A Park within 25 Miles of Every Resident

The first director of Pennsylvania’s Department of Parks and Forests, Maurice K. Goddard, imagined a state park with within 25 miles of every resident. During his time in office, Goddard would succeed in adding 45 parks and 130,000 acres of land. Today, the commonwealth claims one of the largest state park systems in the country, with 121 parks in 61 of its counties. The driving strategy behind the proposed expansion was Project 70, which was passed into law in 1964. This pamphlet describes the goals behind the project, which included not just conservation, recreation, and health, but also increased economic development. Development of state energy resources was crucial to the development of the parks system, since significant funding for the expansion came from oil and gas revenues. Act 256, passed in 1955, created the Oil and Gas Lease Fund, which was intended to support conservation, recreation and flood control programs. In recent years, the “fortunes” of the Oil and Gas Lease Fund–and hence, state parks funding–have been deeply intertwined with the growth and decline of the Marcellus Shale natural gas industry.

Pennsylvania State Planning Board
A proposal to the people of Pennsylvania : project 70, a plan for Pennsylvania’s outdoor resources
[1962]

CO2 PPM in 1962: 317

Additional Information

More information about the life and work of Maurice K. Goddard can be found in his papers: https://libraries.psu.edu/findingaids/396.htm.

A film, The Life of Maurice Goddard, from WITF, is freely available online.