leaves of a tree, the tree actually absorbs the toxic chemicals — scrubbing air clean for you and your family to breathe.

Trees capture particulate matter, too — the sooty grunge that settles on windowsills in cities — which clogs the air and leads to heart and lung disease.

If those aren’t enough gifts from the forest for you, here are some more: Trees absorb the carbon dioxide we breathe out and release the oxygen we breathe in. They store climate- changing carbon in their wood.

They’re big-time recyclers, soaking up water from the earth and releasing it from their leaves, to fall back to earth as purified rain. And their roots hold soil in place, preventing erosion.

So when the Game Commission works to keep habitat in State Game Lands 221 hospitable for game birds, deer, and bear, they’re protecting air, water, and hospitable habitat for all kinds of nature’s creatures. Including us.

Game lands are open to the public. Whether hunting or hiking, always wear orange — something is almost always in season.

Trailheads for Pennsylvania State Game Lands 221 are at the end of Pleasant Ridge Road in Mountainhome, along Hardytown Road in Cresco, and off Devil’s Hole Road in Paradise.

Click Here for a map of State Game Lands 221.

For more information on programs, initiatives and other upcoming events, visit the Brodhead Watershed Association website or Follow them on Facebook.  Click Here to sign up for regular updates from the Association.  Click Here to become a member.

Related Articles:

-- The Economic Value Of Green Infrastructure: Calculating A Return On Investments In Parks, Watershed Restoration, Farmland BMPs, Open Spaces

-- Delaware Highlands Conservancy: April 13 How You Can Protect Your Land With A Conservation Easement Program

[Posted: March 30, 2021]

4/5/2021