[FEL-L] Nature Preserve In Chester County PA Authorized

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Preserve in Chesco authorized
By Diane Mastrull
Inquirer Staff Writer
 
With a few pen strokes, Gov. Rendell yesterday cleared the way for the 
creation of the largest privately owned nature preserve in Southeastern 
Pennsylvania.  
Rendell signed Senate Bill 21, which authorizes Chester County to sell 500 
acres near Embreeville to the Natural Lands Trust. The trust plans to combine 
that land with 568 acres donated by philanthropist H.F. "Gerry" Lenfest for a 
public park.  
"It was the critical last step in making the 1,000-acre preserve possible," 
said Oliver Bass, a spokesman for the trust, a nonprofit preservation group 
based in Media. "What's next is we'll be working out the transfer with the county 
now that we have the legislation enabling it."  
The legislation, sponsored by Sen. Andrew Dinniman (D., Chester) and also 
pushed by Rep. Chris Ross (R., Chester), was necessary under the agreement that 
gave the county the land from the state in 1987.  
At the time, the county acquired the deeds to five parcels that made up the 
former Embreeville State Hospital site for $1.08 million. The acquisition was 
financed, in part, with $225,000 in state grants, with the rest from the 
county. A condition on two of those parcels, a combined 231 acres, required that the 
land revert to the state if ever used for anything but recreation or open 
space.  
Although the trust plans to use the ground for public park, the state 
contended that the county still needed legislative approval to transfer the land.  
"It's hard to know how long the next part of this process may take," Bass 
said. It will involve "bringing the attorneys together and hammering out the 
details of the transaction."  
Among those details: the price. In that area of Chester County, properties 
with conservation easements, such as Lenfest's, sell for more than $56,000 an 
acre.  
The combined property would stretch virtually uninterrupted from Route 162 in 
West Bradford to Route 842 in Newlin, with at least two miles of the west 
branch of the Brandywine Creek flowing through it.  
With a $5 million endowment from Lenfest, the trust intends to build trails, 
parking lots and access points. 
_http://www.philly.com/inquirer/local/20070524_Preserve_in_Chesco_authorized.h
tml_ 
(http://www.philly.com/inquirer/local/20070524_Preserve_in_Chesco_authorized.html)  





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