Land Conservation
ClearWater Conservancy's Land Conservation Program seeks to balance the rapid growth of central Pennsylvania with the conservation of important ecological, cultural, and historic places. We work with landowners and managers to determine appropriate conservation methods, including land management recommendations, conservation easements, and land acquisition.
Eagle Field
June 14, 2007 marked the beginning of an important land conservation agreement. ClearWater Conservancy of State College, PA signed a conservation easement with Karl H. Striedieck, protecting 244.63 acres of private forested mountain habitat on Bald Eagle Ridge in Patton, Huston, Worth, and Halfmoon Townships. A conservation easement is a legal agreement between a private landowner and a qualified organization, such as a land trust, that protects natural, cultural, and/or historic resources in perpetuity. A conservation easement allows a landowner to retain ownership and use of his or her property while limiting certain uses that may be harmful to the resources being protected.
ClearWater Conservancy purchased the conservation easement
with the assistance of federal funds from a Landowner Incentive Program (LIP)
grant (I-1-1). LIP is a US Fish and Wildlife Service, federally funded program,
providing state agencies with funds to assist land trusts in the purchase of
conservation easements on private lands to protect species of greatest concern.
The Pennsylvania Game Commission awarded a LIP
grant (the first LIP project to
be completed in Pennsylvania) to ClearWater Conservancy in October 2006. Mr. Striedieck’s property is part of Bald Eagle Ridge - Important Bird Area #32 and
contains a large forested tract providing habitat for bird species of greatest
conservation concern, such as Scarlet Tanager, Wood Thrush, and Worm-eating
Warbler. Protection of Mr. Striedieck’s property, within approximately one and
one-half miles of State Game Land #176, also a protected Important Bird Area,
allows for important relative connectivity of these two Important Bird Areas.
LIP grants require land trusts to provide 50% match for a
project. Match was provided by the generous contribution of more than half of
the value of the conservation easement by Mr. Striedieck. Attorney Amos Goodall
of Goodall and Yurchak, P.C., Attorneys at Law generously donated many hours of
service to make this easement a reality. Brad Ross, Wildlife Biologist, and Dr.
James Finley, Professor of Forest Resources, Penn State University, volunteered
valuable services to develop a Land Management Plan designed to maintain the
forest habitat.
ClearWater Conservancy has the responsibility to steward the property in perpetuity to ensure that the property’s forest habitat continues to support birds of greatest conservation concern. Additional funds donated by Mr. Striedieck are invested in a stewardship endowment, established by ClearWater Conservancy at the Centre County Community Foundation, to be certain that the natural resources in the care of ClearWater Conservancy will be protected forever.
Stories of Land, Water, & People... On the Wings of Eagles
For more information about how you can conserve your riparian property, please contact Katie Ombalski or Bill Hilshey at (814) 237-0400 or katie@clearwaterconservancy.org or bill@clearwaterconservancy.org.