Contact:
Drew Gilchrist
Assistant Director of Land Protection



Location: Northern Montgomery and Bucks Counties, including Marlborough, Milford, and part of Franconia Townships
Watershed(s): Unami, Ridge Valley, Hazelbach, and Butter Creek watersheds
Landscape Type: Contiguous Forest
Size: Approximately 30 square miles

Beauty alone would justify protecting the upland woods of the Unami and other nearby creek valleys.

But unusual size and integrity of the woodlands covering northern Montgomery and Bucks Counties’ diabase hills explains why the area has the top floritic composition according to NLT research. That’s the reason that NLT has made protecting the Unami forests a top regional land conservation priority.

Ecological Features:

• Top floritic composition of all sites tested in Smart Conservation
• Unusually broad forest cover
• At least 30 areas of interior forest habitat
• More than 24 miles of perennial streams, mostly buffered by forest
• Rocky slopes with
  • Sugar Maple (Acer saccharum),
  • White Ash (Fraxinus americana) and
  • Black Birch (Betula lenta) trees
• Streams that pass through both woodland and meadows with
  • Indian Paintbrush (Castilleja coccinea),
  • Showy Goldenrod (Solidago speciosa),
  • Fringed Gentian (Gentiana crinita) and
  • New Jersey Tea (Ceanothus americanus).
• Diabase-derived soils of the Unami Creek Valleys provide ideal conditions for many different herbaceous species.

Special Designations

• Bucks County Natural Areas Number One or Two conservation priorities:
  • Ridge Valley,
  • Butter Creek,
  • Hazelbach Creek
• PA DEP Exception Value Stream Designation

Threats

• Suburbs of Philadelphia and Allentown, are expanding into the area.
• Aggressive action is necessary to protect the Unami Creek Valleys before increased property values and utility expansions make the cost of land prohibitive.

NLT Acquisitions and Other Efforts

• 221-acre Fulshaw Craeg Preserve, where, in the last few years, we have nearly doubled the amount of protected lands.
• Acquisition, with Montgomery County Lands Trust, of a conservation easement on the 1,200 acre Musser Boy Scout Camp.