UNION TWP. >> The Hopewell Big Woods just got 54 acres bigger.
The Natural Lands Trust, based in Media, Delaware County, recently purchased a privately owned parcel of land that abuts 7,730-acre French Creek State Park.
The land trust subsequently turned around and donated the acreage to the park, said Kirsten Werner, communications director for the Natural Lands Trust.
“It’s pretty exciting,” she said.
Purchased on June 30th, this latest addition will allow the park to reroute a portion of the 140-mile Horseshoe Trail from its current location, which leads visitors through land owned by the South Birdsboro Gun Club.
The State Park also has plans to install a parking lot on the parcel to improve park and trail access.
“This will provide a nice opportunity to re-route the trail to be located entirely within the park,” Werner said.
“This realignment, when complete, will create a better experience for trail users by moving the trail further away from the sound of gunfire. It’s a nice human improvement,” Werner said. “We want to protect the park for humans, not from humans.”
The Smith family has owned the property since 1957.
“Throughout those 58 years we were privileged to live in harmony with the land, flora, and fauna,” Steve Condict, son in-law to Franklin L. Smith, said in a release from the land trust.
“This is a great and well-deserved addition to the park and Hopewell Big Woods,” Condict said. “It is a legacy that both my father and my wife’s father would heartily approve of.”
“Land preservation successes like this one are only possible with the support of our many partners, and families who choose conservation,” said Molly Morrison, Natural Lands Trust’s president.
Seventy-one percent of Pennsylvania’s forests are privately owned, as was the case with the Franklin L. Smith property, putting them at risk for development.
The property lies within the core of the Hopewell Big Woods – the largest block of contiguous forest between New York and Washington, D.C. – and includes French Creek State Park, the Birdsboro Waters preserve, state game lands and open space purchases in North Coventry Township.
The dense woodlands are home to Scarlet Tanagers, Indigo Buntings, box turtles, mature oak trees, lady’s slipper orchids, mountain laurel, and wild azalea.
The Big Woods has been a focus of conservation efforts by Natural Lands Trust and more than 50 private and public partners over the past decade.
It also lies within the Schuylkill Highlands Conservation Landscape, an area at the intersection of the PA Highlands and the Schuylkill River Watershed that has been designated by the Pennsylvania Department of Conservation and Natural Resources as a priority for conservation, recreational access, and compatible economic development.
To date, Natural Lands Trust has acquired and transferred 384 acres to French Creek State Park.
“This is an excellent example of partnerships in action that will benefit the public by expanding a very popular and heavily visited state park,” said Pennsylvania Department of Conservation and Natural Resources Secretary Cindy Adams Dunn.
“We plan to incorporate this valuable tract into the park’s existing woodland where it will serve as a buffer against development, help with open space protection, and connect residents and visitors to the outdoors.”
Support for this conservation success was provided by the Keystone Recreation, Park and Conservation Fund; Open Space Institute – Highlands Bayshore Fund; PA Department of Community and Economic Development – Commonwealth Financing Authority; PA Department of Conservation and Natural Resources – Bureau of Recreation and Conservation; PA Bureau of State Parks; Virginia Cretella Mars Foundation; and an anonymous gift in memory of Abbot F. Low.
