A land transaction that shifts Glen Onoko Falls from the Pennsylvania Game Commission to the Department of Conservation and Natural Resources has been approved by Nesquehoning.

During the borough council meeting on Wednesday, borough unanimously approved the subdivision plan, on the recommendation of the borough planning commission.

This action makes the proposal one step closer to shifting ownership of the 495-acre Glen Onoko Falls tract and formally adding it to Lehigh Gorge State Park.

Lehigh Township Supervisors were also expected to sign off on the transaction this month. After that, the documents must circulate through the state attorney general’s office and chief counsel for review and signatures.

Earlier this month, Stacie Hall, parks operations manager for the Hickory Run State Park Complex, appeared before Jim Thorpe Borough Council to provide an update on the Glen Onoko Falls Trail land transaction and project aimed at reopening the trail to visitors.

The trail was closed seven years ago because it had become a hazard due to needed repairs and people hiking the trail without proper gear.

Hall told Jim Thorpe that the transfer of land is still months away and the rehabilitation project will likely take another three to five years before anyone should expect to see it reopen.

The trail, which climbs nearly 800 feet in elevation over a half-mile section alongside the falls of Glen Onoko Run, was closed May 1, 2019, by the game commission after more than a decade of mounting safety concerns. At least 10 hikers have died on the trail since the late 1970s, and recurring serious injuries strained local first responders.

Gov. Josh Shapiro included the land exchange in his 2025-26 budget, and legislation finalizing the transfer was signed into law last year.

While the state works on the land transfer, work on the trail has been taking place.

According to Hall, the Pennsylvania Outdoor Corps started work May 13 and wrapped up for the season Sept. 20.

In that time, the crew completed approximately 740 feet of the connector trail between the Nine Mile Loop and the Falls Trail entrance at the top of the property, clearing the path to allow emergency access by all-terrain vehicles and enabling equipment to reach the Falls Trail in future work seasons.

Crews also began preliminary work on the Falls Trail itself above Cape Falls.

On Wednesday, John McArdle, Nesquehoning Hose Company fire chief, said that first responders met with Hickory Run rangers to go over some planned improvements.

“The pictures that we saw were unbelievable,” McArdle told Nesquehoning Borough Council. “They’re out there with sledgehammers, busting rocks apart. They’re trying to keep the original steps in certain places ... but they’re going to make the path wide enough that from the top of the Glen, we would be able to take our UTV down part way to at least the third fall. Right now, we haven’t been able to do anything like that.

“... Hopefully we’re going to see in a couple years, a big improvement there.”

McArdle added that first responders have asked the rangers to have periodic meetings as the project progresses so that they can work together to make it safe for both visitors and the first responders who answer the emergency calls.

“They’re very forthcoming and hopefully this can lessen our travel (in emergencies,)” he said, noting that crews already were in that area once this month.

The Overlook Trail and Shortcut Trail remain open to the public for now but will eventually need to close when construction work moves into those areas.