Penn State Musser Gap project moves forward with plans for outdoor recreation and conservation
Penn State is kicking off its Musser Gap to Valleylands project by taking steps to conserve 355 acres in Musser Gap for environmental protection and natural recreation after a year of gathering input from different community members and groups.
The Musser Gap to Valleylands project, led by a team of Penn State landscape architecture faculty and students, was conceived last year when Penn State President Eric Barron announced that the university was “investigating ways to conserve” 365 acres of land it owns between Whitehall Road and Rothrock State Forest at Musser Gap in Ferguson Township.
“I’m thrilled at the amount of progress the Musser Gap to Valleylands team has made in such a short span of time,” said Barron at an annual gathering with lawmakers and local officials. “The strong interest in this project from our local community shows the tremendous impact and importance that our natural surroundings can have on how we live, learn and enjoy ourselves. I’ve been so inspired and gratified by this effort, and I can see the immense potential of this for future generations.”
Penn State now plans to take main ideas from the feedback the team received over the last year and work with a design consultant to look at seven recommended “design elements” for the Musser Gap conservation site, he said.
Those seven design elements, conceived through project leadership, community members, local officials, environmental groups and university leadership, are:
- Create a trail that will guide people from campus and downtown to a natural environment, showing the “transition from an urban landscape to meadows, woodlands, farm fields, etc.”
- Add secondary “loop” trails that provide additional access to the land
- Enhance the riparian buffer along Slab Cabin Run with additional plantings of vegetation to help “shade the run and protect it from erosion and pollutants”
- Make safety enhancements to the Route 45 crossing for visitors to walk, run and bike from one section of the property to another
- Establish a “buffer” between the Musser Gap property and planned Whitehall Road Regional Park
- Manage 90 acres of forest on land south of Route 45 by conserving native plants and trees and removing invasive flora
- Transform about 65 acres of land south of Route 45 from agricultural to “naturalized land cover”
Barron said the project is a “large undertaking” and may take several years to fully implement.
“As we move forward, other elements proposed by the community may be further developed and new ideas may also emerge,” he said. “That being said, we’re as excited to move forward as the community is, so we may pursue a phased approach in order to maintain the momentum we’ve built up over the past 12 months.”
The 365-acre property includes the Musser Greenway Trail and is bordered to the north by Whitehall Road Regional Park and to the south by Rothrock State Forest.
Penn State partnered with local environmental non-profit ClearWater Conservancy, which is working separately to conserve the region’s water supply through its $2.75 million Slab Cabin Run Initiative. Slab Cabin Run runs through the Penn State Musser Gap property.
“We’re excited to work with the university and our community to bring this important project to life,” said Deb Nardone, executive director at ClearWater Conservancy, in a press release. “This project will make an important impact by providing outdoor recreation opportunities, while conserving important lands vital to clean water — for our community and all those who live downstream.”
Last fall, a Penn State landscape architecture class comprised of graduate and undergraduate students, sponsored by the new Penn State center in Ecology and Design, studied the Musser Gap property and its biophysical, geological, hydrological, ecological, agricultural and historic characteristics.
Using that class’s research and feedback from the community, students in a subsequent landscape architecture course came up with preliminary concepts for the site’s use that focused on environmental and social benefits.
Over this past summer and fall, students undertook a research project sponsored by E+D that identified the seven design priorities. They looked at how the design priorities will inform the project’s next phase, which will be outlined in a report coming out this spring.
.jpg)