Two areas of Water Gap Park added to Old Growth Forest Network

Bruce A. Scruton, New Jersey Herald
·4 min read
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DELAWARE TOWNSHIP, Pa. − There are trees in the ravines of Hornbeck Creek which were saplings when Ulysses S. Grant was president and James Garfield was assassinated.

And, according to Superintendent Doyle Sapp, some trees are as old as a Rodney Dangerfield joke: "I looked up my family tree once and found out I was a sap."

The levity by the new superintendent of the Delaware Water Gap National Recreation Area came Thursday morning as he helped dedicate two areas of the 70,000-acre park as part of the nationwide Old Growth Forest Network.

Brian Kane, Mid-Atlantic Regional Manager of the Old-Growth Forest Network, right, presents a designation sign to Delaware Water Gap National Recreation Area Superintendent Doyle Sapp, during a ceremony Thursday, June 29, at Hornbeck Creek. The other designated area is Mount Minsi in the southern end of the park.
Brian Kane, Mid-Atlantic Regional Manager of the Old-Growth Forest Network, right, presents a designation sign to Delaware Water Gap National Recreation Area Superintendent Doyle Sapp, during a ceremony Thursday, June 29, at Hornbeck Creek. The other designated area is Mount Minsi in the southern end of the park.

"Old growth forests" are defined as forests which have developed over a long period of time, essentially free from catastrophic disturbances. They also contain large, old trees of long-lived species. The network's website can be reached at: www.oldgrowthforest.net.

Brian Kane, a regional manager with the network who was at the ceremony, said the two park areas bring the national total of "forests" carrying the designation to 215 with 28 now in Pennsylvania. The second area of the recreation area to be added is Mt. Minsi, the Pennsylvania peak which makes up the south side of the geologic formation after which the park is named.

Sapp said he was "a great believer in the power of language and of quotes" to mark events and said he had found out that the area of the park has been inhabited by people for more than 12,000 years, however, over the past 300 years, most of the region's forests were cut and cleared at least once.

A woman walks along the hiking path along the Hornbeck Creek in the Delaware Water Gap National Recreation Area on Thursday, June 29. The area bordering the creek, as well as part of Mount Minsi in the southern part of the park have been added to the Old-Growth Forest Network.
A woman walks along the hiking path along the Hornbeck Creek in the Delaware Water Gap National Recreation Area on Thursday, June 29. The area bordering the creek, as well as part of Mount Minsi in the southern part of the park have been added to the Old-Growth Forest Network.

However, lumbermen were unable to reach some steep-slope areas, such as the ravines bordering the creek, so those areas were not logged. Instead the trees, especially the hemlocks and some hardwoods, got bigger, older and took on the characteristics which define old-growth.

According to the network's definition, an old-growth forest is a wooded area which has reached maturity. The network's highest designation is explained as "among the oldest known forests in their county. They have formal protection in place that ensures that their trees and ecosystems are protected from commercial logging. All Network forests are open to the public so that everyone can experience them for recreation and personal well-being."

Century-old trees are seen bordering the Hornbeck Creek within the Delaware Water Gap National Recreation Area in this photo taken Thursday, June 29, 2023. The creek area and a second area on Mount Minsi in the southern end of the park have been added to the Old-Growth Forest Network.
Century-old trees are seen bordering the Hornbeck Creek within the Delaware Water Gap National Recreation Area in this photo taken Thursday, June 29, 2023. The creek area and a second area on Mount Minsi in the southern end of the park have been added to the Old-Growth Forest Network.

The group also has lesser designations of "community forests" and "private forests."

The Hornbeck and Minsi areas are the first in northeastern Pennsylvania. New Jersey has one each in Salem and Burlington counties.

Although the two areas have the official designations by the private Old Growth network, Sapp said the recreation area as a whole has trees between 100-150 years old and on steep slopes and in ravines, there are even older trees.

Putting the forest ages in perspective, he noted many existing trees in the park were "just seedlings" when the Wright Brothers first flew, or Henry Ford first drove a Model T, and "as saplings they witnessed the Great War (WWI), the sinking of the Titanic and the first Oreo cookie."

"As mature trees," he continued, "they reached for the skies as the U.S. entered the space race, stood tall as Americans took a stand for civil rights, stood strong as the nation reeled from the assassinations of MLK, JFK and RFK and the Vietnam War.'

Large hardwoods flank Hornbeck Creek in the Delaware Water Gap National Recreation Area on Thursday, June 29. The area of Hornbeck Creek and Mount Minsi have been added to the Old-Growth Forest Network, an organization which recognizes and looks to preserve century+-old forests.
Large hardwoods flank Hornbeck Creek in the Delaware Water Gap National Recreation Area on Thursday, June 29. The area of Hornbeck Creek and Mount Minsi have been added to the Old-Growth Forest Network, an organization which recognizes and looks to preserve century+-old forests.

And they are not done viewing history, he ended, since "these same trees, these witnesses to our past, these harbingers of heritage still have many stories yet to see and to tell."

The designation does not add to the National Park Service's strong rules about letting nature take its course, but the designation does bring attention to the area. The network's website, which lists all the designated forests and reasons for preserving them.

A mix of hardwood and evergreen trees flank the Hornbeck Creek in Delaware Water Gap National Recreation Area on Thursday, June 29, 2023, the day the area around the creek and part of Mount Minsi, in the southern end of the park, were accepted into the Old-Growth Forest Network.
A mix of hardwood and evergreen trees flank the Hornbeck Creek in Delaware Water Gap National Recreation Area on Thursday, June 29, 2023, the day the area around the creek and part of Mount Minsi, in the southern end of the park, were accepted into the Old-Growth Forest Network.

According to the network, less than 5% of old-growth forest remains in the American west, while in the east, there is less than 1% remaining.

The Lower Hornbeck Creek can be reached by a maintained gravel path from the parking lot off Route 209, while the Upper Hornbeck Creek area can be reached from a trailhead/parking area on Emery Road. The two trails converge above and below a waterfall on the creek.

Dangerfield wasn't the only entertainer quoted by Sapp who brought words from television artist Bob Ross to the ceremony: "You know me, I think there ought to be a big old tree right there. And let's give him a friend. Everybody needs a friend."

This article originally appeared on New Jersey Herald: Areas of Water Gap Park added to Old Growth Forest Network