In 2002, the Lehigh Gap Nature Center purchased over 750 acres of property along the Kittatinny Ridge, including land along the Lehigh River and part of Lehigh Gap.

It began erosion stabilization and revegetation of the property with native, warm season grasses in 2003. In the same year, the Lehigh Gap Wildlife Refuge officially opened to the public.Today, native grasses and tree saplings cover Blue Mountain, as about 2,800 acres are revegetated thus far.The refuge has an extensive trail system available for hikers, bikers and outdoors enthusiasts.It also offers programs in environmental education, wildlife viewing and native habitat restoration research, and provides valuable habitat for resident wildlife and migratory species.In 2010, a new visitor and education center opened at the site and includes a lobby, information station, research library, classroom/laboratory and restrooms.The nature preserve and habitat consists of a 2.5-mile stretch on the Kittatinny Ridge between the Appalachian Trail and the Delaware and Lehigh National Heritage Corridor Trail, which parallel each other, then intersect at Lehigh Gap near the Nature Center's Osprey House.The Palmerton Zinc Pile Site is the area of a former primary zinc smelting operation.The site encompasses the Borough of Palmerton and surrounding areas, Blue Mountain, a large smelting residue pile called the Cinder Bank and much of the valley.For nearly 70 years, the New Jersey Zinc Company deposited 33 million tons of slag at the site, creating a cinder bank that extends for 2 1/2 miles and measures over 100 feet high and 500 to 1,000 feet wide.The smelting operations emitted huge quantities of heavy metals throughout the valley. As a result, about 2,000 acres on Blue Mountain, which is adjacent to the former smelters, were defoliated, and left a barren mountain side.The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency is overseeing the cleanup of the Palmerton Zinc Pile Site, which is being carried out by CBS Corporation, the party potentially responsible for the contamination.For more information about the Lehigh Gap Nature Center, visit

http://lgnc.org.For more information about the Palmerton Superfund Site, visit

http://www.epa.gov/reg3hscd/super/sites/PAD002395887/index.htm#Contacts