| Fast Facts |
location
90 miles west of New York City
ecoregion
High Allegheny Plateau
project size
24,000 acres
preserves
Tannersville Bog, Long Pond, Thomas Darling, Moosic Mountain, Cherry Valley
public lands
Hickory Run State Park, Pennsylvania State Game Lands, Delaware State Forest, Delaware Water Gap National Recreation Area
partners
state, county and municipal government; U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, Wildlands Conservancy, Pocono Heritage Land Trust
conservancy initiatives
Invasive Species
natural events
flowering of the Rhodora heaths of Long Pond, May; nesting songbirds and raptors, May–July; fall foliage, October | |
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Time will tell if this primordial pocket of nature in northeastern Pennsylvania—shaped by ice-age glacial expansion—can survive modern-day urban growth. |
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Rhodora in bloom with pitch pine.
© Jeff Lepore |
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Ski slopes and lakeside resorts have drawn vacationers to the Poconos for decades, but the quiet beauty of these mountains is the real allure. This Pennsylvania plateau was glaciated at least three different times within the past million years. An ancient world of relict northern climes, the Pocono Plateau is still being sculpted by ice and water.
At first glance this slice of wilderness resembles the Canadian backcountry, with its remnant populations of boreal plants, animals, lakes and bogs. Prominent among the natural wonders here is the glacially influenced Hickory Run Park Boulder Field, unchanged after 20,000 years. |
Black bear.
© Raymond Gehman/Corbis |
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The Pocono Plateau boasts black bear populations containing the largest and most prolific individuals in the country. Abundant native river otters are a source for the species’ reintroduction in other places where they have become scarce. It is also the only place on Earth with heath lands dominated by Rhodora, a beautiful wild azalea that |
| attracts photographers from around the world and received a poetic tribute from Ralph Waldo Emerson. In early May when the rest of the plateau still wears its winter cloak, Rhodora’s pink blossoms spread their carpet—a striking sight to behold. | |
Today the Rhodora heaths and other primitive remnants of the Poconos’ past are jeopardized by encroachments of a non-glaciated kind: expansion from nearby metropolitan areas growing at a pace that is 300 times faster than anywhere else in Pennsylvania. In response, The Nature Conservancy participates in numerous municipal and county open-space advisory committees and joins local citizens, organizations and governments in marshalling resources to protect important areas and guide responsible growth.
Learn more about The Nature Conservancy's work in Pennsylvania. |
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| Conservation Profile |
targets
black bear, river otter, osprey, snowshoe hare, flypoison bulb-borer moth, pitcher plants, whippoorwill, heath lands, oak barrens
stresses
haphazard development, fire suppression, water pollution, invasive plants and animals
strategies
acquire land, secure conservation easements, restore ecosystems through fire management, strengthen local partner organizations, engage community, influence land-use planning, encourage conservation management of public and private land
results
$25 million bond referendum for land conservation passed; more than 10,000 acres protected as a result | | | | |
