# Rooted in Stewardship: The William Penn Forest District with Rick Hartlieb

Page: https://stenobird.com/podcast/think-outside-with-the-pennsylvania-parks-and-forests-foundation-7293119/rooted-in-stewardship-the-william-penn-forest-district-with-rick-hartlieb
Text version: https://stenobird.com/podcast/think-outside-with-the-pennsylvania-parks-and-forests-foundation-7293119/rooted-in-stewardship-the-william-penn-forest-district-with-rick-hartlieb.md
Podcast: [Think Outside with the Pennsylvania Parks and Forests Foundation](https://stenobird.com/podcast/think-outside-with-the-pennsylvania-parks-and-forests-foundation-7293119)
Published: 2026-06-15T05:00:00+00:00
Episode link: https://paparksandforests.org/think-outside/rooted-in-stewardship-the-william-penn-forest-district-with-rick-hartlieb/
Audio file: https://episodes.captivate.fm/episode/b83c218a-de50-4ca1-9d8e-1fbf8e7e11cf.mp3
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Duration seconds: 2432

## Resource

“We're building a quilt. I call it a quilt of state forest land.” Our host, Marci Mowery, chats with Rick Hartlieb, who is the district forester for the William Penn Forest District, covering nine counties across southeastern Pennsylvania. When he arrived in 2008, the district managed 902 acres. Today, that figure stands near 3,000, the result of patient land acquisition that Rick describes as building a "quilt" of public forest in one of the Commonwealth's most urbanized regions. The district's existing holdings are ecologically distinct and historically layered. Goat Hill Wild Plant Sanctuary, on the Mason-Dixon line in Chester County, protects a serpentine barren ecosystem with globally rare plants and lepidopterous insects found nowhere else. Little Tinicum Island, Pennsylvania's only tidal state forest land, shifts between 80 and 200 acres with the tide, carrying history from its role as one of the Delaware River's earliest colonial ports, where ships staged offshore before passengers were permitted ashore, through a World War II dredging operation that reshaped its shoreline. Newer acquisitions, such as the Wertz Tract, Gibraltar Hill, Buck Hollow, and Mullan Hollow along the Horseshoe Trail, continue expanding what the district can offer. Sustaining these places requires year-round vigilance. Rick's team treats 220 ash trees across five sites on a three-year rotation, the only living ash remaining in the surrounding counties. Hemlock woolly adelgid, beech leaf disease, stiltgrass, and development pressure fill the rest of the calendar. The Highlands Conservation Act has funded roughly half of the district's acquisitions. Volunteer groups, cycling clubs, and a friends organization at Goat Hill take care of much of the rest. What animates Rick most is a legacy que…

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