Ricketts Glen State Park Trail voted among top 150 nature walks in U.S.

WILKES-BARRE — A recent poll of 3,000 families across the U.S. reveals the 150 most sought after nature walks to experience — including Ricketts Glen State Park.

In Pennsylvania, Ricketts Glen State Park Trails; Pine Creek Gorge Rail Trail (Pine Creek Rail Trail); and Presque Isle State Park Trails are all included in the top 150.

New Year’s Day is a time of renewal and family bonding. Across the country, families come together to share meals, enjoy the outdoors, and partake in celebratory parades, creating memories that last a lifetime.

Among these cherished traditions, nature walks stand out as a refreshing way to start the year with nature’s tranquility and beauty.

Sustainable Jungle — https://www.sustainablejungle.com/sustainable-living/nature-walks/ — recently commissioned a survey aimed at discovering the best nature walks to do on New Year’s Day.

They surveyed 3,000 families asking them to rate which New Year’s Day nature walks across the U.S. they would most like to experience at the start of 2024.

Sustainable Jungle then put together a list of the 150 most sought after nature walks to do on New Year’s Day.

The state of Pennsylvania had three nature walks voted among the 150 most popular in the country. These were:

• #83 Ricketts Glen State Park Trails: Known for its stunning waterfalls, Ricketts Glen offers a range of trails. For families, the easier trails near Lake Jean provide a gentle walk with beautiful scenery. The Falls Trail is more challenging but offers views of 22 waterfalls.

• #121 Pine Creek Gorge Rail Trail (Pine Creek Rail Trail): Often referred to as the “Grand Canyon of Pennsylvania,” this trail offers picturesque views and a flat, easy path, making it perfect for families. The entire trail is over 60 miles, but you can choose shorter sections for a more manageable walk.

• #122 Presque Isle State Park Trails: Located on a peninsula on Lake Erie, this state park offers a variety of easy trails suitable for all ages. The trails meander through diverse habitats, from beaches to forests, providing a unique experience. The park’s flat terrain makes it an ideal spot for a leisurely family walk.

“These top 150 nature walks provide a guide for anyone interested in enjoying the beauty of the outdoors while fostering a deeper appreciation for our natural world,” says Amber McDaniel of Sustainable Jungle. “By exploring these destinations, we hope to inspire a greater sense of responsibility and stewardship for the environment as we embark on a new year of conservation, renewal and change,”

Pa. Game Commission adjusts

late-season pheasant releases

The recent detection of Highly Pathogenic Avian Influenza (HPAI) at a private Northumberland County game farm has prompted the Pennsylvania Game Commission to adjust its late season pheasant stockings to help safeguard the agency’s pheasant program and better ensure it will continue next year in the 2024-25 hunting seasons.

In the next two weeks, the Game Commission will release fewer pheasants statewide than initially planned. And in the eastern part of the state, pheasant releases will occur only this week and not next, with properties that receive birds essentially seeing their final two releases of the year combined as one.

These relatively minor adjustments, however, could significantly reduce the risk of an HPAI outbreak with potentially devastating impacts for pheasant hunters. Here’s how.

Last week, the state Department of Agriculture announced the recent detection of HPAI at Martz’s Game Farm in Northumberland County. While the pheasants released by the Game Commission originate from a different facility, Mahantongo Game Farm, where HPAI has not been detected nor suspected, that facility also is in Northumberland County.

The proximity of HPAI to the facility represents a concern. If there was an HPAI outbreak there, agricultural regulations would require euthanasia of many or all of the breeding pheasants that provide stock for the Game Commission’s program, jeopardizing the program’s future.

So the Game Commission is taking some precautionary measures. First, the agency will hold onto all of the hen pheasants, and about 5% of the roosters, that had been slated for release in the final two pheasant releases of 2023-24. Then, if HPAI remains undetected through continued testing of birds at Mahantongo Game Farm, pheasants there will be temporarily transferred to the Game Commission’s Loyalsock Game Farm. That’s why the counties served by Loyalsock will get their final two releases all at once this week. The pheasants to be released need to be cleared out to make room for those coming in.

Loyalsock Game Farm serves the following counties to be stocked this week: Adams, Berks, Bradford, Carbon, Centre, Columbia, Cumberland, Franklin (State Game Lands 235 only), Lackawanna, Lehigh, Luzerne, Lycoming, Monroe, Montgomery, Northumberland, Perry, Pike, Schuylkill, Snyder, Sullivan, Susquehanna, Union, Wayne, Wyoming and York.

The remaining counties are served by the Southwest Game Farm, and rooster-only pheasant releases in those counties will continue as scheduled in each of the next two weeks.

A list of properties scheduled to receive pheasants in the next two weeks can be found on the 2023 Pheasant Allocation page at www.pgc.pa.gov.

“This wasn’t a decision the Game Commission took lightly, because we know that pheasant hunters have been looking forward to the late small game season pheasant releases and will be inconvenienced by our making these adjustments on short notice,” said Ian Gregg, Wildlife Operations Division Chief. “However, we believe this precautionary approach is the right thing to do because it will significantly reduce the risk of disease impacts that would be far more devastating to pheasant hunting in the long run.”