Lancaster Conservancy Announces Acquisition of Eagle View Nature Preserve in York County

Lancaster Conservancy is excited to announce the acquisition of 180 acres in Chanceford Township, York County, with healthy forests and panoramic views of the Susquehanna River. The property, which will be called Eagle View Nature Preserve, is directly adjacent to the regional Mason-Dixon Trail and is part of the viewshed for the Enola Low Grade Trail in Lancaster County. This new preserve also sits just outside of the current project boundary for the proposed pumped storage facility at Cuffs Run, which the Conservancy and its partners, alongside impacted neighbors, have been fighting to prevent.

“From our first visit to Eagle View we knew this place was special,” said Fritz Schroeder, president and CEO of Lancaster Conservancy. “From the sweeping views of the Susquehanna River and Lancaster and York counties to the well-maintained hardwood forest, this is a stretch of the river that must be protected forever.”

The upriver view from the new nature preserve is vast and captures one of the wider sections of the river. Visitors will be able to enjoy a view of the Conejohela Flats, an important birding area; Highpoint County Park; the Wrightsville Bridge; and the towns of Columbia and Wrightsville.

At the preserve, healthy mature forests, which are increasingly rare in this area, surround a mid-20^th century stone house and guesthouse. These woods, rich with a variety of oak species as well as hickory, sweet birch, and yellow poplar, were at risk of being clear-cut due to their high quality when this property went up for sale. The Conservancy’s acquisition of Eagle View will protect this critical piece of habitat along the river while providing public access to nature and an unparalleled view of the Susquehanna.

“Eagle View stands out as a quintessential, upland hardwood forest in the bucolic landscape of York’s river hills,” shared Brandon Tennis, the Conservancy’s senior vice president of stewardship. “The genetic preservation and proliferation of its prominent oaks and other healthy hardwoods is paramount to the rewilding of our regional natural landscapes.”

The Conservancy’s acquisition of a new nature preserve so close to the proposed pumped storage facility at Cuffs Run further solidifies its resolve to fight this destructive project. The project proposed by York Energy Storage LLC was granted a preliminary permit by the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission at the end of 2024. The Conservancy and its partners have hired a legal team to appeal FERC’s decision to the U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit.

The $2.3 billion project would involve construction of a 1.8-mile dam and power turbine pumped storage facility at Cuffs Run ravine and creek, a tributary to the Susquehanna River. The proposed facility, which would use 1960s era technology and consume about 30% more electricity to pump water than it would actually generate, would displace over 40 residents and destroy preserved farms as well as forested lands that are critical to ensuring the ecological health of the Susquehanna Riverlands Conservation Landscape and waterways.

“The Conservancy takes the long view on land protection with a focus on critical properties that provide connectivity for wildlife habitat and outdoor recreation,” said Kate Gonick, senior vice president of land protection and general counsel for the Lancaster Conservancy. “While we celebrate the success of permanently protecting this beautiful acquisition along the Susquehanna River with its incredible views and magnificent forests, we recognize the legal battle for the greater landscape in this region around Cuffs Run continues.”

This new nature preserve is within the Pennsylvania Department of Conservation and Natural Resources’ Susquehanna Riverlands Conservation Landscape (SRCL) as well as the federally designated Highlands Region. Since the SRCL’s designation in 2010, the Conservancy has acquired and protected over 3,000 acres in York County along the Susquehanna River, which includes 12 of its over 50 nature preserves.

The Conservancy continues to seek both public and private grants and donations to cover the costs of acquiring Eagle View. The preserve remains closed to the public while the Conservancy completes its master planning process for the nature preserve.