PA Wilds Center Receives West Penn Power Sustainable Energy Fund Education Grant

The PA Wilds Center for Entrepreneurship, Inc. Monday announced it has received a $32,800 grant from West Penn Power Sustainable Energy Fund to develop, produce, and distribute educational videos that showcase the deployment of sustainable energy technologies and their impact in the Pennsylvania Wilds region.

“Sustainable energy and stewardship is a core theme of the PA Wilds work; our brand principles talk about the importance of ‘cultivating the relationship between people and the environment’ and the PA Wilds Design Guide promotes practical, energy efficient building designs,” said Tataboline Enos, Executive Director of the PA Wilds Center.  “So many people on the ground are carrying the torch of sustainability and stewardship in the Pennsylvania Wilds, from the private sector to the public sector, and private citizens.

“We’re excited to have WPPSEF’s continued support to help tell stories of sustainable energy work in the region and its impact,” added Enos.

The PA Wilds Center is planning the locations and subjects for filming this year, focusing on feature sites in the Pennsylvania Wilds that showcase the deployment of sustainable energy technologies with a demonstrated positive impact. The videos will debut in 2019.

“The video format allows us to really tell a story, both in words and visually, on the power of sustainable energy practices and to build awareness and understanding,” said Enos. “Consider how many of our communities and small businesses struggle with how to revamp these old buildings in our downtowns. These structures have so much character but they can be a real challenge to bring up to code and make energy efficient on a small business’ budget.

“We know there are folks in the region working on this, and WPPSEF is a resource to some of those projects, so that is a subject we hope to start to capture – how are they doing it, what’s working?” explained Enos.  “There are powerful stories to be told, and we’re grateful to have the platforms and financial support to tell them.”

WPPSEF has teamed up with PA Wilds Center in the past, helping it create marketing materials to better tell the story of several high-performance conservation visitor facilities that have come online in the Pennsylvania Wilds in the past few years.

Those facilities include the Elk Country Visitor Center, Wildlife Center at Sinnemahoning State Park, Bald Eagle Nature Inn and the visitor center at Kinzua Bridge State Park.

All of the facilities are owned by the Department of Conservation and Natural Resources, a longtime partner in the effort to grow nature tourism in the region. WPPSEF also featured PA Wilds Center as part of its Quiet Ones video series.

“WPPSEF’s ‘Quiet Ones’ video series actually inspired us to start a multi-year video series of our own to help tell the Wilds story through the great work of our many community partners,” Enos said. “People and organizations in our region are marrying conservation and economic development in the most incredible, innovative, practical and inspiring ways, and we really look forward to telling that overarching story and helping spread their good ideas and best practices.

“We plan to call the series “The Wilds Are Working” – a nod to the fact that we are hard at work here in rural PA, figuring out how to revitalize our communities,” said Enos. “With WPPSEF’s help, we’ll be able to focus in on a few energy- themed stories. There are many other topics important to the Wilds work, and we look forward to tackling those in coming years, too, with other funders’ support.”

“The WPPSEF is a proud supporter of the PA Wilds Center’s efforts to showcase sustainable energy across the PA Wilds landscape,” said Joel Morrison, WPPSEF Director.  “We hope that these videos will be inspire communities, businesses, and individuals across the PA Wilds region to think about their energy choices and how that choice will impact the region and their families.”

The Pennsylvania Wilds region includes the counties of Warren, Forest, Elk, Potter, McKean, Tioga, Clinton, Lycoming, Clearfield, Jefferson, Cameron and Clarion, Northern Centre.

Learn more about the programs and services for communities by visiting the PA Wilds Center website.
For more information on sustainable practices in State Parks and Forests, visit DCNR’s Sustainable Practices webpage. For more on green practices for community parks, visit DCNR’s Green and Sustainable Community Parks webpage.

(Photo: Wildlife Center at Sinnemahoning State Park, Potter County.)