Northampton County Open Space Acquisition

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

November 13, 2025

Northampton County Open Space Acquisition

WHO: Northampton County Executive Lamont G. McClure & Division of Parks and Recreation, Pennsylvania Department of Conservation and Natural Resources Secretary Cindy Adams Dunn

WHAT: Northampton County Open Space Acquisition – Bauer Preserve

[Northampton County, PA] – Northampton County Executive Lamont G. McClure and the Division of Parks and Recreation are pleased to announce that Northampton County has purchased 43.36 acres of open space in the Borough of Stockertown. The Bauer Preserve serves as the County’s 23rd park and conservation area. The land permanently conserves open space in the Bushkill Creek Greenway and Pennsylvania Highlands Region.

The County’s fee simple acquisition is partially funded by a grant award from the Highlands Conservation Act Program (HCA), administered by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (USFWS) and the Pennsylvania Department of Conservation and Natural Resources (DCNR), as a match to Northampton County’s Livable Landscapes Grant Program.

The Highlands Conservation Act Grant Program was founded to conserve natural resources in a multi-state region and sustain key landscapes for the benefit of people and wildlife. This project conserves land of high conservation value, fulfilling the Act’s conservation objectives of clean water, healthy forests, thriving wildlife populations, agriculture, and recreation opportunities. Competitive funding is distributed based on the ranking of individual projects submitted by the states, consistent with the Highlands Conservation Act’s conservation goals.

This project also fulfills core goals in the Commonwealth’s Lehigh Valley Greenways Conservation Landscape, a proactive, partnership approach to regional landscape conservation in Lehigh and Northampton Counties. Northampton County conserves critical landscapes, restores degraded habitats, buffers stream corridors, and promotes best management practices. Trails within the Bushkill Creek Watershed, including the regional Two Rivers Area Trailway, connect people to greenway and trail opportunities, expanding THE LINK Trail Network.

Northampton County Executive Lamont G. McClure hosted Pennsylvania Department of Conservation and Natural Resources Secretary Cindy Adams Dunn, along with staff, project partners, the Borough of Stockertown, and the previous landowners, to celebrate the permanent protection of land to enhance water quality, sustainable agriculture, and habitat in a sensitive stream corridor.

“The acquisition protects the land from development and conserves the agricultural, environmentally sensitive habitat and trail connections in the Bushkill Creek Watershed. The project aligns with the Highlands Conservation Act goals in a four-state region and will serve as a preserve managing floodplain restoration, active farming, stormwater management, and public access in Northampton County,” stated Lamont G. McClure, County Executive. “Our staff in the Division of Parks and Recreation worked diligently to facilitate this acquisition in partnership with DCNR, USFWS, and our professional service team in a federal acquisition process to conserve critical open space.”

“We are implementing the goals of our Livable Landscapes Plan to conserve and enhance natural resources, greenways, and blueways, and conserve historic landscapes. This acquisition is an incremental step toward closing a trail gap in the Two Rivers Area Trailway, co-aligned with the September 11th National Memorial Trail,” remarked Sherry Acevedo, Conservation Coordinator. “It was a pleasure working with the landowner, and we are thankful for their long-term commitment to land conservation.”

“This acquisition project is a testament to the importance of collaboration to help protect our natural spaces and make them accessible to the public,” DCNR Secretary Cindy Adams Dunn said. “We are grateful to Northampton County for its support of this project, which is a major triumph for conservation work that showcases the value of open space protection and the many benefits it can provide to a community.”

The addition of the Bauer Preserve in the Bushkill Creek Greenway increases protected land to more than 2,400 acres in the County Parks and Conservation Areas owned by the County of Northampton and managed by the Department of Public Works, Division of Parks and Recreation.

Photos from the celebration event that took place today are available upon request. Please email Jberger@norcopa.gov

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