Mid-Atlantic Highlands

Mid-Atlantic Highlands. . The Mid-Atlantic Highlands of Pennsylvania, New Jersey, New York and Connecticut forms a 3.5 million acre forested greenbelt adjacent to one of the nation's most densely populated regions, which includes Philadelphia, New York City and Hartford., The region stretches from northwestern Connecticut across the Hudson Valley of New York, through northern New Jersey and southeastern Pennsylvania, and ends near the Maryland border. Its forested ridges, fertile farms, pure streams and reservoirs comprise the rugged foothills between the Appalachian Mountains and the increasingly urbanized Piedmont and Atlantic Coastal Plains regions., The United States Congress designated this landscape "Nationally Significant" when it passed the Highlands Conservation Act in 2004., Pennsylvania Highlands Trail Network , The Appalachian Mountain Club is working with several conservation and recreation organizations, as well as local, state and county governments, to develop the Pennsylvania Highlands Trail network, which will extend from the Delaware River at Riegelsville, PA, southwest to the Maryland border and South Mountain. More than 130 miles of Highlands Trail have been established from Storm King Mountain, New York to Riegelsville, New Jersey., The trail network will protect and connect the natural, historic and recreational features of the Pennsylvania Highlands and create "close-to-home" outdoor recreational opportunities for people living and recreating in this area. The vision for the network includes new trail segments and links between existing trails such as the D&L Trail, Perkiomen Trail, Horse-Shoe Trail, Mason-Dixon-Trail System, Schuylkill River Trail and Appalachian National Scenic Trail. The trail network will also aid in conserving the Pennsylvania Highlands Greenway by connecting undisturbed natural ares and adjacent protected lands throughout the Pennsylvania Highlands., Pennsylvania Highlands , The Pennsylvania portion of the Highlands encompasses roughly 1.9 million acres and includes parts of 13 counties (Bucks, Montgomery, Northampton, Lehigh, Chester, Berks, Lancaster, Lebanon, Dauphin, Cumberland, Franklin, Adams, and York). The PA Highlands has been designated a "Mega-Greenway" by the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania,