Stairway Ridge: a conservation triumph

Posted 5/31/17

WESTFALL TOWNSHIP, PA — The latest success story of Pike County’s Scenic Rural Character Preservation program (SRCP) is protection of the 708-acre Polatnick property in Westfall Township. …

This item is available in full to subscribers.

Please log in to continue

Log in

Stairway Ridge: a conservation triumph

Posted

WESTFALL TOWNSHIP, PA — The latest success story of Pike County’s Scenic Rural Character Preservation program (SRCP) is protection of the 708-acre Polatnick property in Westfall Township. It is a heavily forested ridgeline parcel with pockets of wetlands and the headwaters for Mill Rift (Bushkill) Creek, designated a Class A Exceptional Value wild trout stream. Over two miles of the Bushkill Creek and its tributaries flow through wetlands and hemlock bottoms on the property en route to the Delaware River. There are three unnamed tributary streams that begin on or near the property and feed into the Bushkill.

Its permanent protection creates a contiguous green corridor known as Stairway Ridge. A trail allows people to enjoy Pike’s woodland landscapes while hiking from Milford Beach through Grey Towers, the Milford Experimental Forest, and the county park, ending on the Polatnick property, now within the Buckhorn tract of the Delaware State Forest. Together with the Buckhorn Tract, State Game Lands 209 and other adjacent protected land, the Stairway Ridge property forms a 19,000-acre block of contiguous forestland.

SRCP emerged in 2006 as a means of maintaining the county’s high quality of life through smart planning and active conservation geared toward balanced solutions to increasing population pressures.

To help maintain the high quality of life that we all enjoy in Pike County, the Delaware Highlands Conservancy, the local land trust serving Pike and Wayne counties in PA and Sullivan and Delaware counties in NY, invites Pike County residents to visit www.delawarehighlands.org/pike-county-survey to complete a brief online survey regarding your views on future conservation efforts.

Comments

No comments on this item Please log in to comment by clicking here