Friends of PEC,
As summer winds down, we at PEC are grateful for another glorious season of hikes, rides, paddles, picnics, campfires, and time spent enjoying the great outdoors across our great Commonwealth. But we're also concerned about the future of the public lands we cherish, with the all-too-possible loss of one of America's most successful federal programs: the
Land and Water Conservation Fund, which is due for congressional reauthorization this fall.
Unless Congress acts by September 30, the LWCF will expire -- and with it, billions of non-tax dollars supporting parks and greenways, historic sites, and other priceless community assets. These funds don't just help protect our environment and enhance our quality of life; they're also critical to Pennsylvania's $29 billion outdoor recreation industry, supporting a quarter-million jobs statewide. We invite you to check out our
interactive map of selected LWCF-funded sites and get a sense of its impact in your community. Then, contact your congressional representatives and urge them to support reauthorization.
Please read on for your monthly roundup of news and content from PEC....
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PEC and the Laurel Highlands Conservation Landscape present "Ghost Towns to Boom Towns: Creating Healthy Economies & Communities Through Trails" on September 18th in Ebensburg.
Learn about town-to-trail connections, maintenance endowments, legal issues, and business development. The afternoon workshops include a walking tour of Ebensburg or a bike tour of the Ghost Town Trail dinner. Find more information and register
here
.
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The 2018 Industrial Heartland Trails Coalition Summit will be held October 2-3 in Morgantown, WV. The two-day conference features workshops, panel discussions, information sessions, exhibits, and a "shark tank" pitch competition.
Find more information and register
here
.
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PEC and the Northeast Environmental Partners will recognize the region's environmental and conservation leaders at the 27th Annual Evening for Northeast Pennsylvania's Environment, scheduled for
October 25
at the Woodlands Inn and Resort in Wilkes-Barre.
To read about this year's award recipients and their outstanding work, and find more information on the dinner,
click here
.
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"Nothing but opportunity..."
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Blairsville, PA has all the makings of a vibrant trail town — the only thing missing is a bridge connection to nearby trail networks.
Now, after more than 20 years of planning, it’s about to become a reality.
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Ticket to Ride
You've heard of rails-to-trails... why not rails AND trails?
The NEPA Trails Forum takes a ride on the historic Stourbridge Line through the northern Poconos.
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In 1912, the Lehigh Valley Transit Company’s Liberty Bell trolley connected Norristown and Philadelphia with Allentown. The trolley is long gone, but its route lives on as part of the Circuit Trails network. When completed, the Liberty Bell Trail will link to the Schuylkill River Trail in Norristown and provide the same connections that the Liberty Bell Trolley did a century ago.
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We all know someone who is passionate about a trail, waterway or another asset in the community. They work so hard at making it a reality, usually without asking for their name to be part of the process. That’s why, every year, the Council on Greenways & Trails invites northwestern Pennsylvanians to nominate any individual, group, or organization for recognition of the work they do.
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PEC and our affiliate organization, the Pennsylvania Organization for Watersheds and Rivers (POWR) is looking for a watershed professional to promote and advocate for improved water quality across the Commonwealth in partnership with local watershed associations.
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Pennsylvania’s first-in-the-nation recycling law is 30 years old this summer. Act 101 helped launch a multibillion-dollar industry and trained a generation of Pennsylvanians to drop their bottles and cans in the blue bin. But changing market conditions and consumer behaviors have prompted calls for an overhaul to the 1988 legislation.
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Pennsylvania is getting ready to tackle the next phase of the Chesapeake Bay cleanup, with a new emphasis on getting things done at the county level. But will it be enough to get us back on track after a disappointing EPA assessment? We’ll get an update from Harry Campbell of the Chesapeake Bay Foundation.
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The Pennsylvania Legacies podcast features conversations with community leaders, policy experts, and Pennsylvanians on the most important environmental and conservation issues facing the Commonwealth.
New episodes are posted every other Friday at
pecpa.org/audio
and are available on most podcast platforms.
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News reports on a proposed increase in permit application fees for unconventional gas
wells quoted PEC's public comments supporting the proposal, which would help compensate for chronic underfunding of DEP's regulatory mandate.
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