Pike invests in the environment

DAVID HULSE
Posted 4/19/17

MILFORD, PA — How would you like to take in $186,000 on a one-year investment of $2,412, and your investment principal was largely a debt you didn’t ever expect to recover? That’s …

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Pike invests in the environment

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MILFORD, PA — How would you like to take in $186,000 on a one-year investment of $2,412, and your investment principal was largely a debt you didn’t ever expect to recover?

That’s what the Pike County Agricultural Land Preservation Program will reap on the commissioners’ 2017 investment, county assistant planning director Jessica Grohmann reported on April 5. “It’s an overwhelming amount in respect to the amount the county puts in each year,” she said.

The $2,412 principal largely resulted from “roll-back taxes,” up to seven years’ worth of previously exempted taxes that come due when properties are withdrawn from another Pennsylvania open-space program, “Clean and Green.”

With a 10-year investment of about $200,000 in public funding, grants, real-estate transfer taxes and roll-back payments, Pike County has leveraged about $1,628,000 in state funding for farmland preservation; enough to purchase conservation easements on 211 acres in two farms, one each in Dingman and Greene townships

Following the 2005 approval of Pike’s Scenic Rural Character Preservation Program, the county in 2006 established its first Agricultural Land Preservation Program, giving it the mission to protect and promote the continued agricultural use of Pike’s remaining farmlands. This was to be accomplished through the acquisition of agricultural conservation easements from willing landowners on actively farmed lands within Agricultural Security Areas (ASA.)

An ASA is a designated unit of 250 or more acres used for the agricultural production of crops, livestock or livestock products. Four Pike municipalities have created ASAs and, while agriculture has never been a mainstay of the county’s economy, officials say farms and open space contribute to the value of surrounding property.

The county’s other open-space guardian, the Pike County Conservation District also reported on April 5. Director Sally Corrigan reported that 2016 had been “a great year” for the district, in which a new strategic plan was initiated. Of six goals in the plan, she emphasized the expansion of the district’s conservation outreach and education efforts, and the hiring of an outreach person to integrate education in all its programs.

The district also worked with the U.S. Geological Survey in comprehensive baseline groundwater testing of 80 private wells, and will publish results within the next few months. To develop a device to find triggers of and predict future droughts, they also measured water levels in 24 wells.

The district’s stream health and erosion control responsibilities fit in with its oversight of the Dirt and Gravel Road Program. The district’s new outreach person, Rebecca Holler, said the district provided $1,115,000 for dirt and gravel roads, $54,000 for low-volume road repair and received state plaudits as “a great example for others to follow.”

Osterberg might have been speaking about both programs in commenting that “while we support economic development, it’s important to protect our environment. That’s why people come here.”

In proclaiming April as Autism Awareness Month, the commissioners also heard Jeanne Marie Passaro detail some of the work of Pike Autism Services (PAS). For more about PAS, call 570/228-1872 or visit pikeautism.org.

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