An extraordinary gift of land

MILFORD — The people of Pike County recently received an extraordinary gift. Thanks to the efforts and generosity of many dedicated individuals and organizations, nearly 1,200 acres of forestland on the outskirts of Milford will remain forever forested. The land in question, known as the “Milford Experimental Forest,” belongs to members of the Pinchot family, namely Marianna Kastner, Gifford Pinchot III, and Peter Pinchot. The gift comes in the form of a conservation easement negotiated by the Delaware Highlands Conservancy and held by the Pennsylvania Department of Conservation and Natural Resources (DCNR). The funding for the protection of the property was made possible through the assistance of The Conservation Fund, The Forest Legacy Program of the U.S. Forestry Service as well as the PA DCNR, and the generosity of the owners. The benefits of this easement to the public are tremendous. It conserves a significant block of forest land as a buffer for over 14,000 acres of adjacent public forestland; restores and sustains native and aquatic biodiversity and water quality in the forests and streams of the Sawkill Creek and Upper Delaware River watershed; protects historic and archeological aspects of the property; protects the water supply and pure drinking water of Milford Borough and neighboring communities; and allows for a public hiking trail connecting Milford Beach to Grey Towers to the Delaware State Forest. The easement is very specific about how the land can and cannot be used far into the future. The forest may be used for research and as a demonstration site for testing new ideas for sustainable forestry management which can benefit individual landowners. As Peter Pinchot explains, “We want to do the experiments and then share the experiences.” “There is tremendous opportunity to increase the economic benefits to private landowners” who choose to keep their forested lands.” The Milford Experimental Forest can do that by being a centralized source of information for private landowners through its partnerships with the U.S. Forest Service, the DCNR, the local Conservation District, with Penn State and the Yale School of Forestry, and with the Pinchot Institute, a non-profit forest policy institute. It is particularly appropriate that the Pinchot family members, Peter, Gifford III, and Marianna, have chosen to protect their land in a conservation easement. Their great-grandfather James Pinchot founded the School of Forestry at Yale University in 1901. Gifford Pinchot, James Pinchot’s son, became the first Chief of the USDA Forest Service and the first Secretary of the Interior under President Teddy Roosevelt.