Natural Lands - The Magazine of Natural Lands Fall/Winter 2019, Issue 155

16 Montrose 81 saving open sp Carbondale Scranton Milford 84 March 1 – August 31, 2019 Wilkes Barre 380 BERKS COUNTY, PA Stroudsburg 80 w a re 476 Hazelton 81 NEW Easton Allentown JERS EY 78 2 Quakertown P E N N S Y LVA N I A 1 476 Reading Doylestown Pottstown 76 5 6 3 PHILADELPHIA Lancaster Coatesville West Chester 4 95 276 Norristown 476 Camden Media Chester 295 Wilmington r Je Glassboro Atla nt 55 Salem 95 95 Elkton w ik e np ur Ne Ex pr es sw ay Vineland 7 Millville Delaware Bay Staudt Property 51 acres South Heidelberg Township Lehighton 1 P Key Partners: PA Department of Conservation and Natural Resources (DCNR), Bureau of Forestry; PA DCNR Bureau of Recreation and Conservation – Community Conservation Partnership Program; US Forest Service – Highlands Conservation Act The Staudt property is 51-acre parcel adjacent to the George W. Wertz tract of the William Penn State Forest in South Heidelberg Township, Berks County. Through funding from PA DCNR and the US Forest Service, Nat- ural Lands purchased the property and transferred it to the Bureau of Forestry where it will now be open to the public for hunting, hiking, and bird watching. Forested land like this offers essential environmental services like cleaning the air, filtering sediment and other pollutants from the watershed, slowing stormwater during major rain events to reduce flooding, and storing carbon. “In an area of the state where it is needed most, Natural Lands has emerged as one of this department’s strongest allies when it comes to land protection,” said DCNR Secretary Cindy Adams Dunn. Said Darlene Staudt, former owner, “This property was in my late husband’s family for three generations. I know it would make my husband, Phil, happy to know it will be a forest forever.”

Natural Lands - The Magazine of Natural Lands Fall/Winter 2019, Issue 155 | Page 18