Sunday, July 31, 2016

Fee-Free Day At Grey Towers To Honor Gifford Pinchot’s Birthday Aug. 11

The Grey Towers mansion in Milford, Pike County, is open for free, self-guided tours on August 11 from 11 a.m. to 4 p.m. in honor of Gifford Pinchot’s 151st birthday.
Visitors will have an opportunity to see all three floors of the mansion, peek inside tower rooms, view Pinchot’s bedroom and get up close with some favorite artifacts at Grey Towers, Pinchot’s ancestral home.
U.S. Forest Service interpretive tour guides will be available on all floors to answer questions.
A special exhibit of Pinchot artifacts will be available in the Bait Box, a small outbuilding on the estate grounds that once served as a playhouse for Gifford Bryce Pinchot.
Birthday cookies will be served throughout the day, while supplies last.
Additional programs focused on Gifford Pinchot’s life and his interests are scheduled for August.
-- August 20: Tree Walk, highlighting Pinchot’s trees throughout the estate;
-- August 20: Outdoor concert, presented by Kindred Spirits Arts Program;
-- August 27: Lecture, Gifford Pinchot’s Spirituality, presented by Grey Towers Heritage Association.
Questions?  Call 570-296-9630 or send an email to: info@greytowers.org.
For more information on programs, initiatives and other upcoming events, visit the Grey Towers Heritage Association.  Click Here to sign up for updates from the Association, Like them on Facebook, Follow them on Twitter, visit their YouTube Channel, become part of their Google+ Circle and follow them on Instagram.
  Also visit the Grey Towers Historic Site website and the Pinchot Institute for Conservation website for information on its conservation research and policy programs.  Click Here to sign up for the Institute’s regular updates.

Friday, July 29, 2016

August 1 PA Environment Digest Now Available

The Aug. 1 PA Environment Digest is now available.  Here are just a few of the headlines--

The Department of Environmental Protection published notice in the July 30 PA Bulletin it is making available a copy of the draft 2016 Integrated Water Quality Monitoring and Assessment Report for public comment.
This latest report shows 4,267 more miles of streams and rivers are now impaired in Pennsylvania-- 20,149-- compared to the same report published in 2014-- 15,882.

The departments of Conservation and Natural Resources and Environmental Protection Wednesday announced funding is being made available under a new DCNR Riparian Forest Buffer Grant Program to assist landowners with planting trees along streams in Pennsylvania to improve water quality.  (formal notice)

By Tim Herd, Executive Director, PA Recreation & Park Society, a member of the PA Growing Greener Coalition.
This summer, millions of adults and children alike will head to a state or local park to enjoy the outdoors and take advantage of the wide range of recreational opportunities Pennsylvania has to offer.

Harry Campbell, PA Director of the Chesapeake Bay Foundation, recently sent this letter of support for an Op-Ed Rep. Garth Everett (R-Lycoming) wrote that appeared on PennLive.com saying new sources of funding are critical to meeting Pennsylvania’s clean water commitments.

The PA Association of Conservation Districts, Inc. Wednesday presented the operators of five farms with the Clean Water Farm Award during its annual conference in State College, PA.  The honor is awarded annually to farmers who manage their daily farm operations in an environmentally conscious manner that helps to protect Pennsylvania’s water quality.   This year’s award recipients are from Chester, Greene, Lawrence, Union, and York Counties.

Pennsylvania farmers can apply for 2016-17 Resource Enhancement and Protection Farm Conservation Tax Credit Program (REAP) beginning August 1 for completed projects.  Applications for proposed or completed projects will be accepted beginning August 15.

Keep Pennsylvania Beautiful invites Pennsylvania residents and groups to sign up now to coordinate a cleanup as part of the 2016 International Coastal Cleanup being held from September 1 through October 31.

Is your company interested in saving money through pollution prevention strategies and energy efficiency assessments?   The Pennsylvania Technical Assistance Program-- PennTAP-- technical advisors and Penn State students will spend a day at your facility to examine manufacturing operations to identify opportunities to save energy and reduce waste and operating costs.

The Department of Conservation and Natural Resources Wednesday announced it would begin accepting applications for Community Conservation Partnership Program recreation and land conservation grants August 1 and close September 15 for this year.


The Laurel Highlands Trails Summit, a workshop to empower trail stakeholders to build community investment and economic development, market trails, and build volunteer capacity, will take place on September 20 at the Morguen Toole Company, 130 Center Street in Meyersdale, Somerset County.

The Gifford Pinchot Institute Tuesday published its latest Pinchot Letter featuring articles on The Stewardship Ethic, including:

To read the Digest, visit: www.PaEnvironmentDigest.com.  Click Here to print the entire Digest.

PA Environment Digest is edited by David E. Hess, former Secretary Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection, and is published as a service of Crisci Associates.


Additional Tools--
Click Here to sign up to receive the Digest directly by email.
Click Here for a Calendar of Upcoming Events.
Click Here to search back issues of the Digest.
PA Environment Digest Twitter Feed: Update on PA environmental issues.
PA Environment Daily Blog: Update on PA environmental issues.
Green Works In PA Google+ Circle: Update on PA environmental issues.
Questions?: Send email to David Hess at: DHess@CrisciAssociates.com

CBF-PA: Rep. Everett Is Right, PA Needs New Funding For Clean Water Programs

Harry Campbell, PA Director of the Chesapeake Bay Foundation, recently sent this letter of support for an Op-Ed Rep. Garth Everett (R-Lycoming) wrote that appeared on PennLive.com saying new sources of funding are critical to meeting Pennsylvania’s clean water commitments.
The text of the Campbell letter follows—
State Representative Garth Everett, R-Lycoming, was correct in his recent PennLive Op-Ed, that new sources of funding are critical to restoring and protecting our rivers and streams, and producing the clean water that Pennsylvanians deserve and have a right to.
About 19,000 miles of Pennsylvania’s waterways are damaged by pollution and Pennsylvania has developed a Clean Water Blueprint to reduce the nitrogen, phosphorus, and sediment that are degrading them.
Earlier this year, the Commonwealth announced that it was “rebooting” efforts to reduce pollution, by conducting more farm inspections and planting more stream buffers. Implementing the new strategy could be a catalyst to Blueprint success.
But the Environmental Protection Agency has reported that Pennsylvania is not on track to meet its Blueprint goals of having 60 percent of the pollution-reduction practices necessary to restore water quality in place by 2017 and 100 percent in place by 2025.
Without the necessary commitment of resources, Pennsylvania’s reboot and its Clean Water Blueprint are destined to fail. Sadly, Pennsylvania’s general fund budget for fiscal year 2016-17 falls short of providing the funding needed to successfully follow-through on either one.
Be it through a Water Quality Improvement Fund, which Rep. Everett referred to, a new Growing Greener initiative, or a combination of other measures, Pennsylvania needs to find and fund the answers to its clean water woes.
Our health, way of life, and economy depend on it.
Harry Campbell
PA Executive Director
Chesapeake Bay Foundation
For more on Chesapeake Bay-related issues in Pennsylvania, visit the CBF-PA webpage.  Click Here to sign up for Pennsylvania updates (bottom of left column).  Click Here for a copy of CBF-PA’s most recent newsletter.
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