SENECA HIGHLANDS CONSERVANCY

Our primary focus is preserving wetlands. These have historically been under-represented in public ownership as they are often inaccessible, don't typically grow valuable timber, and provide fewer general recreational opportunities than dry, wooded land... The conservancy has no ability to force people to sell their land and can't offer to pay more than wetlands are worth on the open market, so acquiring land in a project area that includes over 20 miles of Allegheny River frontage plus miles more along Potato Creek and other tributaries is bound to take time. We have promised the state to see this through, however, and are still making slow but steady progress towards our original goal.... A secondary focus has been acquiring subsurface rights under particularly sensitive governmental lands. While the conservancy acknowledges that energy and construction materials are requirements of life and can be produced safely in most places, we feel that there are some locations where..