Poconorecord.com - Full Article
Opinion - By RALPH "BUD" COOK
January 16, 2009
Thank you for the Record's excellent news coverage and strong editorial endorsement of the Cherry Valley National Wildlife Refuge, a milestone in land conservation not only in the Pocono region, but throughout the United States. Refuge funds will complement local and state funding for habitat conservation in the Cherry Valley area. The Refuge will use a willing-seller approach only, i.e., there will be no use of eminent domain by the U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service.
Many, many local residents and community leaders worked together to bring a National Wildlife Refuge into the mix of conservation opportunities in Cherry Valley. The vast majority of these community-minded people worked inconspicuously, but diligently, to make the Refuge a reality. Their names would fill page after page of the Pocono Record, and it would be wonderful to publicly thank each one of them if space permitted.
I would like to single out one of these unsung heroes, John S. Potter Jr. of Snydersville. Mr. Potter made a major gift to The Nature Conservancy in memory of the late Margaret Price Potter (Maggy). The gift supported the study that looked at the feasibility of creating a new National Wildlife Refuge in the Cherry Valley area.
The Conservancy's efforts contributed to the scientific foundation of a report, issued Oct. 31 by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, which recommended moving forward with establishment of a Refuge, not far from where Maggy found joy in riding her beloved Arabian horses.
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