Pittsburgh, Pa. – January 31, 2025 – The Western Pennsylvania Conservancy announced today the purchase of two properties, totaling 97 acres, in Stewart Township, Fayette County that will be added to popular outdoor recreation and natural areas in the Laurel Highlands.
A 44-acre forested property located near State Route 381 consists of limestone outcrops along the steep Youghiogheny River Gorge and a mature forest canopy of sugar maple, basswood, oak and shagbark hickory. The property is located within the Upper Lick Run Natural Heritage Area, which is an ecologically important area that hosts rare and sensitive plant and animal species, including the state-threatened West Virginia water shrew and Allegheny woodrat.
The property has been added to the Conservancy’s now 5,163-acre Bear Run Nature Reserve, an ecologically significant property that surrounds Frank Lloyd Wright’s Fallingwater and provides habitat for a diversity of forest-dwelling wildlife, including black bear, fisher, bobcat and more than 53 bird species.
Another forested property, totaling 53 acres, is now officially part of Ohiopyle State Park, which the Conservancy first purchased land in the 1950s that helped establish the park a decade later. The Conservancy conveyed the newly acquired property to the Department of Conservation and Natural Resources in December 2024.
The property is adjacent to the Laurel Highlands Hiking Trail, a 70-mile mountainous trail that runs along Laurel Ridge in the Laurel Highlands, the property will protect the viewshed for hikers experiencing this section of the wilderness trail that runs through the state park, near Mile Marker 3. The property hosts important habitat for threatened and sensitive bird and other wildlife species.
Both high-elevation properties are important for wildlife species’ resilience to climate change because they provide forested connectivity to large tracts of intact forestland, such as state forests, parks, and game lands, safeguard high-quality waterways and protect rare habitats.
“This project is a continuation of efforts by the Conservancy to further protect priority lands that have important conservation values, especially in recreational and ecological hot spots in our region such as the Laurel Highlands,” says Jane Menchyk, a Conservancy land protection manager for the region.
Conservation of these properties was made possible, thanks to grants from the Richard King Mellon Foundation, DCNR Bureau of Recreation and Conservation Community Conservation Partnership Program, and DCNR Bureau of State Parks.
To date, the Conservancy has permanently protected more than 83,000 acres of land in the Laurel Highlands. For more information about land conservation options, please contact the Conservancy at 724-238-2492 or laurelhighlands@paconserve.org.
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About the Western Pennsylvania Conservancy:
The Western Pennsylvania Conservancy (WPC) enhances the region by protecting and restoring exceptional places. A private nonprofit conservation organization founded in 1932, WPC has helped establish 11 state parks, conserved more than 290,000 acres of natural lands, protected or restored more than 3,000 miles of rivers and streams, and assessed thousands of wildlife species and their habitats. The Conservancy owns and operates Frank Lloyd Wright’s Fallingwater, which is on the UNESCO World Heritage List and symbolizes people living in harmony with nature. In addition, WPC enriches our region’s cities and towns through 130 community gardens and other green spaces and thousands of trees that are planted with the help of more than 7,000 volunteers. The work of the Conservancy is accomplished through the support of more than 10,000 members. For more information, visit WaterLandLife.org or Fallingwater.org.
Media Contact:
Carmen Bray
Senior Director of Communications
412-586-2358, work
cbray@paconserve.org