Upper Delaware Council awards

David Hulse
Posted 8/21/12

BEACH LAKE, PA — More than 100 people attended the April 26, afternoon banquet at the Central House Family Resort, marking the 27th annual Upper Delaware Council awards.

Keynote speaker Daniel …

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Upper Delaware Council awards

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BEACH LAKE, PA — More than 100 people attended the April 26, afternoon banquet at the Central House Family Resort, marking the 27th annual Upper Delaware Council awards.

Keynote speaker Daniel A. Devlin detailed the history and role of the PA Bureau of Forestry since its inception in 1895. The bureau manages some 2.2 million acres of “Penn’s Woods” statewide, including 700,000 acres now under lease for natural gas development.

Noting that gas development is “a little controversial here,” Devlin went on to say that oil and gas leasing on state forests is a long-standing program, since 1955.

Reporting that some nine million acres of the state’s forests are family owned, he said his biggest concern was the apparent disassociation of younger, inheriting family members, with those forests. “What happens when they inherit?” he asked.

He said the bureau has been and continues to stress estate planning with family forest owners, although it’s “a tough subject.”

Devlin said it is very early to make “sweeping comments,” but the new administration of Gov. Tom Wolf has emphasized three areas regarding the forest lands: jobs, wood products and natural gas, to pay for our role in conservation; a government that works hard… “and we like to think we do;” and schools that teach programs to instill conservation values for the forests.

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