PFWCL: a CLI worth knowing about

But what is it?

By SANDY LONG

NORTHEAST PENNSYLVANIA — For certain, it’s a mouthful: the Pocono Forest and Waters Conservation Landscape (PFWCL). And approximately 120 people traveled to Thornhurst Township, PA, despite the season’s first snowstorm on October 15, to learn more about it.

The group, comprised of environmental professionals from various organizations, representatives of the tourism industry, state and local government officials, business owners and community members, filled the town fire hall where they heard a series of presentations by the Pennsylvania Environmental Council (PEC) and the Department of Conservation and Natural Resources (DCNR) about the history and goals of the PFWCL.

PFWCL springs from the statewide tool known as a Conservation Landscape Initiative (CLI), described as “a place-based strategy for natural resource stewardship and advocacy in key landscapes where there are strong natural assets and local readiness and support for land conservation, locally driven planning and community economic revitalization efforts.”

Currently seven CLIs have been identified in Pennsylvania, including the PFWCL, which covers Pike, Wayne, Monroe, Lackawanna, Luzerne and Carbon counties. Other areas of the state, like the 12-county, 2.1-million-acre “Pennsylvania Wilds,” have already seen successful implementation of such cooperative initiatives.

CLIs have developed partly in response to a DCNR initiative to revision its role as an advocate for, rather than manager of, state lands, according to Dan Devlin, director of the DCNR Bureau of Forestry.

Moving development of the PFWCL forward is a priority, due to its concentration of public lands (115,000 acres of state land and 85,000 acres of state forest), long history of tourism based on natural resources, abundant waters and wetlands, strong county and local interest in land conservation and intense development pressure. Within the past five years, 30,000 acres within the PFWCL have already been preserved, in addition to other significant accomplishments such as the Pike County Open Space, Greenways and Recreation Plan.

During the planning session, participants were asked to submit their concerns and vision for the evolving conservation landscape in Pennsylvania, and to take part in breakout sessions focused on five goals ( see www.pecpa.org/node/803 ).

According to Ellen Ferretti, PEC coordinator of the PFWCL, the session ignited the interest of several new volunteers and community leaders who have offered to work on the future and shared vision for the PFWCL as members of a new planning team. PEC will now compile the abundant notes generated during the session and assemble the new team to chart the future course of the initiative.

In closing the session, Ferretti encouraged participants to think and plan regionally and cooperatively to achieve common goals by combining local on-the-ground efforts in a regional vision.

“This landscape needs a planning team of agencies, organizations, individuals, municipalities and key stakeholders in the six counties to create a shared work plan and identify priorities, from Thornhurst to Harrisburg, from Stroudsburg to Washington, from Jim Thorpe to Hawley and all points in between,” she said. “This is our chance to form the planning team for PFWCL and create this shared vision.”

Visit www.pecpa.org/files/downloads/PFW_Fact_Sheet.pdf for more information, or contact Ferretti at 570/709-3143.