Hawk Mountain to buy land bordering trail
by Stephen J. Pytak / Republican Herald
26 Dec 2013
Hawk Mountain Sanctuary plans to buy land bordering the Appalachian National Scenic Trail, Jerry Regan, president of the Hawk Mountain Sanctuary Association, said Thursday. It is 25.3 acres of woodland which will become part of the sanctuary, a roughly 2,500 acre wildlife protected habitat in Schuylkill and Berks counties, Mary Linkevich, Hawk Mountain's director of communication and grants, said Thursday.
"There are all types of wildlife that use it, amphibians, mammals, birds, and it's stop-over habitat for raptors," Linkevich said.
It will cost Hawk Mountain $210,000 to buy the property. Earlier this month, the sanctuary received a $100,000 grant from the state Department of Conservation and Natural Resources toward the purchase, Linkevich said. "We've been awarded the grant, which means the state made the announcement," Linkevich said. The sanctuary will buy the property in early 2014, she said.
It's one of three DCNR grants the sanctuary recently received, Linkevich said in a press release Thursday. The other two are:
- $250,000 to help build a fully-accessible walkway which connects the Outdoor Amphitheater, Visitors Center, Native Plant Garden and Hawk Mountain Road.
- $200,000 for upgrades at the Irma Broun-Kahn Education Building.
These three grants, which total $550,000, were made available through the Pennsylvania Keystone Recreation, Park and Conservation Fund, the Environmental Stewardship Fund and federal funding sources, Linkevich said in the release.
"We are very grateful to state Sen. David Argall and state Rep. Jerry Knowles for their assistance and leadership, and to the Berks and Schuylkill County commissioners, as well as the supervisors of Albany, and West Brunswick supervisors, all of whom wrote letters of support," Linkevich said.
On Thursday, Linkevich said the sanctuary owns: 1,407.8 acres in Berks County and 1,046.3 in Schuylkill County. This doesn't count the 25.3 acres of woodland in Kempton, Albany Township, Berks County, which the sanctuary plans to buy in early 2014, she said. That 25.3 acres is privately owned. Linkevich and Regan would not release the name of the landowner Thursday. It borders the Appalachian Trail and Hawk Mountain Road, she said.
"It's forested with 120-year-old maple woodlands with hemlock groves which provide important lower-elevation mixed forest habitat. Biological inventories completed by Hawk Mountain show the area is used by the pileated woodpecker, black bear, wild turkey, wood thrush, chestnut-sided warbler, scarlet tanager, the state-threatened timber rattlesnakes and many other Appalachian forest species, as well as migratory raptors who use it for stop-over resting and feeding," Linkevich said.
The sanctuary worked hard to acquire the property to prevent a private landowner from buying it and developing it, she said.
"A possible private sale and development on this parcel presents the highest risk to the character of Hawk Mountain's gateway experience and for hikers along the Appalachian Trail, and would certainly degrade its outstanding wildlife values," Linkevich said. "And this was a matching grant from the state. Since the project was estimated to be $200,000, we had to come up with $100,000".
To acquire that $100,000 match, the sanctuary took a zero-interest loan from Norcross Wildlife Foundation, she said. Meanwhile, Linkevich said the sanctuary is looking to invest in 59.8 acres of riverside property in West Brunswick Township, Schuylkill County.
"It's immediately below the North Lookout at Hawk Mountain. We continue to raise funds in hopes to purchase development rights. We continue to raise funds in hopes to purchase development rights. We are not buying the property, but a conservation easement," she said.
