Big Elk Creek in Chester County is among 3 new state parks for Pennsylvania
The additions give Pennsylvania 124 state parks.
Gov. Tom Wolf announced Tuesday three new state parks for Pennsylvania totaling 3,500 acres at a cost of $45 million, including a nearly 1,700-acre tract of rolling farmland, meadows, and forests in southern Chester County.
The three new parks are:
Big Elk Creek, at a cost of about $13 million, spans 1,700 acres in southern Chester County, consisting mostly of farmlands and forests. The Big Elk Creek traverses the park and is considered a high-quality stream. Current uses include hiking, bird watching, horseback riding, fishing, and hunting.
Vosburg Neck, at a cost of $12 million, lies on an oxbow on the north branch of the Susquehanna River, and spans 669 acres five miles west of Tunkhannock in Wyoming County. The park has eight miles of trails, historic buildings, a cemetery dating to the 1700s, access for nonmotorized boats, and picnic areas.
Susquehanna Riverlands, at a cost of $20 million, includes 1,100 acres along the Susquehanna River near Wrightsville, York County, along the confluence of Codorus Creek. The park boasts multiple rock outcrop vistas over the river and nearly a mile of riverfront along the Susquehanna with 1.5 miles along Codorus Creek. About 2.75 miles of the Mason-Dixon Trail traverses the park, and connects with the Appalachian Trail.
‘Big step forward’
The additions give Pennsylvania 24 state parks. The newest parks will need new trails, bathrooms, possible campsites, among other amenities, although some trails already exist at the locations.
Though the parks are already open to the public, they aren’t expected to be operational with full amenities until the end of 2026. The names are also temporary and could change.
“This is a big step forward for our state parks,” Wolf said, noting his administration has created four new state parks, which he said is the most since the early 1970s.
“Nothing returns to the economy better than public lands,” said Cindy Adams Dunn, secretary of the state Conservation and Natural Resources. “Every dollar spent at a state park returns $12 to the state’s coffers.”
Dunn said the parks see 42 million visitors a year. Officials teased the creation of new parks in July, but did not name the locations until Tuesday. The money became available through $696 million that was set aside in the budget for conservation, recreation, and preservation — the result of the American Rescue Plan Act.
Big Elk Creek, closest to Philly
It took years to assemble the land comprising the new Big Elk Creek State Park, about a 50-minute drive southwest of Philadelphia.
In 2009, the Conservation Fund, a national nonprofit, acquired 735 acres from George Strawbridge Jr., an octogenarian scion of the Dorrance family of Campbell’s Soup fame and a top horse breeder.
Strawbridge transferred ownership to the DCNR. The property became known as the Big Elk Creek section of White Clay Creek Preserve. It contains 2.1 miles of the Mason-Dixon Line along the Pennsylvania-Maryland border.
Then work began on a second parcel. In 2020, the Conservation Fund finalized the sale of a 978-acre tract from Strawbridge for $32.25 million. That parcel, situated in Elk and Franklin Townships, also was deeded to the DCNR.
» READ MORE: 1,000 acres once owned by Campbell’s Soup scion are now a Pa. preserve
But state officials were unsure what to do with all the land, though they were pleased to preserve such a large tract in a rapidly growing area. The property is contiguous with about 8,000 acres of preserved open space in Pennsylvania and Maryland, and provides a corridor for an array of wildlife species, some threatened, and is part of the Chesapeake Bay watershed.
White Clay Creek Preserve is split in two. The titular main preserve is to the east, adjacent to Delaware. The Big Elk Creek section lies to the west on the Maryland line.
The Big Elk Creek section is the newest state park in close proximity to Philadelphia. It includes 3.5 miles of the creek, which ultimately feeds into the Chesapeake Bay at Elk River.
More than 690 plant species have been identified on the Strawbridge properties, 15 of which are considered endangered or rare in Pennsylvania. The land provides habitat for deer, rabbits, birds, and other wildlife, such as the regal fritillary butterfly and the short-eared owl.
It includes a forest of oak, maple, birch, and beech trees, and flora such as ferns, wineberry, yellow archangel, and lion’s foot.
“It’s a remarkable part of Chester County under incredible development pressure,” Dunn said of the need to protect Big Elk Creek. “These places need to be in public hands, they need to be a state park.”