The Highlands Region in northern Bucks, Montgomery and Chester counties is part of a national treasure that must be preserved. With 196,000 acres in the tri-county area, this segment of the Highlands is one of Southeast Pennsylvania's most extensive and varied conservation focal areas. The Highlands forests also provide tremendous recreation opportunities and act as natural regulators for water quality and quantity.

Find out more about the PA Highlands Region

A former orchard in Marlborough Township is now a nature preserve, thanks to the Montgomery County Land Trust and funding from DCNR and a Green Fields/Green Towns grant. The orchard, once owned by the Zeigler brothers (of the renowned Zeigler Cider Company), serves as an important groundwater recharge area for the township. The Zeigler Nature Preserve, located along the Unami Creek in Montgomery County, preserves scenic vistas and wetlands while connecting other areas of open space. The creek's watershed is part of the Mid-Atlantic Highlands Region, the 3.5 million acre "backyard" of Philadelphia and New York which contains critical natural resources and dozens of endangered plant and animal species but is threatened by the sprawling development patterns common across the northeast.

Tinicum Conservancy describes the Bucks County property on which Stuart Louden grew up as a "stunning property of forested valleys, diabase boulder fields, Brunswick shale cliffs and plateaus, and a creek fed by natural springs." With support from the conservancy, Louden established the conservation value of the 210-acre property that his parents left in trust and donated an easement to the organization. The Conservancy partnered with Tinicum Township, Bucks County Open Space Program, Pennsylvania State Game Commission, and the United States Fish and Wildlife Service to protect the property.

"Too often we hear that communities can't afford to create parks, preserve farms, conserve open space, and protect watershed landscapes," says Will Rogers, president of the Trust for Public Land. "But ... we know conservation is not an expense, but an investment that pays many dividends, including economic ones." That green space has a quantifiable value is a fact that has been generally understood but less documented. Now, recent studies have successfully made explicit the connection between land conservation and economic development, voiding the misconception that conserved land is non-productive land. Although some benefits of green space remain difficult to quantify, such as the mental-health value of a walk in the park, these studies have found that preserved land increases property values, provides low-cost environmental services, bolsters tourism, and provides health benefits. The GreenSpace Alliance is requesting proposals for an economic value study of protected open space in Southeastern Pennsylvania. The region contains a wealth of preserved land, from Philadelphia's Fairmount Park to the farmland of Chester County. This study will steer the conservation discussion towards economic vitality and how green spaces serve the needs of developed areas-a crucial reframing of the discourse, if the issue is to be heard during the current economic slowdown.
Read the full story about the Economic Value of Open Space