Fmr DEP Engineer Mike Korb Honored By Society For Mining, Metallurgy And Exploration

The Society for Mining, Metallurgy, and Exploration presents its Distinguished Member Award to a select few who have distinguished themselves through notable contributions to the technology and professional activities encompassed by the Society and the Industry.

Through an extensive nomination and selection procedure, Michael C. “Mike” Korb has been designated as one reaching this qualification.  

The Society will install him as a Distinguished Member, Class of 2018, during the SME’s 2018 Annual Awards Dinner on February 28, 2018 in Minneapolis, Minnesota.  

Korb is a Legion of Honor Member of SME and has actively participated in SME organizations since joining in October 1961.  

He was a member of the student chapter at the University of Pittsburgh, where he received a Women’s Auxiliary of the American Institute of Mining Engineers scholarship; at Ohio State University and at University of Missouri Rolla where he was an officer of the Rolla Chapter.  

He has been an active member of the Lehigh Valley, Upper Peninsula (MI), Penn-Anthracite, and Sierra Nevada Sections, and has over 30 years in leadership roles, as a past Vice Chairman of the Sierra Nevada, and Board Member, past Vice Chairman, past Section Delegate, past Chairman and past Secretary/Treasurer of the Penn-Anthracite Section.  

Korb has been and continues to be a strong advocate of SME, Mining and the Anthracite Industry to the public.

Korb graduated from the University of Missouri-Rolla, now the Missouri University of Science and Technology, as a Mining Engineer in 1968.  

Mike promised his wife Pat a life of adventure, and they’ve spent almost 52 years moving to some 15 homes while he worked in mining and mining-related technical, administrative, supervisory, management, executive, sales, professional, and consulting jobs; working for Bethlehem Mines, the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, and a Rolodex full of jobs in bituminous coal, iron ore, copper, limestone, industrial sand, and slag as well as more than 20 years in anthracite.

Korb serves on the Board of Directors of the Eckley Miners’ Village Associates and the Anthracite Heritage Museum & Iron Furnaces Associates.  He is also Vice President and Director of the Eastern PA Coalition for Abandoned Mine Reclamation and Director Emeritus of Ashland Community Enterprises (Pioneer Tunnel).

He is retired from the Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection Bureau of Abandoned Mine Land Reclamation, and is working part-time with Tetra Tech, Inc.  

Most of his time is now spent working with anthracite mine heritage and environmental nonprofits.

A longtime resident of Pennsylvania, he was born in Butler, lived in Bradys Bend and Sugarcreek as a child and attended the University of Pittsburgh.  

He has worked in Bethlehem, Bridgeport, Annville, Hanover, Ebensburg, Nanty Glo, Tamaqua, White Haven, and Wilkes-Barre. Mike and Pat lived in Bethlehem, Ebensburg and Hazleton, and now live in Hobbie, Luzerne County with their orange cat Moochie.  

Their son Matthew and his wife Jessie live in Los Angeles, and their daughter Kathleen and husband Ashley live in York.

Past SME Distinguished Members from Pennsylvania include—

2015 - Jeffery L. Kohler

2015 - Alan A. Campoli

2011 - Francis Martino

2010 - Dan Alexander  lives in WV teaches at Pitt

2009 - Thomas A. Gray

2007 - John O. Marsden

2006 - Barbara J. Arnold

2005 - John N. Murphy

2002 - R. Larry Grayson

2000 - James W. Boyd

1998 - Nikhil C. Trivedi

1997 - Richard E. Gray

1990 - Jan M. Mutmansky

1990 - David R. Maneval

1989 - Stanley C. Suboleski lives in VA

1989 - Raja V. Ramani

1987 - Robert L. Frantz (deceased)

1987 - John T. Boyd Sr. (deceased)

1985 - Ralph E. Bailey (deceased)

1978 - Frank F. Aplan

1976 - Thomas V. Falkie

Walter D. Haentjens (deceased)

For more information on programs, initiatives and other upcoming events, visit the Society for Mining, Metallurgy, and Exploration website.

3 PA Communities Try New Approach To Funding Park, Recreation Projects

Department of Conservation and Natural Resources Secretary Cindy Adams Dunn Tuesday commended three Pennsylvania communities for their effort to raise funds for local park improvements by engaging supporters online.

“For most Pennsylvanians, local parks serve as their primary location for outdoor recreation, so it’s a real priority of our statewide outdoor recreation plan to enhance close-to-home opportunities and provide innovative funding sources for local parks and recreation,” Dunn said.

The Greater Elizabethtown Area Recreation and Community Services in Lancaster County, Centre Region Parks and Recreation Authority in Centre County, and Richland Township Parks and Recreation in Bucks County, will take part in the National Recreation and Park Association Fund Your Park campaign.

Fund Your Park is an online platform coordinated by NRPA where communities can post exciting and innovative project for donors to fund. The three Pennsylvania projects are among 12 nationwide that will seek donations for a period of 30 days.

The Pennsylvania projects are:

-- Greater Elizabethtown Area Recreation and Community Services: A new playground at

the Poplar Street Park, Elizabethtown, geared towards 2-to-5 year olds; fundraising goal

is $5,000

-- Centre Region Parks and Recreation Authority: Expansion of the Millbrook Marsh

Nature Center, State College; fundraising goal is $25,000

-- Richland Township Parks and Recreation: New signage on a 1-mile nature trail in

Robert O. Keller Memorial Park; fundraising goal $2,000

“Local parks are healthful touchstones for their communities,” said Tim Herd, CEO of the PA Recreation and Park Society. “It’s there we connect nature and neighborhoods for our own personal, social, environmental and economic wellbeing. Investment in these community assets is always rewarding.”

For information on this funding tool, visit Fund Your Park website.

Learn more about how local parks and recreation helps strengthen communities, or to find your nearest park, visit the Good For PA website. To read the statewide outdoor recreation plan go to the PA Outdoor Recreation Plan website.

For more information on state parks and forests and recreation in Pennsylvania, visit DCNR’s website, Click Here to sign up for the Resource newsletter,  Click Here for upcoming events.  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.
(Photo: Millbrook Marsh Nature Center, State College.)

Schuylkill River Town Program Poised To Expand

By Lizzie Hessek, PA Environmental Council

Led by local volunteers and guided by a new toolkit PA Environmental Council helped to create, the four-year-old Schuylkill River Town Program is about to enter an exciting new phase.

Launched in 2013, the program initially focused on Conshohocken, Norristown, and Phoenixville, with the goal of engaging and empowering residents to make the Schuylkill River and Trail a gateway to their communities.

Since then, PEC and Eastwick Solutions have worked together to establish volunteer community Action Teams in each town. These teams have met frequently over the last four years to develop and implement projects specific to the needs of each community.

They have taken on a host of projects, ranging in size and scope from river cleanups supported by local businesses to trail signage initiatives coordinated with county governments.

Much of this work has emphasized community engagement.

At the suggestion of the Action Teams, for example, PEC and Eastwick hosted a series of recreational programming activities including guided kayak trips on the river and environmental education programs along the trail, attracting nearly 4,000 people to these recreational assets.

Research suggests that engaging residents at this level can be a powerful tool for shaping perception: after learning about the program, respondents to a follow-up survey were three times as likely to view the river as “clean” and “a place to play.”

Now, four years after the program’s inception, PEC and Eastwick Solutions have begun to transition the program fully to the Action Teams.

A major part of this transition was developing and printing a “Resource Kit” to provide to local organizations and community leaders information on managing the River Towns Program.

Though designed specifically for towns along the Schuylkill, the Schuylkill River Town Resource Kit can serve as a template for other community-led initiatives across the state.

The booklet contains information on:

-- Program history and regional trail development, inviting participants to view their work within the larger context of people advocating for protection of and recreation on the river and trail, and acquainting them with larger players that may support the work being done at the local level;

-- Trailheads and public river access points – especially important because community members interested in promoting recreation on the river may not always know where it is possible to legally access the river along the corridor;

-- Locations of facilities such as water fountains, bathrooms, train stations, and commercial areas;

-- Economic development, creating awareness of what makes a business “trail-friendly” and providing tools to help local businesses attract trail and river users; and

-- Other resources including promotional tools, survey results, and programming tips.

Perhaps the most important part of any river town initiative is helping communities celebrate and promote assets that already exist in their communities.

To this end, the Schuylkill River Towns Program created a website, a Facebook page, Twitter feed and Instagram account to share information about events, programs, and trip-planning tips.

The Resource Guide shares information on how to update the webpage and Facebook as a contributor so that new events and blog posts can be added by Action Team members and their partners.

The Resource Guide describes how each page of the website functions so Action Team members can understand the tools at their disposition.

The guide also includes survey data detailing trail and river usage, giving those interested in developing programs a better sense of who their audience is, and demystifying potential challenges they may face.

Readers will find valuable advice on running cleanup events, finding local organizations with which to partner, and organizing paddling events and bike rides to highlight connections among the towns.

Finally, the Resource Guide offers a wealth of practical information, including where to find free trail maps for distribution in town, what websites to head to for additional guidance on developing a gateway town, and where river towns can look for grant funding.

The printed Resource Guides were distributed to municipal officials and Action Team members at Council meetings in each river town.

The Schuylkill River Town team attended the meetings to discuss the accomplishments of the program, identify projects that would have the greatest impact in each town, and encourage residents to continue programming and promoting their town’s unique assets with the help of the Resource Guide.

For copies of the Resource Kit and more information, visit the Schuylkill River Towns website or contact Lizzie Hessek, PEC Program Manager for Trails & Recreation, by sending email to: lhessek@pecpa.org or call 215-545-4570.

For more information on programs, initiatives and special events, visit the PA Environmental Council website, visit the PEC Blog, follow PEC on Twitter or Like PEC on Facebook.  Visit PEC’s Audio Room for the latest podcasts.  Click Here to receive regular updates from PEC.

StateImpact: Mapping Mariner East 2 Pipeline Spills Across Pennsylvania

StateImpact, in cooperation with the FracTracker Alliance and the Clean Air Council, have mapped the 90 spills at 61 locations across Pennsylvania documented so far during the construction of the Mariner East 2 Pipeline.  Click Here for all the details.
A detailed list of incidents related to construction of the Mariner East 2 pipeline is available on DEP’s Mariner East 2 Pipeline webpage and will be updated weekly.

NewsClip:

Mariner East 2 Pipeline Spills Across Pennsylvania

August Green Infrastructure Newsletter Now Available From LandStudies

The August Green Infrastructure newsletter is now available from Lancaster-based LandStudies featuring articles on--

-- The Hows And Whys Of Stormwater BMP Maintenance

The Stormwater Equipment Manufacturers Association (SWEMA) and the Chesapeake Stormwater Network found through separate studies that many (i.e. more than 50 percent) municipalities have no stormwater BMP maintenance program in place, and in many cases, didn’t even know what BMPs were or whether any were installed in their communities. That is a problem! What you don’t routinely take care of can easily fall into disrepair. To learn how to maintain BMPs so that they function properly for their intended lifespan, Click Here.

-- Weed And Pest Control Considering The Whole Environment

What do you do when you want to control insect pests or weeds on a site but also want to be considerate of other plants and animals, as well as water quality concerns? You choose integrated pest management (IPM) or integrated vegetation management (IVM). Both IPM and IVM take into consideration the specific pest (insect, plant, rodent, etc.) and determine the most cost-effective, least harmful to non-targets, and most effective method(s) to control the situation. To learn more about these landscape management techniques, Click Here.

-- LandStudies project Featured In Washington Post

A stream restoration project that LandStudies did at the TPC Potomac golf course was mentioned in the Washington Post on June 28. You can read more about it and the positive impact it has on PGA tour golfers and their game, Click Here.

-- Learn More About Chesapeake Bay Landscape Professional Certification

LandStudies’ staff member, Nick Myers, attended a new certification program on July 24 to become a certified Chesapeake Bay Landscape Professional. The program is for those landscape professionals who design, install, and maintain conservation landscapes and stormwater practices. The program provides expert trainers, hands-on experiences, and networking and collaborative practice opportunities. To learn more about the program, Click Here.

-- Click Here to sign up for your own copy (right panel).

For more information, visit the LandStudies website or contact Christine Le, 717-726-4440 or send email to: christine@LandStudies.com.  LandStudies is certified as a Woman’s Business Enterprise (WBE), Minority Business Enterprise (MBE) and Disadvantaged Business Enterprise (DBE) based in Lititz, Lancaster County.   Follow LandStudies on Twitter, Like them on Facebook.

Penn State Urban & Community Forestry: Latest Tree Education, Training Opportunities

The latest Community Trees update from the Penn State Extension Urban and Community Forestry Program includes--

-- August 15: The Sustainable Urban Forest: A Step-By-Step Approach Webinar. Noon to 1:00;

-- Upcoming Tree Tenders Training--

   -- September 6, 13, 20: Pittsburgh, by Tree Pittsburgh

   -- September 13, 20, 27: Media, by PA Horticultural Society

   -- September 18, 25, Oct. 2: Warminster, by PA Horticultural Society

   -- September 30: Johnstown PSU Extension

   -- October 11, 18, 25: Philadelphia, by PA Horticultural Society

-- September 15: Trees And The Law, Morris Arboretum, Philadelphia

-- October 1: A Walk In Penn’s Woods Open Houses In All 67 Counties

-- October 13: Tree Canopy Conference: Green Infrastructure In The Urbanized Environment, Morris Arboretum, Philadelphia

-- November 9-11: ISA Tree Risk Assessment Qualification Court, Morris Arboretum, Philadelphia

-- Send email to Brian Wolyniak with questions or events you would like listed: bjw229@psu.edu.

-- Click Here to sign up for your own copy.  

Visit Penn State Extension’s Urban and Community Forestry webpage to learn more about the resources available.  Click Here to watch the recorded Green Infrastructure webinar series.