Published: June 13, 2009 11:48 pm      

Purchase expands forest space

MUNDYS CORNER — Outdoors lovers now have a larger area for recreation thanks to the Western Pennsylvania Conservancy.

The nonprofit group has paid $2.34 million for a 975-acre tract of land on Laurel Ridge in Jackson Township south of Route 22 at the Indiana County line, conservancy officials said Friday.

The January transaction between the conservancy and owner Richard Myers involves a rolling and relatively flat tract of wooded area on Rager Mountain, said Mike Kuzemchak, Laurel Highlands project director for the organization.

“It is adjacent to the Gallitzin State Forest,” Kuzemchak said.

“We’re trying to connect existing parcels of forest.”

The Rager Mountain acquisition, which has already been turned over to the state Department of Conservation and Natural Resources, connects to one section of the 22,592-acre forest and is in close proximity to a second section.

An added bonus is that the tract is in the watershed feeding the Conemaugh River. State ownership means it will remain free of development and aid in protecting water resources, Kuzemchak said.

Money for the purchase, known as the Leslie Tract, came primarily from private foundations with some help from the state, said Tom Saunders, the conservancy’s president and chief operating officer.

“We are coordinating more closely with the state since money is more leaner,” Saunders said.

The conservancy’s involvement in the Cambria-Somerset region includes sponsoring annual flower plantings near the Route 56 ramps at Bedford Street in Johnstown. A number of civic groups also are involved in that project.

Water quality remains a priority for the group as it works with the Conemaugh Valley Conservancy and the Stonycreek Conemaugh River Improvement Project to clean up streams and rivers polluted with acid mine drainage.

Kuzemchak said the effort will take years to complete.

“I’ve seen huge improvements to water quality,” he said.