Department of Conservation and Natural Resources Secretary Cindy Adams Dunn Thursday joined Bureau of Forestry officials and others in renaming the bureau’s Penn Nursery and Wood Shop the Mira Lloyd Dock Resource Conservation Center in honor of the late woman environmentalist, botanist and civic activist who championed reforestation and anti-pollution measures.
“How appropriate that a woman who rallied against pollution and environmental degradation should be honored at a DCNR facility aiding in reforestation efforts across the commonwealth, and helping the public better enjoy the wealth of natural resources and natural beauty in our state parks and state forests,” Dunn said, addressing DCNR employees and guests drawn from conservation and environmental groups across the state.
DCNR hosted a celebration and renaming ceremony on the nursery and wood shop grounds, off Route 322 in Spring Mills, Centre County.
Named after William Penn, the nursery traces its origin back to 1908 and a potato patch on property of a late forest ranger. It began as a source of seedlings needed to replant land denuded by timbering and subsequent forest fires that scoured Penn’s Woods in the late 19th and early 20th centuries.
“One has to wonder how Mira Lloyd Dock would react to how what once was a potato patch now aids in reforestation efforts across the state,” Dunn told the gathering. “This nursery now helps bring shade, watershed protection and increased enjoyment to state park and forest visitors across Pennsylvania. What a fitting legacy for a woman who fought against pollution;
and for reforestation.”
Noting the role of the DCNR woodshop on the property -- supplying picnic tables, signs and other items to state parks and forests – Dunn displayed a new Mira Lloyd Dock Resource Conservation Center seal that will be affixed to some of these products in the future.
“Picnickers at nearby at nearby Poe Paddy State Park, for instance, will know of the woman and what she fought for, when they sit down at a new park picnic table,” Dunn said. “This seal should be a source of pride for all the committed, professional and highly skilled women working within our bureaus at DCNR.”
Echoing Dunn’s sentiments was State Forester Dan Devlin, who, as Bureau of Forestry Director, oversees nursery and wood shop operations:
“Mira Lloyd Dock was a visionary and passionate conservationist whose legacy is felt still today. Naming this center in her honor is a tribute to her great work and forward thinking,”
said guest speaker Marci Mowery, president of the PA Parks and Forests Foundation. "Mira Lloyd Dock made an incredible contribution to conservation in Pennsylvania and broke glass ceilings for women, yet her story was almost forgotten. We applaud DCNRs initiative to rename the nursery and to reconnect Pennsylvanians to their history and to the legacy of our incredible forest system."
In the early 1900s, Dock teamed up with a Harrisburg businessman and civic reformer J. Horace McFarland to target pollution in the Harrisburg area and support improved water and sewage facilities and added 900 acres of new city parks, public lakes, athletic fields and playgrounds.
As president of the American Civic Association, McFarland became a national leader in the City Beautiful movement that revitalized American cities, including Philadelphia.
The first woman appointed to a Pennsylvania state government position, Dock lectured on botany at the newly opened State Forestry Academy at Mont Alto, a school she had helped found by lobbying for its creation.
She would continue to teach there until 1929, using her own textbook, which described all the trees that grew in the state and where they flourished the best.
After stepping down from the Forest Commission in 1912, Dock was active in a broad range of causes, including the movement, led by McFarland, to preserve Niagara Falls, and the local campaign for women's suffrage.
The nursery’s goal is to propagate the finest tree/shrub seedlings available for reforestation and wildlife enhancement projects on state properties.
Nursery and forest district staff coordinate the selection, harvesting and collection of millions of tree/shrub seeds from state forest trees and orchards across the state to preserve and maintain genetic diversity.
Over the years, the Nursery’s operations have expanded to include state of the art sign and picnic table operations. The sign shop provides high quality wood, plastic, and laminated signs to direct visitors through Pennsylvania's state parks and forest lands.
For more background on Mira Lloyd Dock, watch this WITF video on Mira Lloyd Dock: A Beautiful Crusade or visit the Mira Lloyd Dock webpage on ExplorePAhistory.com.
For more information on DCNR’s conservation and recreation programs, visit DCNR’s website, Click Here to sign up for the Resource newsletter, Click Here to be part of DCNR’s Online Community, Click Here to hook up with DCNR on other social media-- Facebook, Twitter, YouTube and Flickr.
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