SAVE STONY VALLEY

THANK YOU for you help in saving our special wilderness!

THE PROBLEM A large wilderness area close to urban areas is tempting to all sorts of development. What was the "Swap"? What does Stony Creek offer?

ORGANIZATIONS that support our efforts to preserve Stony Creek Valley

DIRECTIONS to Stony Creek and a map and links to other maps and rail-trail information.

NEW! A trail report from Reading Eagle writer Rita Florani. Yellow Springs Hike

PHOTOS in the Valley

HOW TO HELP  links to legislators and links to other websites

BACKGROUND how Stony Creek became the first component in PA's Wild & Scenic River Program. 

THE STONY CREEK COALITION-  successfully protecting the Stony Creek Valley Since 1974!

If you have a question or just want to write in support please use this link info@savestonyvalley.com 

Schedule:

A bill to help protect Stony Creek Valley was introduced in the Pennsylvania Senate in January 2009. Ask your state senator to support SB 66! Here is a link to the bill: SB 66 and to the Bill's Sponsors. The bill is still "In Committee". Here is a list of the members of the Environmental Resources Committee. This legislation amends the original Stony Creek Act of 1980. The original Act refers to the "Stony Creek Study" as a guideline for management of the area. This amendment specifies, within the Stony Creek Act, activities that are consistant with the preservation of Stony Creek as a wilderness area.

Pleaase join us for the Second Annual Stony Creek Clean-up

Subject: Stony Creek Valley Clean-Up Day, Saturday, June 13
Where: Stony Creek Valley beginning at the Ellendale Circle (where the mail boxes are lined up).

What: Stream and public access clean-up.

When: Saturday, June 13th 9 AM-1 PM.

Who:15-45(?) including but not limited to: local sportsmen and conservation groups (Trout Unlimited,
Save Stony Valley, etc.), volunteers and private landowners. Please forward this invitation to other and/or other groups who may be interested in helping out!

Collection points will be designated between section teams at public accesses. Simple remote clean -up will extend beyond Ellendale Gate.

Refreshments and historical/natural/ environmental speaker will follow. One or two
volunteer speakers are needed and music would be super. Please email
back if you have a topic or talent to consider.

The Middle Paxton Township has been contacted for end assistance w/ trash removal. Thank you. 

The Passing of Dale Ibberson: 1946 - 2009 Dale was active in the Stony Creek Coalition nearly from our beginnings in the mid 1974's. He was the treasurer that entire time. His creative spirit permeated all that we did and will live on in the preservation of Stony Creek. Dale was our Treasurer and invaluable as our historian. We'll miss you Dale! In looking back though his slide collection we found two slides captioned "Wanderer's Day in Stony Creek". If anyone remembers this event please email info@savestonyvalley.com.  The picture below shows Dale on the left with Bill Beck and Doc Fritchey, three original coalition members. Doc passed away several years ago.

What is at Stake

Just 14 miles north of Harrisburg PA is Saint Anthony's Wilderness, which at 44,000 acres is the largest wilderness area in central or eastern PA. Stony Creek Valley is the portion of this wilderness most easily reached from Harrisburg and Lebanon. In fact, it is within a 30 mile drive of 700,000 citizens.  28 years ago the Stony Creek Valley Coalition fought to save Stony Creek Valley by having Stony Creek designated as a Scenic River under the Pennsylvania Wild and Scenic Rivers Act. We thought then that we had saved this gem— part of —by preventing any use other than as wilderness. The PA Game Commission (PGC), which owns the Valley as part of  State Game Land 211—purchased in part with Federal funds—was charged with its protection.

How our Largest Eastern PA Wilderness Was Saved The First Time

In 1974 PP&L wanted to dam the Creek and flood the Valley to generate electricity. The Stony Creek Valley Coalition formed in response to this threat and in 1979 PP&L abandoned its plans. In 1980, the General Assembly made Stony Creek the first river in Pennsylvania’s Wild & Scenic River Program. The protected land is 18,000 acres bounding Stony Creek from ridgetop to ridgetop.

A Needy Neighbor

Fort Indiantown Gap (FTIG), a Pennsylvania National Guard facility, is very small, hemmed in by public roads and bounded on the south, west and east by towns, farms and homes. To the north is the wilderness of Stony Creek Valley. In 1998, the Guard began planning a new training range for tanks. The Environmental Impact Statement for the range recognized the Valley’s worth, but claimed that there would be no impact. However, in 2006 we learned that the EIS was invalid since it was prepared without conducting a ricochet analysis for the firing range. When a ricochet analysis was finally prepared in 2007, it showed that hundreds, if not thousands, of rounds from artillery and cannon fire would fly over the mountaintop and into Stony Valley every year. In order to shoe-horn this new firing range into the tiny FTIG site, the Guard decided it needed to acquire several square miles of the Valley to serve as a “Surface Danger Zone.” It began negotiations with the PGC to acquire the land though a “swap.” Again, the Coalition stepped up to save this wilderness area. While we have made progress in reducing the scope and size of the swap, the battle is not over. 

The Swap

Sometime in September 2007, an agreement was signed by PGC staff and the head of the PA Department of Military and Veterans affairs. The agreement would give the FTIG absolute control over 900 acres (5%) of the Valley for 90 days a year, including during several hunting seasons. In return, the FTIG “swaps” a small (430 acre) parcel of land with modest value to the PGC. FTIG also “promised” that someday, someone (NOT the FTIG) might buy the Game Commission some additional land, somewhere. In essence, the proposal is for the PGC to swap 900 acres of wilderness for "Echo 1" which is bounded on all sides by FTIG training ranges.

On May 2 2008 officials from the National Guard at Indiantown Gap announced to the local media that they were, at least temporarily, ceasing the construction of the Multi Purpose Training Range (MPTR) that would have necessitated use of 900 acres in Stony Creek, State Gameland 211. Thanks to all of you who worked so hard to save Stony Valley once again. The funds intended for the MPTR will be used for other projects by the Pennsylvania National Guard.

Although this appears to be good news, the National Guard is completing the Environmental Assessment for the project and considers the Use Agreement with the PA Game Commission to be a viable document. We are working to "beef-up" the legislation that designates Stony Creek as a Pennsylvania Wild & Scenic River to better protect the wilderness.

OUR CONCERNS WITH THE LAND USE AGREEMENT 

Fort Indiantown Gap will be able to exclude everyone from this area for 90 days a year, including most summer weekends. This includes hunters, bird watchers, wildlife photographers, hikers, and anyone else who enjoys the wilderness experience. 

The exclusion times will include all or portions of most hunting seasons. The only hunting seasons that are fully protected are regular rifle antler and antlerless deer seasons and bear season. Only four weekdays and one Saturday are set aside for each of the Spring and Fall turkey seasons.  No other hunting seasons are protected at all.

The lands being taken were purchased in part with Federal “Pittman Robertson” (Federal Aid In Wildlife Restoration Act—16 U.S.C. § 669 et seq.)) funds. By law, these lands must be used for the protection of wildlife and kept available for the hunters who paid for them.  Restricting access for ¼ of the year, and subjecting wildlife and their habitat to year-round artillery, cannon, and machine gun fire, is a violation of Federal law. 

Amazingly, under the Agreement, the Game Commission is heavily restricted from evaluating the environmental damage from the hundreds of shells expected to land in the danger zone!  The Agreement actually limits environmental assessments to “no more frequently than once per year.”  Why does the Gap want so badly to avoid inspections?  And why would the Game Commission agree to limit its ability to assess damages on its own lands?

The Game Law does not allow the PGC to enter into an agreement of this kind.  It may only enter into agreements “for impounding, managing, using, maintaining, and operating lands and waters for game or wildlife management, public hunting and furtaking . . .”  (34 Pa.C.S. § 709)  Agreements to use state game lands as artillery fire impact zones are not allowed.  Why can’t the Game Commission obey the law?

The Stony Creek Wild And Scenic River Act is intended to protect this unique wild resource, and the Game Commission is specifically charged with the duty to protect this wilderness. Why can’t it honor its legal obligations?

Stony Creek Valley Coalition

2202 Weavertown Rd. Lebanon, PA 17146

Last Updated  5/05/09