habitat protector

DINGMAN — Isabelle Lang is a little woman with a big heart. She has been many things during her long life n a city dweller, a world traveler, a wife and a householder - but above all, she is a self-proclaimed nature-lover. For the past 33 years Isabelle has lived in a country home in the midst of a pristine tract of forested land in Dingman Township, and this place to her is “home.” It is also home to a variety of wildlife that thrives in the forest and wetlands of her property. Because of her love for her animal “neighbors,” Isabelle has recently chosen to protect a 57- acre tract of her land with a conservation easement with the Delaware Highlands Conservancy. That easement assures that her property will never be subdivided or developed, whether it stays with her heirs or is sold to someone else. Isabelle’s connection to the land goes back to her childhood in the 1930’s, when she used to spend summers visiting relatives in Dingman Township, just up the hill from where she ended up living with her second husband John Lang, a long-time family friend whom she married in 1974. Since that time Isabelle has watched the development of the area with growing concern. “Our road had only half a dozen houses back in the 70’s”, she says, “and now there are close to 125!” During her years here, Isabelle has enjoyed the birds, deer and rabbits that share her property. Her favorite pastime is watching the barn swallows that nest in her awnings and swoop in and out to feed their baby birds. As development has kept encroaching from three sides, Isabelle has seen the habitat for those creatures continuously shrinking. “I felt sorry,” she said, “the animals were here before we were … and now they have no place to go.” By protecting the forests and wetlands of her property, which borders on the Shohola Falls, PA State Game Land, Isabelle Lang has assured that her precious wildlife habitat will be preserved in perpetuity and that her beloved animals will continue to have a place to go. For information on how to protect your property for future generations, contact the Conservancy at 570-226-3164.