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Bear in the Woods: Environmental Law Blog

Wednesday, February 25, 2015

PennFuture, FracTracker team up on GIS map showing shale gas development on public lands

PennFuture and FracTracker Alliance have created a unique GIS map that enables the public to investigate how shale gas development is changing the face of our public lands. The map shows, in one place:
  • Pennsylvania’s State Forests, Parks and Game Lands;
  • State Forest tracts containing active oil and gas leases;
  • State Forest areas where the oil and gas rights have been “severed” from the surface lands and are owned by third parties;
  • State Forest lands that are to be protected for recreational use under the federal Land and Water Conservation Fund Act;
  • The location of unconventional shale gas wells that have been drilled on State Forest and State Game Lands; and
  • The boundaries of watersheds that contain one or more High Quality or Exceptional Value streams.

    "The Commonwealth's award-winning state parks and state forests are special places that Pennsylvania citizens have long cherished," said John Norbeck, acting president and CEO of PennFuture. "We hope this map will be a useful tool for all Pennsylvanians in planning their recreational, educational and advocacy activities."

    More on this project at our guest post this week on the FracTracker website.

    Mark Szybist is staff attorney for PennFuture and is based in Wilkes-Barre.

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