Walking Purchase Park is the priority in 2026 for the Salisbury Township Environmental Advisory Council.<\/p>\n
The EAC is being asked to make recommendations for Walking Purchase Park to the Salisbury Township Board of Commissioners.<\/p>\n
Two officials from Eastern Salisbury Fire Department attended the Dec. 17, 2025, EAC meeting in the Salisbury Township Municipal Building.<\/p>\n
The 480-acre Walking Purchase Park, north of Lehigh Mountain and south of the Lehigh River, is administered by Salisbury Township, Allentown and Lehigh County. The park is also known as Lehigh Mountain Park.<\/p>\n
Representatives of the three government entities have been meeting to discuss the possibility of Wildlands Conservancy taking over the administration of Walking Purchase Park.<\/p>\n
\u201cThey are looking to make it [Walking Purchase Park] so that everybody has access dawn to dusk,\u201d Michele Lopez, Salisbury Township assistant zoning officer and code-rental inspector, who chairs the EAC meetings, said.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhat the [township] commissioners are looking for is an EAC recommendation [concerning Walking Purchase Park],\u201d Lopez said.<\/p>\n
\u201cThis is going to be an ongoing discussion. It might take four meetings. It might take a year,\u201d Lopez said.<\/p>\n
The EAC, which meets every other month, next meets 7 p.m. Feb. 18, in the meeting room of the municipal building, 2900 S. Pike Ave.<\/p>\n
\u201cI think the initial meeting is to look at all the options,\u201d Salisbury Township Commissioner Heather Lipkin, board of commissioners\u2019 liaison to the EAC, said at the Dec. 17, 2025, meeting.<\/p>\n
\u201cThis is not the only meeting we are going to have about this,\u201d Lipkin said.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe would like to present a coherent plan to all our partners,\u201d Lipkin said.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe would have to present it to Allentown and Lehigh County, at minimum, plus, Wildlands Conservancy,\u201d Lipkin said.<\/p>\n
\u201cThey [Wildlands officials] want it [the road] to be paved,\u201d Lopez said.<\/p>\n
The unpaved road in the park makes it difficult to clear snow from its surface.<\/p>\n
\u201cThey [Wildlands officials] want it to be a road that is plowable,\u201d Lipkin said.<\/p>\n
\u201cWildlands wants the road paved before it is turned over [to Wildlands],\u201d Lopez said.<\/p>\n
Discussion at the meeting also centered on a possible prescribed burn in Walking Purchase Park to reduce underbrush and the possibility of fires during drought conditions.<\/p>\n
Eastern Salisbury Fire Department Fire Chief Ian Dodson and Eastern Salisbury Fire Department Assistant Chief Dennis Takacs Jr. attended the meeting.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe\u2019re responsible for emergency services [in Walking Purchase Park],\u201d Dodson said.<\/p>\n
Also discussed was logging of the park.<\/p>\n
\u201cHas anyone done a tree inventory?\u201d EAC Chairperson Maria Rodale asked.<\/p>\n
\u201cFor 2026, that is the goal, to gather as much information as possible,\u201d Lopez said.<\/p>\n
Wildlands Conservancy opened Black River Sanctuary, which is opposite Franko Farm Park in the township, in October 2024. The sanctuary has approximately three miles of trails and is 187 protected acres. According to the Wildlands website, there were 7,000 visitors for more than 12,000 visits through Sept. 30, 2025, at the sanctuary.<\/p>\n
\u201cLooking at what they [Wildlands Conservancy] did at Black River is a good example,\u201d Rodale said.<\/p>\n
For more information on the Black River Sanctuary, visit https:\/\/www.wildlandspa.org\/blackriver1year\/.<\/p>\n
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