486 acres added to Delaware State Forest in Dingman Township

Department of Conservation and Natural Resources Secretary Cindy Adams Dunn joined Bureau of Forestry and other state officials on Tuesday in dedicating a 486-acre addition to Delaware State Forest.
Dunn discussed how the Restore Pennsylvania proposal is essential to similar infrastructure improvements throughout the state.
“This addition will protect critical habitat and the Delaware watershed and provide more opportunities for the public to enjoy the outdoors,” Dunn said. “Restore Pennsylvania would supply desperately needed funds for this type of future infrastructure investment at other sites throughout the commonwealth.”
Used as Boy Scout camp from the 1950s until the 1990s, the property off Route 739 contains an 18-acre natural lake. When purchased in 2013, the site also contained 17 buildings and numerous smaller structures. The property contained a host of hazards that the Pennsylvania Department of Conservation and Natural Resources (DCNR) razed so the site could return to a natural forested condition.
“The preservation of this unique and special Pike County property is the culmination of many people working together in an effort to protect such a wonderful landscape vital to the plant and wildlife habitat,” said PA Rep. Michael Peifer.
DCNR’s Bureau of Forestry acquired the site in September 2013. Pike County received a DCNR grant, which it matched with $1.2 million via Scenic Rural Character Preservation Program. The cpunty subsequently transferred the property to DCNR for permanent protection and management.
Delaware State Forest, along with the neighboring Lackawanna State Forest and its 32,000 acres, are keystones in the Pocono Forests and Waters Conservation Landscape Initiative (CLI), one of seven major land protection efforts underway across the state.
Regional in scope, CLIs partner local governments, conservancies and residents with the DCNR and other state departments in long-term planning and implementation that promotes sustainability, conservation, community revitalization, and recreational projects.
For information on the Delaware State Forest District, or any of Pennsylvania’s 20 state forest districts, visit dcnr.state.pa.us.