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Areas Of Friction

Integrating the SmartConservation® and Drinking Water Source Prioritization maps for the Schuylkill Watershed reveals areas important to protect for healthy ecosystems and clean drinking water.  These Combined Priority Lands comprise 14% of the watershed and have their largest concentrations in northern Chester County, eastern parts of Berks County, and the Upper Perkiomen Valley in Montgomery County.  Preserving these areas doubles the benefit, an important consideration due to the reality of limited open space funding.

It should also be noted, however, that lands not ranked high according to this ecological and source drinking water model may indeed be important to protect for other reasons, such as agricultural preservation or recreation, and they may also be of local importance to a community.  For maps showing regionwide agricultural and recreational priority lands in southeastern Pennsylvania, see www.regionalgreenplan.org

Merging the high ranking lands of the Combined Priority Lands with the Future Development (Years 2020/2030) map shows Areas of Friction, areas where development is likely to occur on lands that are imperative to protect.  Areas of Friction occur throughout the watershed, but are most prominent in the Pickering Creek Watershed in northern Chester County, areas in southern and eastern Berks County, and the Upper Perkiomen Valley in Montgomery County.

While development is good for the economic prosperity of a region, development in inappropriate locations (lands needed to keep our drinking water clean and our ecosystem healthy) should be re-directed.  Altogether, areas of friction are only about 10%, or 6,300 acres of the estimated 65,600 acres of development expected over the next 10 to 20 years.