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History
"Our
township is ...a good land, a happy land to live in.
Let us hope that by care and thought and wise planning,
we can keep it so. We would do well to look ahead, where
changes lie."
Clifton
Lisle wrote those words in the History of West
Pikeland Township in 1966 when there were 1,420
people living in West Pikeland. In 2000, the year that
the West Pikeland Land Trust was formed, the population
had more than doubled to 3,551. By 2010, that number is
projected to have grown to 4,480, a threefold increase
in just 40 years.
With its abundant natural beauty,
West Pikeland is
a natural target for developers; but such development
comes at a cost for residents in the form of traffic
congestion, pollution and diminished scenery. Protecting
open space protects our quality of life, keeps our land
values high, avoids more traffic on our roads, conserves
our underground water sources, protects our clean
streams, and maintains the beautiful rural character of
the township.
The West
Pikeland Board of Supervisors formed the West Pikeland
Land Trust to encourage the preservation of township
space and to hold easements in trust. Since then, WPLT
has worked with local landowners, township officials,
county and state governments, and other conservation
organizations to preserve open space in West Pikeland.
Over the
years, WPLT has preserved more than 150 acres as
permanent open space, largely through donated easements;
mapped all protected and at-risk township land;
initiated a stewardship plan for township-owned
properties; sponsored lectures by nationally known
authors, city planners, and conservation leaders; and
successfully initiated and promoted the township's first
Open Space Preservation tax referendum, making West
Pikeland eligible for county, state and possibly federal
grants to support open space preservation.
An
all-volunteer organization and a
registered 501(c)(3) non-profit organization, WPLT's
work is supported primarily through private donations.
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