Acreage Added to Game Lands

Published in the Pennsylvania Game Commission News Release #43-17

The state game lands system would grow by about 4 acres through a land donation approved today by the Pennsylvania Board of Game Commissioners.
Virginia R. Romanishan has offered to donate two parcels adjoining State Game Lands 168 in Northampton County. Both tracts are forested with mixed hardwoods, and lie on the south slope of Blue Mountain.

In other business, the board approved a land exchange whereby the Game Commission and National Park Service would exchange equal-value 2.25-acre tracts. The tracts are about a mile from one another.

The Game Commission-owned tract is located with Lower Towamensing Township, Carbon County, and Moore Township, Northampton County, and is bisected by the Appalachian Trail. The Park Service-owned tract is located entirely within Eldred Township, Monroe County, and does not contain any portion of the Appalachian Trail, but contains a 100-foot-wide overhead electric transmission right-of-way.

The primary purpose of the exchange is to encourage responsible future energy-corridor development, namely natural gas and petroleum pipelines, across Blue Mountain and State Game Lands 168. By allowing for pipeline or utility co-location along the existing right-of-way, additional forest fragmentation can be avoided.

Co-location within the existing corridor also would minimize future adverse impacts to the Appalachian Trail, which is located on or near the summit throughout this area.

Meanwhile, hunters and trappers also benefit from the exchange creating a sole connection between northern and southern tracts of State Game Lands 168 in this area.
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With the exception of the existing overhead transmission line, the tracts approved for exchange both consist of typical dry oak mixed hardwood forest ranging in age from about 80 to 125 years.