The changing face of growth has changed the efforts in Franklin County to plan for it while attempting to preserve the county’s mix of characters.
“Franklin County has been a target for solar development,” Franklin County Commissioners Chairman David Kelly told a group of South Mountain Partnership (SMP) supporters gathered Friday morning at a pavilion in Caledonia State Park.
“… but we also want to hang onto some of the best farmland in the world,” Kelly said.
He underlined the importance of the Partnership in helping conservation and preservation efforts in the county, especially in the face of pressure from solar power developers unanticipated “even four years ago.”
The group comprised about 70 area residents, business owners, and other SMP “partners” convened in the state’s second oldest state park, after Valley Forge, and one of four state parks in the South Mountain region — for the organization’s spring meeting.
The organization’s website touts SMP as “a collaborative network of people and organizations protecting and promoting the agricultural, natural, cultural, and recreational resources of the region in Adams, Cumberland, Franklin, and York counties of southcentral Pennsylvania. SMP is one of the Pennsylvania Department of Conservation and Natural Resources’ (DCNR) eight identified conservation landscapes.
Among the featured presentations Friday was a panel representing environmental educators from Michaux State Forest and three state parks within the four-county South Mountain Region — Kings Gap, Pine Grove Furnace, and Gifford Pinchot
Annolee Jansen, for Kings Gap, noted an increase in demand since Covid pandemic. She said some of the features remain, including a hay loft and a water tower — the latter of which is in need of repair. Bid submissions have recently been solicited for the repair work.
Another park dependent on external assistance is Gifford Pinchot State Park, near Dillsburg, which features a 340-acre lake, overnight camping — and remnants of a toboggan run built in the 1960s and shut down a few years later. Many of its support pillars still are visible to hikers on the nearby walking path. Park offerings include educational programs, boat tours, and other topics, dependent on partnerships from outside the park.
“How we meet those demands is with our partnerships,” said Elizabeth Kepley-McNutt, the lone educator at the park.
She said she could not answer all the questions she was asked by visitors and called on the SMP partners to help provide experts and programs for visitors.
SMP Director Katie Hess offered an overview of a regional “report card” being prepared for publication “at the end of summer.”
She said the project had identified for evaluation five “big issue trends that are happening across the region:” Smart Growth; water quality, stormwater management; loss of farmland, open space, forest, habitat, historic resources; public health; and recreation.
During a break in the meeting, participants were invited to view posters describing each of the five topics and apply red, yellow, or green stickers to indicate how well they thought the subjects were being treated.
“We want to know how you all are thinking about (the subjects) as well,” she said.
Members also were treated to a report on work in Michaux State Forest, nearly 90,000 acres of mostly woodland comprising a large portion of the South Mountain Region. In addition to efforts to salvage wood downed by winter storms (which will result in lumbering crews, especially along PA 233), and a project to create two new trails leading to Pole Steeple — a popular hiking destination overlooking Pine Grove Furnace — the Bureau of Forestry is evaluating potential adjustments to the forest’s 130-mile road system.
John Messeder is a freelance reporter and photographer who resides in Cumberland Township. He may be contacted at john@johnmesseder.com
I have hiked around and observed a lack of any siltation/erosion filters used in logging areas around upper Toms Creek/Kepner’s Knob and hillside above Shafers Rocks–both inside Michaux State Forest. Upper Toms Creek now displays a good deal of silt pollution from erosion following the logging, so who is monitoring this, or is DEP failing to monitor after issuing the permits? Toms Creek is supposedly a candidate for high quality waters designation, around Shafers Rocks is in upper Antietam drainage.
I would like to know more about it, especially about what Bureau of Forestry is evaluating potential adjustments to the forest’s 130-mile road system. They do not seem to want to maintain the roads they have. I would also like to know when the gates are lock and unlocked.
Which locked gates are you interested in? If a “road” is blocked by a locked gate, it’s generally only open to motorized vehicles for emergency use. Otherwise, motorized use is generally prohibited except in specifically posted areas.
As for the maintenance, I’m not sure what you want for dirt woods roads.
We’re hoping in the near future to reveal some of the “potential adjustments” and other planned work.