Oct. 17 PA Environment Digest Now Available

Oct. 17 PA Environment Digest now available. Click Here to print this Digest.

Western PA Conservancy Watershed Conservation Program Celebrates 10th Anniversary

Ten years ago, the Western Pennsylvania Conservancy started a program to provide technical assistance to watershed groups around the region. Nick Pinizzotto was the lone employee of what was then known as the Watershed Assistance Center.
This “one-stop shop” was designed to help groups with a variety of water conservation needs-- from learning how to prepare grant proposals to accessing technical resources and planning tools.
(Photo: Watershed staff installs a multilog vane deflector in Tubmill Creek, used for erosion control and creation of fish habitat. Click Here for other photos.)
Pinizzotto finished that first year realizing just how important such a center was for Western Pennsylvania. With its mission and scope of work rapidly expanding, the program and its six full-time employees soon moved to a new office in Blairsville that could accommodate the increasing demands.
The program’s growth continued through what Pinizzotto describes as, “calculated risk-taking that made good business and conservation sense.” Click Here to read more…