Washington, D.C. U.S. Sen. Bob Casey announced that the National Defense Authorization Act, which has already passed the House and is likely to pass the Senate this week, would protect four Pennsylvania National Heritage Areas for the next decade.

Among them is the Delaware & Lehigh National Heritage Corridor.The D&L Trail follows the 165-mile route that anthracite coal took from mine to market. It winds through northern mountains and along the banks of the Lehigh and Delaware Rivers through northeast Pennsylvania, the Lehigh Valley and through Bucks County. The D&L Trail passes from through Jim Thorpe through Lehigh and Northampton counties, along remnants of the Lehigh and Delaware canals.Others are the rivers of Steel National Heritage Area, Lackawanna Heritage Valley National Heritage Area and Schuylkill River Valley National Heritage Area for the next decade. Casey pushed for the measures to be included in the bill.National Heritage Areas are designated by Congress as places where natural, cultural and historic resources combine to form a cohesive, nationally important landscape.