The Appalachian Mountain Club, Highlands Coalition, and The Trust for Public Land this week released the “Pennsylvania Highlands Conservation Atlas,” a resource for prioritizing land conservation opportunities in the 1.4-million-acre Pennsylvania Highlands region.

Of the 246,992 acres identified as the highest priority Conservation Areas in the region, which extends from the Delaware River to the Maryland border, 85 percent are unprotected and at risk of development.

The Pennsylvania Highlands Conservation Atlas combines, for the first time, science-based data on land ownership, natural resources, and recreational assets with a

participatory approach to conservation planning, including input from state and local government officials, local land trusts, and outdoor recreation groups.

The Atlas identifies 11 high-priority Conservation Areas in 13 counties where outstanding resource values—such as clean water, unfragmented forest, and endangered and threatened animal habitat—overlap with stakeholder priorities for trails, greenways, and open space. These areas include the Conewago Mountains in York County; Whiskey Springs Uplands in Cumberland and York Counties; and South Mountain Faces in Adams County.

A key component of the Atlas is a PA Highlands Greenway Map that identifies interconnecting corridors between priority Conservation Areas to support plant and animal biodiversity, providing a vision for a connected greenway through the PA Highlands.

The Conservation Atlas was created by AMC, the Highlands Coalition, and TPL to assist state and county agencies, local officials, and land trusts throughout the state in setting land conservation priorities. This is particularly important as new land conservation funding for the region becomes available through the federal Highlands Conservation Act. Pennsylvania is nationally among the states with the most rural land lost to development.

The Highlands Conservation Act, which the U.S. Congress signed into law in 2004 to authorize new funding for conservation projects in the Highlands, authorized Congress to spend $100 million over 10 years for land protection in the broader four-state Highlands region in Pennsylvania, New York, New Jersey and Connecticut.

It is expected that at least $1 million will be appropriated for 2007, with some of the funds going toward the protection of the Oley Hills.

The Pennsylvania Highlands Greenway Planning Project was a shared effort between the AMC and the Highlands Coalition, with input from federal agencies, state, county, and local government, and citizens’ organizations.

Funding was generously provided in part by grants to The Trust for Public Land from the Department of Conservation and Natural Resources and grants to the Appalachian Mountain Club from the William Penn Foundation.

For more information, visit the Pennsylvania Highlands Conservation Atlas webpage.

NewsClip: Highlands Atlas Determines Which Woodlands to Save

11/24/2006