February 28, 2025 Metal Truss Bridge Showcases History, but Needs Modern-Day Repairs The city of Easton, PA has recently announced that long-awaited repairs on the Glendon Hill Bridge are anticipated to begin in June of 2026. The repairs will last just one construction season, during which time the bridge will be closed to public use. This means that both pedestrians and drivers will need to use alternate routes to access areas near the bridge. The Glendon Hill Bridge is a historic metal truss bridge dating back to the early 1900s. The work happening next year will include vital structural repairs as well as a refresh of the bridge’s coating. Wide enough for just one lane of traffic and a pedestrian walkway, the bridge spans 357 feet over the Lehigh River in Easton, and connects Lehigh Drive to Main Street. Notably, it provides the only vehicular access to Hugh Moore Park, the 520-acre park nestled between the Lehigh River and the Lehigh Canal. The park is home to the National Canal Museum, the Josiah White II canal boat, and other cherished public amenities like trails, picnic areas, and playgrounds.   How will this impact the Highlands Trail? Hugh Moore Park is a key access point to the Delaware and Lehigh National Heritage Corridor, and the 165-mile historic D & L Trail that runs through it. It’s also an important access point for the PA Highlands Trail. The two trails co-align for 25 miles throughout Upper Bucks County and Northampton County, including where the trail runs across the Glendon Hill Road Bridge. Next year’s bridge repairs are essential for preserving this piece of the city’s transportation infrastructure. However, the closure will mean that access to the park, along with its amenities, historic features, and educational programming will be disrupted. Pedestrians and cyclists can still access Hugh Moore Park via the D & L Trail if they enter at the Forks of the Delaware Trailhead, 2.3 miles to the east. The Delaware & Lehigh National Heritage Corridor (DLNHC) operates the National Canal Museum and other public attractions located within Hugh Moore Park. Their mission is to preserve and interpret the D & L Trail and its associated history. DLNHC is raising funds to support their work during this period of disrupted access. Through this fundraiser, they hope to ensure that the programming and experiences they provide for the community will continue to be available despite the bridge closure.  

The 2024 Highlands Conservation Act grant funding round has a new opportunity this year. This is a pilot opportunity called “Under-Resourced Communities Funding Round.” Using a map that can be found here, users are able to view “Underresourced Communities in the Highlands.” Parcels that qualify for this funding opportunity appear in a teal color. The goal of this funding opportunity is to provide conservation initiatives in areas where they have historically had less conservation initiatives present. The Fish and Wildlife Service selected these communities through the Council on Environmental Qualities Climate and Economic Justice Screening Tool and the equivalent state level environmental screening tool, which in Pennsylvania is the PennEnviroScreen. But what are these tools and how do they determine which communities qualify? In January 2021, President Biden issued Executive Order 14008, which established the Justice40 Initiative. This order puts a focus on climate change, environmental justice, and sustainable development. Justice40 declared that forty percent of certain Federal investments, relating to climate, clean energy, and affordable housing, were then supposed to be directed at communities that had been underinvested in the past and had disproportionately felt the effects of pollution. Some of the Justice40 initiatives include investments in affordable housing, workforce development, remediation of legacy pollution, and development of clean water and wastewater infrastructure. In 2023, the state of Pennsylvania launched the most recent PennEnviroScreen tool. The Environmental Protection Agency has launched a national Environmental Justice (EJ) screening tool, Pennsylvania’s state-specific map allows for a more holistic screening that applies better to each community. While the complete methodology and report can be found here, the summary of what they used to apply the EJ status is this equation: Pollution Burden (Environmental Exposures and Environmental Effects) x Population Characteristics (Sensitive Populations and Socioeconomic Characteristics) = Final Score. Any final score greater than or equal to the 80th percentile then deemed it an EJ communities. It is these scores that help determine whether communities qualify for additional funding or support. The new Highlands Conservation Act Grant funding round has created an opportunity to provide funding in areas that have previously had a lack of attention regarding conservation but had also been facing the largest impacts. While this grant funding round is a pilot program and not a guarantee for years to come, it is important to note the impact it can have, even just in one year, in the effort of making a more just future.

2024 marks the 20th anniversary of the passing of the Highlands Conservation Act. Passed on November 30, 2004, the Highlands Conservation Act was based on a study directed by the Food, Agriculture, Conservation, and Trade Act of 1990, otherwise known as the Farm Bill. Section 1244 directed a study that would focus on how to maintain adequate water supply for the region and preserve contiguous forests while also maintaining future growth. The study was expanded to include Pennsylvania and Connecticut, consisting of a region that covers 3.4 million acres of forests, waterways, and other diverse natural communities. These four states are crucial to providing clean water to the large metropolitan areas within the states this region covers. In the New Jersey Highlands, as much as 373 million gallons of potable water are produced daily. In New Jersey alone over 6.2 million people, most of which live outside of the Highlands, rely on the region for their drinking water. The Highlands Conservation Act includes the Highlands Conservation Act grant program, allocating $10 million dollars a year in matching grant funds for conservation projects within the region. Since 2004, $48 million in federal funds, matched by $74 million in non-federal funds have been used to permanently protect over 16,000 acres of land. When the Highlands Conservation Act was reauthorized in 2022, the Highlands boundary was expanded, nearly tripling the size of the region, to a potential 10 million acres that are able to be conserved. The reauthorized act also ensured federal funding until fiscal year 2029. It is also no longer just states that can hold titles to lands but also municipalities and governments, thus broadening the opportunities and capacities for who applies for the Highlands Conservation Act grant funds. The past 20 years have been monumental for land conservation in the region and deserve to be celebrated! On October 23, the Fish and Wildlife Service hosted a hike at Storm King Mountain in New York. This event, in partnership with the New York-New Jersey Trail Conference, Palisades Interstate Park Commission, and New York State Parks, was a gathering of nonprofits and state agencies that are currently working in the four-state Highlands region. Over the course of the three-mile hike, participants were able to talk about successful projects, learn more about different organizations, and hear the history of the Highlands Conservation Act and the region. At the summit of Storm King Mountain, due to radio tower landmarks, participants were able to see where the previous boundary for the Highlands landscape had been. With the changes to the Highlands boundary, the new boundary was out of sight, highlighting just how much more land is available to be conserved. This event left all participants feeling excited and hopeful for the Highlands Conservation Act to continue to hit major milestones. The goal for the next 20 years is to conserve more land, build climate resiliency, and increase outdoor access, specifically for Justice 40 communities and the Indigenous groups that have traditionally called the Highlands landscape home. If you and