Our Work Benefits Public Lands
Of the more than 260,000 acres of land protected by the Western Pennsylvania Conservancy, approximately 200,000 acres have been conveyed to either the Pennsylvania Department of Conservation and Natural Resources, Pennsylvania Game Commission, Allegheny National Forest or other public entities as public land – to be freely enjoyed by millions of Pennsylvanians and visitors to our great state.
Some examples of this land protection effort include large portions of Ohiopyle State Park, Erie Bluffs State Park, Forbes State Forest, McConnells Mill State Park and some state game lands. In these examples, we’ve either established or added land to expand the state parks, game lands or forests. In addition to being recreational hot spots, the natural lands we’ve protected for public lands are rich with important conservation features such as native and rare plants and animals, bogs, marshes, streams and special forest types.
We’ve protected thousands of acres of land that are now available as public lands across the state. Click on the links to see all of the lands we protected for parks, game lands, natural areas and forests. (We're sorry for the temporary inconvenience, but please check back soon to download a PDF file of a map of state parks and forests WPC helped establish or expand.)
Our work to protect land for state public land dates back to the mid-1940s, when the Conservancy protected 1,000 acres of the Slippery Rock gorge and historic gristmill in Lawrence County. Today, hikers know this area as McConnells Mill State Park. This land protection decades ago today allows thousands of outdoor enthusiasts to experience the sandstone boulders and tall hemlocks along the trails above Slippery Rock Creek, and other recreational opportunities at the park. McConnells Mill is just one of the state parks available to the public because of our land conservation work. The 11 Pennsylvania state parks that we helped to established are: