68 unique and remarkable acres are conserved!
As a result of a meaningful collaboration with landowners John and Catherine Smith, Chicory Lane is now permanently conserved under a conservation easement with ClearWater Conservancy.
Chicory Lane Farm is an ecologically dynamic wonder nestled in the shadow of Brush Mountain just a couple miles east of Spring Mills, Centre County. The 68+ acre property, owned by John and Catherine Smith, is within the headwaters of the Chesapeake Bay Watershed and drains to Penns Creek, a High Quality Cold Water
Fishery as defined by PA Water Quality Standards.
Unique site features of this remarkable property include:
- A 16-acre grassland including both warm- and cool-season grasses and a pollinator field;
- 5 different types of wetlands (riparian zone, wet meadow, a cattail marsh, old farm pond, as well as shallow vernal pools)
- 3 forest types (mixed shrub palustrine woodland, successional hemlock-red oak mixed hardwood, and 12.8 acre upland hardwood re-forestation area)
- Darker skies than many places. In fact, the conservation easement includes unique protection from unwanted skyglow, which can impair nocturnal resources essential to plants and animals through various life-sustaining behaviors including reproduction, nourishment, and protection from predators.
The Chicory Lane Farm website,
www.chicorylane.com, is an abundant repository for detailed information and resources associated with this wonderful property.
As an environmental gem, Chicory Lane has been used by naturalists, sustainable foresters and educators as a teaching laboratory for property owners throughout Central Pennsylvania and beyond. The property has also been a faithful and abiding witness to artistic expression from musicians, painters and poets -- of all ages.
ClearWater is honored and delighted to be the Holder of the perpetual conservation easement on Chicory Lane Farm. It's with ongoing support from landowners and the community that ClearWater Conervancy is able to conserve one-of-a-kind ecosystems such as Chicory Lane Farm.
Many thanks for all
you do for conservation!
Deb Nardone, Executive Director
ClearWater Conservancy
