WASHINGTON, DC— U.S. Senator Bob Casey (D-PA) today joined Secretary of the Interior Ken Salazar to celebrate the Cherry Valley National Wildlife Refuge. A plank commemorating the refuge will be installed on a walkway tomorrow at Pelican Island, Florida, the first national wildlife refuge that was established in 1903.
“Cherry Valley is an asset to Northeastern Pennsylvania which will offer visitors the opportunity to hunt, fish, watch wildlife and learn about the environment,” said Senator Casey. “Cherry Valley also has a real economic impact as one of Pennsylvania’s natural treasures supporting the millions of Pennsylvanians who spend billions of dollars on wildlife-associated recreation each year.”
Senator Casey advocated for the addition of the Cherry Valley Refuge to the National Wildlife Refuge System, helping to secure funds to allow the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service to acquire the land in Monroe and Northampton Counties that now make up the refuge.
Cherry Valley is widely recognized for its valuable natural resources and its wetland and upland habitats that support an unusually large number of threatened species that are threatened, endangered or of concern. The refuge protects Kittatinny Ridge, a well-known migration flyway that concentrates up to 20,000 migrating raptors of 16 species every fall.
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