HARRISBURG -- The Pennsylvania Game Commission today celebrated the expansion of State Game Lands 211, which has added 509 acres in Dauphin County.
The Nature Conservancy spearheaded this land acquisition and ultimately was able to donate the parcel to the Game Commission earlier this year. This addition will further conserve and protect the forested Second Mountain, located on the Kittatinny Ridge Landscape, which is a globally recognized Important Bird Area, and supports habitat for a number of critical species of wildlife.
“This new portion opens up hundreds of acres that were once landlocked and inaccessible, and connects directly to one of central Pennsylvania’s great treasures,” said Game Commission Executive Director Steve Smith. “State Game Lands 211 is already an incredible resource to the central-Pennsylvania region and this expansion will over serve to bolster that resource.”
State Game Lands 211 is exceptionally popular and highly used, with almost 300,000 people living within a 10-mile radius of the property.
This project was made possible with funding from the Hamer Foundation and Pennsylvania Game Commission, as well as financial assistance from a Community Conservation Partnership Program grant by the Pennsylvania Department of Conservation and Natural Resources (DCNR).