The Nature Conservancy in Pennsylvania and Delaware announced on April 23, 2020 that it has acquired 232 acres of forest in Letterkenny Township, with financial assistance from the Pennsylvania Department of Conservation and Natural Resources (DCNR) through the Keystone Recreation, Park and Conservation Fund. The property will be transferred to the Bureau of Forestry and become part of the Buchanan State Forest.
The land lies on the northwest facing slope of Little Mountain with views of Horse Valley. The property fills a gap in publicly-owned lands directly between State Game Lands #235 and Buchanan State Forest, permanently protecting more of the forested headwaters of the Conodoguinet Creek.
“The conservation of this property will help maintain the working forest landscape found in the southwest portion of the Kittatinny Ridge,” says Mari-Beth DeLucia, Kittatinny Ridge program director. “This is a win for both people and nature.”
Pennsylvania’s 185-mile-long Kittatinny Ridge is part of an unbroken chain of forested mountains that form a vital link in the 1,500-mile-long Appalachian mountain range that stretches from Newfoundland to Alabama. The Kittatinny Ridge is a refuge and a corridor because it is unfragmented, with few major roads or developments. In Pennsylvania, this forested corridor allows wildlife to move north or south and has been identified as the most resilient landscape in the state for adapting to a changing climate.
