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October 2010 GreenSpace Connect Digest
This issue of GreenSpace Connect is dedicated to projects that were made possible through funding from the Commonwealth’s Growing Greener grants. In addition to the projects mentioned below, Growing Greener grants have protected working farms, cleaned up rivers and streams, created and improved parks and trails, and conserved special places. To contribute or
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List of Stories
Renew Growing Greener Coalition Launches Conservation Funding Campaign
 Several organizations across the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania have joined forces to influence conservation funding decisions in the PA House and Senate. Under the title Renew Growing Greener Coalition, these land trusts and advocates are undertaking a coordinated outreach effort to ensure that conservation and recreation voices are heard loud and clear in the gubernatorial election and the following political appointments.
The Coalition consists of many of the state’s leading conservation, recreation and environmental organizations. The Coalition’s mission is to secure dedicated funding for future Growing Greener projects. The initiative is lead by Executive Director Andrew Heath in Harrisburg, but is strongly supported in Southeast PA by the Brandywine Conservancy, Montgomery County Lands Trust, Natural Lands Trust, and many more.
The first major success of the Coalition since its founding in spring, 2010 was to avert a proposed raid on conservation funding by Governor Rendell in late June. Through the phone calls, letters, and emails of many concerned constituents, enough support was rallied to avert major withdrawals from the Keystone, Growing Greener, and Oil & Gas Lease funds. Nevertheless, DEP and DCNR budgets were slashed again this year, reminding everyone of the precarious political climate faced by environmental advocates across the Commonwealth.
Growing Greener II, the major source of conservation bond funding, will end in 2011 unless new action is taken to restore the program. Compounding the problem, the Environmental Stewardship Fund, which also funds Growing Greener projects, is being used to pay debt service on the Growing Greener II bonds, rather than supporting vital local projects.
Growing Greener began in 1999 when Governor Tom Ridge and legislative leaders agreed to commit $650 million over five years for investments in farmland preservation, conservation of open space, restoring and protecting Pennsylvania’s streams and rivers, improving and expanding state and local parks, and developing new trails and greenways.
In 2002, Governor Mark Schweiker and the General Assembly created the Environmental Stewardship Fund to help fulfill the original Growing Greener commitment and to establish a permanent funding mechanism to carry the program’s success into the future. They provided the Environmental Stewardship Fund with a dedicated revenue source by increasing the fee charged for dumping trash in Pennsylvania landfills. In 2005, Governor Ed Rendell and the General Assembly, recognizing the need to accelerate the work of Growing Greener, decided to put a $625 million bond referendum question to the voters.
In the primary election, 60% of voters approved the bond and Growing Greener II was established. However, it was subsequently decided that the Growing Greener II debt service would be paid out of the Environmental Stewardship Fund, thus significantly reducing the impact of that program.
The program has been hugely successful, directing critical investments to every county in the state. In the past four years alone, Growing Greener has helped protect more than 33,700 acres of Pennsylvania’s family farmland; conserve more than 42,300 acres of threatened open space; improve public recreation through 234 community park projects; and restore more than 1,600 acres of abandoned mine land. Polls show strong, consistent public support for programs that improve the quality of life, the economy and the environment throughout Pennsylvania. Growing Greener has enjoyed strong, bipartisan support from voters, legislators, and governors for more than a decade.
For more information on the Growing Greener Coalition, or to support its efforts, contact Andrew Heath, Executive Director, at (717) 230-8044 x23.
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Introducing the Pennypack Watershed Interactive Map and Tour
 The GreenSpace Alliance and Pennypack Greenway Partnership are proud to announce the publication of an interactive online map of the Pennypack Watershed. The map, powered by Google Earth, provides a simple means of visually representing environmental, historical, and recreational features to visitors and the general public. An alternate view of project areas, which can be edited by project leaders, provides a way of sharing information among volunteers, conservationists, and the public.
“I’ve found that our suburban members are reluctant to explore Pennypack Park in Philadelphia,” says David Robertson, Executive Director of the Pennypack Ecological Restoration Trust. “If this map can’t get them to broaden their horizons and strike out for new adventures in the watershed, I don’t know what could.” He goes on to explain, “Pennypack Trust’s limited staff has had a hard time devoting enough time and effort to keeping our website up to date… (but) the map can be kept up to date with a minimal commitment of time as we add more site-based project pop-ups to promote our land protection and ecological restoration efforts.”
Visitors can use the map to find historical sites, natural features, trails, access points, parking, restrooms, and major destinations. They can also get an idea of where they’re going by flipping through the “slideshow” feature that’s available for each destination point. Several of the sites have already supplied stunning photography—Pennypack Ecological Restoration Trust and Pennypack Park are particularly worth a look. If a guided tour is easier, there’s that option too; just one click begins a virtual walk-through of important features, from the headwaters to the mouth of Pennypack Creek.
The idea for the interactive map was planted at a Pennypack Greenway Partnership meeting, when GreenSpace Alliance Executive Director Donna Pitz realized that the amount of activity going on in the watershed far outstripped the capacity for knowledge-sharing. Pitz worked closely with design contractor Miller Designworks of Phoenixville, and the rest of the Partnership, to collect and load 48 different “points of interest” descriptions representing the diversity of recreational and environmental activities taking place within the watershed.
The goal of the map is twofold: to connect the greater public with the Pennypack’s wealth of recreational, historic, and natural features, and to facilitate communication about projects among the group of stakeholders working in the watershed. By promoting its active projects and existing features, GreenSpace Alliance hopes to further public knowledge of the watershed as a high-quality natural and cultural resource.
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ADA-Accessible Fishing Park Planned on French Creek
 A new ADA-accessible fishing park is planned on French Creek in East Vincent Township. The site, formerly the Tri-Town Sportsman’s Club’s fishing grounds, will connect several hiking and equestrian trails, and is located at the southern edge of French Creek’s dedicated fly-fishing boundary. The French and Pickering Creeks Conservation Trust is coordinating development of a master plan, which will include 400 feet of stream frontage, a dock, boardwalk, and off-road parking. Once built, the park will likely be acquired and managed by East Vincent Township.
In the early 1990’s the Trust purchased the 8.7 acre wooded French Creek waterfront parcel, formerly the Tri-Town Sportsman's Club, using funds donated by Eleanor Morris and Ranney Moran. Funded by two DCNR Planning grants facilitated by Senator Andy Dinniman, the Trust has contracted with InLand Design engineering firm to create the ADA-accessible Master Site Plan for the enjoyment of the general public. The vision for this new park includes a handicapped-accessible trail, dock and parking as well as picnic facilities. Future loop trail connections for hikers and equestrians to the French Creek Trail via the East Vincent side from Cooks Glen Road to Sheeder Mill Road are also envisioned. The park site is accessed from Pughtown Road in East Vincent Township.
The Tri-Town site features majestic mature trees, extensive streamside frontage and gorgeous views up and downstream. The top of the property is accessed from Pughtown Road in East Vincent Township, approximately 6.5 miles from downtown Phoenixville. There is a gentle winding path down to the creek, with room for plentiful ADA parking and a flat enough grade for an ADA trail to the creek, where a large ADA fishing dock is planned. Tri-Town also provides a tremendous opportunity for fish stocking access for the local Dame Juliana Fishing League, and is adjacent to the starting point of the fly fishing only section of the French Creek. Tri-Town will provide creek side parking for the fishing community and the neighbors of French Creek, replacing parking spaces lost to the recent reconstruction of the Sheeder Mill Bridge a half mile up the road. A picnic area is envisioned, as well as interpretive signage about the French Creek.
The site has been completely surveyed and studies have been completed to rule out any Bog Turtle habitat or endangered species presence. The Dame Juliana League and the Green Valleys Association are supporting partners of the project. When completed, the Trust intends to convey the park, in return for some cost reimbursement, to East Vincent Township. The Trust is seeking private foundation funding for the park development plan because there are severe cutbacks in county and state park development funding.
The French and Pickering Creeks Conservation Trust is a community-based organization that works collaboratively with individual landowners, local, county and state government, and other conservation organizations to ensure the preservation of some of the most scenic and environmentally sensitive lands in Pennsylvania. Founded 43 years ago by Sam and Eleanor Morris, the Trust is a vital leader for land conservation in northern Chester County. More than 9,000 acres of agricultural, natural and park lands have been protected through donated and purchased conservation easements and public/private partnerships.
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With Natural Lands Trust’s help, French Creek State Park Gains Substantial Acreage
 In early May of this year French Creek State Park grew by 279 acres, thanks to a conservation partnership spearheaded by the Natural Lands Trust (NLT). The protected property, now being transferred from NLT to the Commonwealth, is the result of more than two years of negotiations with landowners, funding partners, and state and local officials. The end result: land once slated for development is protected forever.
“Thanks to a collaborative effort and creative thinking, we were able to protect this land from development and enable a key trail connection,” noted Jack Stefferud, NLT’s Regional Director of Land Protection. “The successful outcome would not have been possible without the significant broad based support we received.”
This increase in park space will connect the Schuylkill River Trail in Berks County to the Horseshoe and Boars Back Trails in Chester County. When completed the expanded trail network will connect three nationally-important historic sites: Valley Forge National Park, Hopewell Furnace National Historic Site, and the Schuylkill River National Heritage Area.
About half of the property is composed of agricultural fields, while the other half is mature deciduous upland forest. The entire block is located within the priority Hopewell Big Woods landscape and the federally-designated Highlands region. The expanded trail connections meet a major goal of the Schuylkill Highlands Conservation Landscape Initiative, a PA DCNR program administered by Natural Lands Trust.
That preserving this land had been prioritized by multiple programs reflects a coordinated focus on reducing forest fragmentation, enhancing breeding and nesting areas for migratory song birds and other wildlife, and increasing recreation opportunities in the area. Important partners in this project include: The Pennsylvania Department of Conservation and Natural Resources, Union Township, Berks County, Schuylkill River National and State Heritage Area, George and Miriam Martin Foundation, Wyomissing Foundation, Virginia Cretella Mars Foundation, and the William Penn Foundation.
Natural Lands Trust is the region’s largest land conservation organization, preserving thousands of acres of open space each year throughout eastern Pennsylvania and southern New Jersey. The organization owns and manages over 40 nature preserves totaling more than 20,000 acres and holds conservation easements and other restrictions on over 18,000 acres. More information is available on the NLT website, or by calling 610-353-5587.
(Photo Courtesy of Natural Lands Trust)
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