From the Rocket Courier Newspaper 

Wyoming Commissioners Hear about Miller Mountain - by D.C. Koviack - 2/23/2006

The Friends of Miller Mountain (FOMM), a grass roots group of area residents committed to preserving and protecting the mountain which lies just southeast of Tunkhannock Borough, spoke briefly to the Wyoming County Commissioners on Tuesday morning.

Linda Coolbaugh, the group’s vice-president, said that FOMM had been working for the past year to garner support for their cause from legislators and state and local agencies. “We’ve had a good response,” she told the commissioners, adding that the water and conservation groups were particularly encouraging of their efforts.

Coolbaugh commented that because of the water supply on the mountain, other waterways and conservation groups are very interested in the preservation of the mountain. However, Coolbaugh said, money was needed in order to purchase the mountain from its present owner, Louis DeNaples. And before state and federal funds could come into play, local dollars had to be pledged.

“The local funds gotta jump on board first,” she explained, and asked that the FOMM be given 10 percent of the county’s Growing Greener grant. The state’s Conservation District, she said, as well as DCNR and others, could match any local dollars given to the project, which could result in enough money to purchase the mountain. The Growing Greener grant, which is from the state, is said to be $1 million, but as Commissioner Tony Litwin noted, the county has seen neither a timeline nor a check regarding this money. He suggested to Coolbaugh that she tell their contact at the Department of Conservation and Natural Resources to get in touch with the commissioners.

Meanwhile, he said, the commissioners will work on getting some information on the exact amount of the grant and when the money might begin to arrive in Wyoming County’s coffers. However, the commissioners also assured Coolbaugh and the FOMM representatives at the meeting that the project was on the top of the short list of initiatives to be funded once the Growing Greener money is received.

The county’s 911 offices have begun to move into their new temporary location on Route 29. The county’s addressing project and related offices were the first to relocate.

The Community Development Block Grant (CDBG) for fiscal year 2006 received its final approval Tuesday and all the necessary paperwork was signed. This paperwork is now sent to Harrisburg and the funding should begin shortly after the start of the 2006-2007 fiscal year this July. Projects under this year’s CDBG include renovations to make public buildings handicapped accessible, housing rehab and social services.

The county’s Conservation District has recommended Angela Baker of Laceyville to the commissioners to be the county’s 2006 West Nile Virus coordinator. Baker received a Bachelor’s Degree in Environmental Studies and Biology from East Stroudsburg University. Her salary and schedule will be set later. This position is funded by a state grant and the salary will be approximately what it has been in the past, $29,000.

Times Leader 
Posted on Thu, Feb. 23, 2006

Friends of Miller Mountain set meeting

Times Leader Staff

The Friends of Miller Mountain, a group formed to protect Miller Mountain in Wyoming County, will meet 7 p.m. March 1 in the Eaton Township Municipal Building.

Miller Mountain is a 2,216-foot mountain peak in Eaton Township, and more than 2,500 acres of it are for sale.

The Friends of Miller Mountain advocate the public acquisition of the mountain to protect watersheds, preserve open space, safeguard habitats and wildlife and provide opportunities for outdoor recreation and nature-based tourism.

Wyoming County is the only county in Northeastern and North Central Pennsylvania without a state forest or park. If the land is set aside as state forest, it would become part of the Lackawanna State Forest.

The mountain is a popular and scenic natural landmark as it dominates the skyline south of Tunkhannock. It is located at the confluence of Bowman’s Creek, a popular trout stream, and the Susquehanna River. The mountain is unique because it is one of the last remaining undeveloped mountain peaks in the state and it rises more than 1,500 feet above the river, one of the highest vertical drops in the state.

Community support for this project has been great, with more than 70 people attending the February meeting. Meetings are held the first Wednesday of every month at 7 p.m. in the Eaton Township building. For more information, contact: Friends of Miller Mountain, P.O. Box 444, Tunkhannock, Pa. 18657; Web site: www.tunkhannock.com/millermtn; e-mail: millermtn@hotmail.com.

Letter to the Editor in the Rocket courier newspaper – Wyalusing Pa 

Organization Needs Help Preserving Miller Mountain - by Gary Tewksbury - 2/23/2006

Dear Editor:

I attended a public meeting on Feb. 9, 2006 at the Tunkhannock Library. It was a meeting to give everyone an update on the status of the preservation of Miller Mountain. I was pleasantly surprised with the large turnout and the progress made by the Friends of Miller Mountain.

The goal of this non-profit organization is to see all, or a majority of the parcels for sale, purchased for public use. Miller Mountain’s summit rises over 2,2000 feet in elevation and is possibly the last remaining underdeveloped peak of its size in the state. It rises dramatically over Tunkhannock and the Susquehanna River. It is a mountain that should be a State Forest in Wyoming County. It could be the last largest area of its size to be saved for the public use in Pennsylvania.

As our surrounding environments are assaulted and their aesthetics continue to be diminished, we could lose the beauty of Miller Mountain. Just take a real close look at Miller Mountain with snow on it. There are very few trees left on the mountain. It is a mountain that stands alone that leads into the Endless Mountains. What will be next for Miller Mountain?

The friends of Miller Mountain are working to establish a relationship with the owner. They are trying to work with the Conservation Fund to utilize the resources of Growing Greener II. The friends of Miller Mountain need your support in any way to show the Department of Conservation and Natural Resources, the Conservation Fund, Governor Rendell and other political officers that Miller Mountain is worth preserving for public use.

It has been about 20 years since I last hiked and cross-country skied up and down Miller Mountain. The view on top is unbelievable. You can see Elk Mountain, Montage Mountain and all of the Endless Mountains. Until the other night, I almost forgot the beauty of Miller Mountain. I am going to help the Friends of Miller Mountain turn the mountain back into a State Forest for everyone to enjoy. You can, too.

Gary Tewksbury

Tunkhannock

Times Leader - Posted on Sun, Feb. 26, 2006

Friends of Miller Mountain hope persistence pays off in attempt to keep area undeveloped

Keeping it natural

Group aims to preserve forested area

By MARY THERESE BIEBEL mbiebel@leader.net

EATON TWP. – When Mary Alice Brennan and her sister wanted to give their parents’ ashes a final resting place, they thought of a peaceful setting where the family had often walked with their dogs, thrilling to the sight of a wild turkey or the taste of a fresh-picked wild blackberry.

They thought of Miller Mountain.

“We walked a comfortable distance, a distance our parents would have been able to walk in their later years,” Brennan said. Then, accompanied by a family friend, the sisters tucked the remains into the earth.

But they didn’t tend to only their parents’ ashes that day in the late 1980s.

“My father was a minister (the Rev. Alva Tompkins), and somewhere along the line he had acquired someone else’s ashes,” Brennan said. “We interred them, too, because we felt this is for all of us.”


That belief that the sprawling, majestic Miller Mountain, with a peak rising 1,600 feet above the Susquehanna River, should belong to everyone from hikers to picnicking families to wildlife has sparked the creation of a grass-roots organization.

Calling themselves Friends of Miller Mountain, members of the nonprofit group hope some 2,500 acres of the mountain – for sale by a private owner – can be acquired by the state and preserved as a state forest.

If each of 19 parcels were sold at the asking price, the total would be $21.5 million, and the Friends of Miller Mountain know hundreds of bake sales and car washes would never cover that.

Their plan, as president Jeff Mitchell explained, is to rally community and political support to persuade Pennsylvania’s Department of Conservation and Natural Resources to allocate funds for the purchase.

“We want it to stay the way it is, natural,” Mitchell said. “We want it to be open to the public.”

DCNR District Forester Brad Elison said the state’s Growing Greener fund has set aside $100 million for land acquisition over a period of five years, but people in other areas of Pennsylvania are also advocating for preservation near their communities.

“I think they (The Friends of Miller Mountain) have a reasonable chance of success,” he said, “But it’s going to have to be a persistent effort.”

If anyone wants to help, he said, petitions are good but “letters are always more valuable.”

Hundreds of individuals have signed petitions, and supporters of the cause include state Rep. George Hasey, R-Shickshinny, the Wyoming County Commissioners and the Eaton Township supervisors.

So far, Mitchell said, landowner Louis DeNaples has not returned phone calls to the Friends of Miller Mountain and was not available to see a member who tried to visit him at his business office in Lackawanna County. DeNaples did not return a reporter’s call, either.

Meanwhile, dozens of people have joined the Friends in recent months, vice president/treasurer Linda Coolbaugh said. Many are from Wyoming and Luzerne counties, but some live as far away as Michigan and Texas.

Brennan, who interred her parents’ ashes on the mountain, is one of the long-distance contributors.

Now a resident of Rockland, Maine, she frequently visits her Tunkhannock relatives and hopes she’ll continue to be able to see the nearby mountain in its rugged, natural state.

“Oh, that wonderful, wild mountain,” she said. “It goes through such beautiful changes each season, but it would be a shame to impose manmade changes on it.”

Shuddering at the thought of the land being carved up for condominiums or a resort, she said, “We’ve done that to too many places in this country.”

If you’d like to write to DCNR, address your letter to DCNR secretary Michael DiBerardinis, Rachel Carson State Office Building, P.O. Box 8767, 400 Market St., Harrisburg PA 17105-8767.

For info about Friends of Miller Mountain, see www.tunkhannock.com/millermtn

Friends of Miller Mountain will meet 7 p.m. Wednesday at  the Eaton Township municipal building.