In 2003 Montgomery County adopted a newly revised open space program called the Green Fields/Green Towns Program. Supported overwhelmingly by voters, who in a county-wide 2003 referendum on open space voted 78% in favor of the program, it dedicates $150 million toward preserving open space and farmland, re-greening towns and boroughs, and protecting natural and water resource areas. Through its voter education campaign, Montgomery County Lands Trust played a pivotal role in the passage of the referendum. The Green Fields/Green Towns Program builds on the successes of the previous ten-year program begun in 1993 by the Montgomery County Board of Commissioners to identify and save the county’s vanishing open space. The Green Fields/ Green Towns Program furthers the original goals by supporting public and private sector land preservation, this time with increased dedicated funding. The county’s 62 townships and boroughs play a key role in protecting open space and will receive substantial grants for open space planning, open space purchases, park enhancement, tree planting, and other re-greening projects. Montgomery County Lands Trust acts as a vital partner with the county, municipalities, and sister organizations to develop collaborative solutions to the most challenging land preservation projects. Montgomery County Lands Trust works energetically with public and private sector allies to "establish a land ethic and vision that guides and supports the efforts of county residents to wisely plan for the protection of their land." (Montgomery County Open Space Plan, 1996)

For the past two years, Montgomery County Lands Trust under the guidance of the GreenSpace Alliance has been collaborating with Pennypack Ecological Restoration Trust to implement a partnership of diverse organizations. The coalition includes partners from environmental and conservation organizations, municipalities, the City of Philadelphia, Montgomery County, and Temple University’s Ambler College.

To energize their efforts the group produced a video (link to the video www.pennypackgreenway.org ) presenting a vision for the greenway and a rationale for their efforts. They have also moved forward to complete a strategic action plan and a map for the Pennypack Greenway. The plan calls for mobilizing conservation and protection efforts along the Pennypack Creek and the map highlights the resources in the greenway available for public enjoyment. Click here to see a listing of 2008 events in the Pennypack Watershed. Click here for a map and brochure of the Greenway.

Home to more than 250,000 residents, Pennypack Creek’s 56 square-mile watershed embraces northeast Philadelphia’s urban and suburban neighborhoods as well as Montgomery County communities. Although much of the watershed’s woodlands were cleared long ago for agriculture or residential and commercial development, fine forests can still be appreciated in three large and precious natural areas along the lower two-thirds of the creek: Philadelphia’s Pennypack Park, Lorimer Park in Abington, and the Pennypack Ecological Restoration Trust’s Pennypack Preserve in Upper Moreland.

With only 14 percent of the Pennypack Creek Watershed remaining as forested land, each remaining acre lost to development exacerbates devastating flooding, decreases habitat for wildlife, and further compromises water quality. Demand for developable land in the watershed is intense, given the creek’s central location in the Philadelphia metropolitan area. Since most of the lower watershed is already built-out, the remaining unprotected natural areas need to be preserved, and the existing protected natural areas need to be restored to ecological health.

RESOURCE FEATURES

• Over 2,600 acres of publicly accessible land in three natural area parks and preserves
• Extensive woodlands, including several remnant stands of old-growth forest
• Forty miles of trails welcoming visitors to explore by foot, bicycle and horseback
• Fifteen miles of scenic stream corridor
• The cleanest of the five Delaware Estuary tributary streams originating in the suburbs and flowing through the city of Philadelphia
• Dozens of historic sites dating from the time of the colonial settlement in southeastern Pennsylvania

SPECIAL DESIGNATIONS

• Frazier’s Bog, statewide significance
• Bethayres Swamp, countywide significance
• Big Oak Woods, countywide significance

TREASURES

• Bethayres Swamp
• Council Rock
• Fetter’s Mill State Historic District
• Fox Chase Farm
• Frankford Avenue Bridge
• Frazier’s Bog
• Knowlton House

MUNICIPALITIES (all or part)

Abington, Bryn Athyn, Hatboro, Horsham, Jenkintown, Lower Moreland, Philadelphia, Rockledge, Upper Dublin, Upper Moreland, Upper Southampton, Warminster

WATERSHEDS/SUB-WATERSHEDS

Delaware River, Pennypack Creek including Wooden Bridge Run, Sandy Run, Huntingdon Valley Creek, Meadow Brook, Terwood Run, Southampton Creek

GROWING LIST OF ORGANIZATIONS ACTIVE IN THE PARTNERSHIP

Audubon Pennsylvania, Fairmount Park Commission, Friends of Fox Chase Farm, Friends of Pennypack Park, Montgomery County Planning Commission, Montgomery County Lands Trust, Natural Lands Trust, Pennypack Ecological Restoration Trust, Philadelphia Water Department, Southampton Creek Watershed Association, Temple University’s Center for Sustainable Communities, Trout Unlimited.

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