ConserveLand Blog

My husband John and I, along with our dog Jett, make it a point to enjoy the beautiful natural places that we Pennsylvanians are so fortunate to possess. We often spend our summer weekends exploring our state parks and forests that have been so generously handed down by past generations. Because of caring conservationists like Joseph Rothrock, Gifford Pinchot and Maurice Goddard, Pennsylvanians and our visitors are blessed with over 280,000 acres of state parks and over 2 million acres of state forests.

This past summer, we attempted to visit some new places as well as return to our usual stomping grounds. Since John and I both grew up in the anthracite region (our home town still shows the brutal scars of the coal reign), we truly appreciate the opportunity to visit these natural havens. They symbolize what we feel in our heart – that a gift that gives so much in return is truly priceless and that money simply can not be the driving force for every decision that is made.

I  write this on the eve of the Governor’s budget address that could call for additional drilling of natural gas in our beloved state forests.  Many fear that the lands that we all cherish could be cast away in a short-sighted attempt to balance a budget. Nearly half of the state forest lands that lie within the Marcellus Shale have already been leased for drilling. DCNR’s analysis suggests additional surface disturbance leasing of state forest lands could significantly disrupt the ecological system. In other words, what can be leased has been leased.

The investments made over the decades in preserving pieces of OUR Commonwealth, made on behalf of past, present and future Pennsylvanians, can not be in vain.  Thoughtful consideration, wisdom and foresight must prevail when it comes to caring for what can not be replaced.