Phelps’ Mills Canoe Access (formerly known as the Avis Canoe Launch)

Press:
Introducing the Avis Canoe Launch
NPC Awarded Grants to Complete Projects at Two Site in 2020

County Township Year Acreage Type Conservation Values
County: Clinton Township: Pine Creek Year: 2019 Acreage: .69 Type: Public Acquisition Conservation Values:
  • Public Recreation
  • Water Resource Protection

For years, people had used this property on the Avis side of the Route 150 bridge over Pine Creek to get on and off the Creek in kayaks, canoes, and tubes. They have fished here, swam here, and even sat in a chair while the Creek flowed over their feet and legs. Most assumed that is was already publicly owned, however, when the private landowner decided to sell the property, the community was at risk of losing this popular access point to the Creek. That's when NPC stepped in to purchase and conserve the property in Summer 2019, and shortly thereafter conveying it to the Bureau of Forestry. Now, it is in fact, a public property, managed as part of the Tiadaghton State Forest.

In 2021, the site was officially named the Phelps' Mills Canoe Access, as a nod to the large saw mills that used to occupy the area, manufacturing boards, shingles, laths, palings, among other materials, that helped develop the northcentral PA region.