Statement of David Masur, PennEnvironment Director
“PennEnvironment applauds the
state Senate for passing House Bill 1281 (HB1281) today, which will take
greater steps to protect Pennsylvania’s portion of the Appalachian
Trail.
HB1281 was introduced by
state Representative Bob Freeman (D-Easton, Chair of the House Local Government
Committee) to amend the Appalachian Trail Act (Act 41, 1978) to ensure that
those municipalities through which the Trail runs adopt and implement zoning in
harmony with protecting the Appalachian Trail. More and more, encroaching
development threatens Pennsylvania’s section of the Trail, and HB1281 is meant to tackle
this threat.
The Appalachian Trail is one of the most well known and iconic parts
of Pennsylvania’s natural heritage. The legislature sent a strong
message about the importance of the Trail by passing HB1281 with
overwhelming
bi-partisan support in both the House (169-22) and Senate (48-2).
The urgent need for HB1281
had been highlighted by a recent decision by the Commonwealth Court to give municipalities the choice of
remaining un-zoned if they so desired. This decision could directly
affect efforts to preserve Pennsylvanian’s piece of the Appalachian Trail, allowing for irresponsible development near the
Trail. Without legislation like HB1281,
many parts of the Trail could lose their aesthetic and natural qualities
forever.
Pennsylvanians from all walks
of life care deeply about wild places like the Appalachian Trail. If they’ve hiked parts of the Trail or not, the
state’s residents want to ensure that the Appalachian Trail is protected for now and for future generations of
Pennsylvanians. The state senate showed that
it understands this support for preserving our wild places by passing HB1281
today.
Pennsylvania’s portion of the
Appalachian Trail runs for 229 miles from the Delaware Water Gap
in northeastern Pennsylvania, following the eastern rim of the Alleghenies
(north of Reading and Allentown) before crossing the Cumberland Valley (near
Harrisburg) on its way to Maryland at Pennsylvania’s southern border along the
Susquehanna River.
The Trail is part of the
National Park Service and is the first scenic trail in the U.S.,
designated in 1968.
Besides its historic importance, the Trail is home to dozens of
threatened and endangered species, and many ecologists believe that the
Appalachian Trail may contain the greatest level of biodiversity for
any unit of America’s National Park Service.
The idea of the trail was
originally created by Benton MacKaye. He envisioned the trail to be a
place in which city dwellers could escape to a majestic and beautiful
wilderness. If the trail is not protected properly from encroaching
development, Benton MacKaye’s original idea would be lost.
When
concerned citizens heard
about some of the threats facing the state’s portion of the Appalachian
Trail, PennEnvironment received comments from every corner
of the Commonwealth and from Pennsylvanians of every walk of life in
support of
further protections for the Trail. Cleary the Trail is a part of our
natural
heritage that’s worth protecting, and today’s passage of HB1281 took a
step in
the right direction to ensure that that happens.”
