NorCo Exec Lamont McClure and Secretary of the Department of Conservation and National Resources (DCNR) Cindy Adams Dunn will celebrate the opening of a 90-acre parcel near Bushkill Tp's Jacobsburg Park today, 2:30 pm, at the Jacobsburg Environmental Center. Known as the Ballas tract, this parcel includes a fishing pond, one-mile loop trail, wetlands and a connection to the Bushkill Township PPL trail.
Since 2008, Northampton County has helped preserve nearly 3,000 acres of open space and natural areas. Open Space is estimated to provide a value of $201.7 million per year to the Lehigh Valley in the form of natural system services. An estimated $351 million is spent on outdoor recreation annually in Northampton County.
Bushkill Township is also an active participant in open space preservation. It has created a Township Recreation Center (87.38 acres) and the Bushkill Rail Trail, a 2-mile trail along a PPL right-of-way.
6 comments:
Is there a map available?
http://www.docs.dcnr.pa.gov/cs/groups/public/documents/document/dcnr_20030638.pdf
The master site development plan includes several maps and a detailed explanation.
The Ballas Tract, located several miles from Jacobsburg, is part of the Bushkill Township Park System, not the PA State Park System. DCNR and NorCo both provided funding for the Township to purchase the property for open space and recreation. But the 90-acre Ballas Tract is independent from and not an addition to Jacobsburg.
Thank you.I have clarified my headline. I kept what I wrote in the actual story bc Ballas connects to a trail that connects to the park. I reviewed the news release last night, after it was too late to call Bushkill officials. But I notice a claim in the pdf that several thousand acres are preserved in Bushkill. Is this true, if you know? Without question, Bushkill has done an amazing job.
It is probably true. And it's probably a combination of Township open space lands, preserved farmlands and other conservation easements on other lands throughout the Township.
A number of townships have been working hard to preserve open land and are to be commended for the efforts. Glad you recognize these efforts in your blog. One comment I have is that unfortunately these areas soon are "improved" with the application of macadam to paths. Many of these paths are along sensitive banks of creeks. The paving alters the micro climes and increase heat and runoff ( also hard on my tired old feet). This is quite ironic as recent efforts of government entities to reduce impervious surfaces have been in the news. Easton needs to address this runoff around the Lehigh river. Bushkill Creek and Monocacy also have paved paths. A recent article addressed funding of paving for Housenick Park (Monocacy Creek runs thru it). Allentown is addressing this with additional taxes based on a property's impervious surface. I sure hope the cindered paths of Ballas Park don't change to paving.
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