Monday, November 2, 2009

At-risk vistas could be bought

By CHRIS A. COUROGEN

Some of the most spectacular vistas along the Appalachian Trail in south-central Pennsylvania are being threatened by development, but the folks whose job it is to protect the trail from encroachment have a plan.

The White Rocks Conservation Initiative, a joint project of the National Parks Service, the Appalachian Trail Conservancy, and state and Cumberland County agencies, is looking to purchase five tracts of land, totaling more than 1,000 acres in Monroe and South Middleton townships.

The owner of the parcels, some of which had been slated to become housing developments, is willing to sell, trail officials told the crowd at last week's Appalachian Trail Community Forum in Carlisle.

But it will be up to the partnership to raise the money to purchase the land.

White Rocks is just one area where commercial and residential development threaten to detract from the wilderness experience of the trail in the midstate.

More than 75 miles of the trail run through the midstate, from Pine Grove Furnace -- near the midpoint of the trail -- to Duncannon. The trail crosses the Susquehanna River, goes over Peters Mountain and through Swatara Gap in Lebanon County.

In addition to the White Rocks effort, the Conservancy and the Park Service are working to help municipalities along the trail fulfill their responsibilities under Pennsylvania's Appalachian Trail Act, a law passed in 2008 that calls for local governments to "use their zoning authority to preserve the AT and protect the natural, scenic, historic and aesthetic resources along the trail."

Trail officials hope events such as last week's forum and future gatherings planned to inform and involve local government officials will help raise money.

"We want to encourage people to think of the trail as one of their community's assets, if they don't already," said Brian King, a spokesman for the Appalachian Trail Conservancy. The nonprofit agency manages the 2,175-mile trail that stretches from Spring Mountain in Georgia to Mount Katahdin in Maine.

Part of the group's effort will focus on making people aware of what a unique recreational resource the trail provides to local residents, many of whom live within walking distance of a national park without realizing it.

"It's kind of a cliche we use -- that it is a national park in your backyard -- but that is really what it is," King said.

The conservancy also wants people to realize they don't need to walk all the way from Georgia to Maine to enjoy the trail. It is well-suited for shorter hikes, be they multi-day backpacking trips or an afternoon walk in the woods.

"There are an awful lot of people who think the only way you can hike the trail is to do the whole thing, which is crazy," King said. "Not that many people can take five or six months off to do a through-hike."