A progress report on Pennsylvania's three newest state parks with Parks Director John Hallas

In September of 2022 before leaving office, then Gov. Tom Wolf announced the creation of three new state parks. Susquehanna Riverlands in York County, Big Elk Creek in Chester County and Vosburg Neck in Wyoming County. While these new state parks were quickly opened following the announcement, they have not taken their final form. Before they can be completed – or really before they even start – these parks must go through a rigorous master planning process with numerous phases. There’s the planning phase, the design phase, the engineering phase and the construction phase. But in between those phases and additional processes, the Pennsylvania Department of Conservation and Natural Resources must seek public input, hold public forums and receive feedback from various stakeholders. The opening of the state parks to the public was the easy part. But, now’s the hard part. The amount of questions that must be answered and properly addressed can be stagging. Our season finale is meant to let listeners know when the various phases will be complete, what sort of activities and camping options will be available and what the future holds for our three newest parks. And for this large task I wanted to go straight to the source. On this episode, I speak with John Hallas. John is Director of Pennsylvania’s Bureau of State Parks.  Be sure to support our 2024 sponsors:Keystone Trails AssociationPurple Lizard MapsPennsylvania Parks and Forests FoundationSupport the showVisit our website to learn more about the podcast, to purchase merch and to find out about our incredible sponsors. Follow us on Instagram and Meta to stay connected. Hosting, production and editing: Christian AlexandersenMusic: Jon SauerGraphics: Matt Davis