The Manada Conservancy wrapped up 2024 with the signing of two  conservation easements on eight parcels owned by the Laudenslager Family, marking a grand total of 575 acres that the family has protected with the Conservancy.

This recent project, through one of the easements, protects seven parcels expanding upon already protected woodland and sensitive wetland habitat on Peters Mountain. 

Through another easement, an active farm is protected as well as a stretch of Powells Creek and the forested buffer along it. 

Through this transaction, public access to the creek has been dedicated for this popular fishing spot.

The Laudenslager farm epitomizes this, as it offers an open vista and scenic blending with Peter’s Mountain behind it, as well as being a state-of-the-art working farm, where no-till farming has been the norm since the 1970’s and the yields are some of the best in Dauphin County.

Powell’s Creek runs through this property, and a riparian buffer is protected along it. Murray and Rhonda Laudenslager have already collaborated in a project to allow handicapped fishing access on their portion of Powell’s Creek.

The conservation easement they placed on this property in 2007 will protect this land for farming in perpetuity and will ensure that it is stewarded well.

The farm has been in the family for five generations, and the Laudenslagers’ decision to protect it for the future shows thoughtful foresight, as it is one of the few protected farms in the immediate area and development pressure is increasing.

Wayne Township, near Halifax, currently has no zoning.

Manada Conservancy is very proud to have been able to facilitate the protection of this farm and the agriculture it supports.

This project was made possible thanks to the generosity of the Laudenslager Family and their donated easement value, and with assistance from the Pennsylvania Department of Conservation and Natural Resources, Bureau of Recreation and Conservation, through the Keystone Recreation, Park and Conservation Fund, and The Nature Conservancy.

Click Here to learn more about the Laudenslager Farm.

Visit the Manada Conservancy website to learn more about land conservation.

(Reprinted in from the WeConservePA and the Manada Conservancy websites.)

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[Posted: January 21, 2025]

1/27/2025