The Buck Hill Conservation Foundation protects 687.5 acres with the Metzgars Conservation Easement

Press release by The Buck Hill Conservation Foundation

Garry Cramer, President and COO of the Buck Hill Falls Company, and Ed Post, Vice President of The Buck Hill Conservation Foundation, shake hands after closing on the Inn Site swap and the associated grant of the Metzgars Conservation Easement

The Buck Hill Conservation Foundation and The Buck Hill Falls Company are pleased to announce the Inn Site Swap was recorded on February 4, 2025. The Foundation exchanged its 11.7-acre Inn Site property for a 687.5-acre Metzgars Conservation Easement on Company land. The Company is now once again the owner of the Inn Site, and the Foundation has increased land under its management to 1,712 acres.

Plans to secure a conservation easement in this area date back to 2014, when the Foundation was ultimately not able to raise suficient grant funding. The plans changed in 2019, when the Company and Foundation agreed to conduct an IRS 1031 tax-deferred exchange of Inn Site properties for a conservation easement on both Company and Buck Hill Water Company land. However, this plan was thwarted by the PA Public Utilities Commission’s opposition to an exchange involving Water Company land. After some reworking of the proposal, the final plan was agreed in 2024 for an exchange without Water Company property.

This exchange is a win-win-win for the Company, the Foundation and our community:

• The Company will continue plans for a Signature Project on the Inn Site, while continuing to own the easement property and retain current passive recreational uses.
• The Foundation will further its mission by increasing the land it protects in perpetuity by two-thirds and by working on forest management plans to promote the health of the new conservation easement land.
• For our community, this new conservation easement will create a contiguous ~6,000-acre watershed conservation area by establishing a key link between Chestnut Mountain to the north and the State Game Lands to the south. According to the Monroe County 2022 Return on Environment Study, large, forested areas such as this “provide significant natural system benefits: they help maintain healthy watersheds and water quality, filter air pollutants, moderate weather extremes, and provide important wildlife habitats.”

Metzgars Conservation Easement from The Buck Hill Conservation Foundation

The Foundation’s project to secure the Metzgars Conservation Easement was supported by our donors and through the Open Space Institute’s Delaware River Watershed Protection Fund, which is made possible with a lead grant from the William Penn Foundation. The Delaware River Watershed Protection Program seeks to ensure abundant, clean water within the 13,000 square mile drainage of the Delaware River. In order to qualify for the grant, the Foundation previously became an accredited land trust by the national Land Trust Alliance.

The Buck Hill Conservation Foundation

The Buck Hill Conservation Foundation is a non-profit organization based in Buck Hill Falls, PA. We are dedicated to preserving and protecting the natural resources and wildlife habitats in Eastern Pennsylvania. Our mission is to achieve conservation goals through land acquisition, habitat restoration, and environmental education programs. With a strong commitment to sustainability and community engagement, we play a vital role in preserving the natural beauty and ecological balance of Eastern Pennsylvania.