White Rocks

White Rocks: A Project of the South Mountain Conservation Landscape Initiative

White Rocks is a spectacular tract of mixed eastern forest that abuts National Park land. Segments of this area are at risk of development, threatening the unbroken landscape White Rocks offers to visitors to the Appalachian Trail and the White Rocks Trail.

ATC and partners that make up the South Mountain Conservation Landscape Initiative have identified five privately owned parcels as the highest priority of unprotected lands within the landscape. These five parcels are interspersed between A.T. National Park Service lands, Pennsylvania State Game Lands, a Lutheran wilderness camp, and Boy Scout Camp Tuckahoe, and are in Cumberland County, in Monroe and South Middleton Townships.

Resource protection

ATC and partners are working to conserve the natural and cultural resources of the forest that while also preserving Cumberland County’s quality of life and outdoor recreation opportunities. 

  • Natural Resource Conservation: The area hosts hibernacula for state identified species of concern. There are important vernal ponds on adjacent parcels. White Rocks is the northern terminus of the Blue Ridge physiographic province, the southern terminus of which is in Georgia.
  • Cultural Resource Conservation: The White Rocks quartzite ridge has been identified by DCNR as a geologic heritage site.
  • Quality of Life and Outdoor Recreation Conservation: Offering a spectacular viewshed and habitat of unbroken mixed eastern forest, these lands also serve to protect the community’s drinking water recharge area and the high-quality cold water fishery of the Yellow Breeches Creek. The White Rocks Trail provides a very popular outdoor recreational resource for hikers, birders, and rock climbers.

Threats

The most pressing threat to this landscape is the potential for additional development by the landowner, Penn Products.

Over the past several years parcels IV and V have been under contract with a developer. The contracts may be contingent on the owner’s ability to secure sewage processing services from the neighboring township (S. Middleton). A preliminary plan for 274 lots on 277 acres (parcel V) was submitted to Monroe Township in 2006, with the intent of phased additional development on the remaining tracts. The acreage in question is zoned “conservation”, and represented 9% of the municipality’s conservation zone at the time of the proposal. The original conservation zoning ordinance allowed for residential units to be constructed on ½ acre lots. Following several well attended public meetings, the proposal was denied by the board of supervisors, in part because deficiencies in the plan were not adequately addressed. Since that time, the township has adopted a new zoning ordinance, requiring a minimum of 2 acre lot size for residential development. That ordinance is currently being appealed by the owners of Penn Products.

Background

The National Park Service acquired four parcels from the owner in the late 1980’s and early 1990’s for protection of the Appalachian National Scenic Trail and the popular White Rocks Trail.

Partners

Public partners include The National Park Service, DCNR’s Bureau of Recreation and Conservation, and Bureau of Forestry, and the Cumberland County Planning Department. The primary non-governmental partners (NGO’s) have been the Appalachian Trail Conservancy, and the Central Pennsylvania Conservancy, with others offering significant input.

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