Latest news with #HeritageConservancy
Yahoo
11-07-2025
- General
- Yahoo
Conservation group has secured an additional 55 acres in this Bucks County township
As more swaths of land across Bucks County are slated for development, Heritage Conservancy just secured protection for a 55-acre property in Springfield Township. Now protected by a conservation easement, the entirely wooded 55-acre Staff property is part of the 175-acre Kirkland Farm, where 120 acres were preserved last year through a Bucks County agricultural easement. "The Staff property and adjacent farm have a big 'footprint' in Springfield Township, and the easement assures that the property and its natural resources remain intact," Heritage Conservancy CEO and President Bill Kunze said in an email. "The land can never be developed." The newly protected land is "located within the ecologically important Cooks Creek Conservation Landscape and Watershed, an area vital for local wildlife habitat," Kunze added. "It has an 'exceptional value stream' that is a tributary to Cooks Creek." A conservation easement is a voluntary, legally binding agreement between a landowner and a land trust or government agency that permanently limits the use of the land to protect its conservation values such as open space, natural habitats or historical features. To ensure compliance with these conservation easements, Heritage Conservancy staff monitor their protected properties across the region to ensure the land is being preserved appropriately. Over the last 67 years, the organization's members have protected more than 17,000 acres of land across Bucks, Montgomery and Northampton counties. They're on track to preserve an additional 600 acres by the end of the year, Kunze said. "Bucks County is known nationally for its bucolic views, rolling farmland, and forests," he added. "Our work protects the natural beauty that makes this place special. Beyond the preservation of natural beauty, projects like this have a deeper impact on the local environment, protecting and attracting local wildlife, contributing to clean air and water in the community, and helping to mitigate the impacts of climate change." Lacey Latch is the development reporter for the Bucks County Courier Times and The Intelligencer. She can be reached at LLatch@ This article originally appeared on Bucks County Courier Times: Heritage Conservancy obtains easement near Crooks Creek
Yahoo
03-04-2025
- General
- Yahoo
David Library on River Road in Washington Crossing closed in 2020. What's the plan for site
The site of the former David Library of the American Revolution in Washington Crossing could become a visitor center for a state park, according to the Pennsylvania Department of Conservation and Natural Resources. The department, which owns the building in Upper Makefield, conducted a feasibility study last year for a potential visitor center and hub in the southern portion of Delaware Canal State Park, a spokesperson said. This building along Collingswood Lane, off River Road, is currently closed to the public, though visitors can park and access the Delaware Canal Towpath walking trail there. A report on the results of the study is not yet available, the spokesperson said. The former library is a little over a mile north of the Washington Crossing Historic Park on the Delaware River; the walking trail connects the two sites. The 118-acre property housed the library — which contains thousands of primary sources on the Revolutionary War — from 1974 until 2020, when the collection was moved to the library of the American Philosophical Society in Philadelphia. The David Library of the American Revolution sold the property to the state Department of Conservation and Natural Resources in 2020 in an agreement co-signed by the Heritage Conservancy. Although nearly half of the property was already preserved as part of the county land preservation program, the deal aimed to ensure that the general public could retain access to the Delaware River and canal towpath along the large property. The Heritage Conservancy also transferred the 25-acre Sol & Rose Nature Center between the canal and River Road to the state as part of the deal. The state conservation department spokesperson did not provide a timeline for the release of the visitor center feasibility study. Jess Rohan can be reached at jrohan@ This article originally appeared on Bucks County Courier Times: David Library in Washington Crossing may become visitor center for park
