Conservation Fund

GETTYSBURG, Pa. - Interior Secretary Ken Salazar on Friday announced the addition of a 95-acre parcel at Gettysburg National Military Park, saying it caps nearly two decades of efforts to acquire the property. What had most recently been a nine-hole golf course at the former Gettysburg County Club will henceforth be known by its historical name, the Emanuel Harman Farm. Major fighting occurred there on July 1, 1863, the first day of the Battle of Gettysburg, the bloodiest battle of the Civil War and a key victory for the Union forces.

A state environmental commission yesterday unveiled what it touted as a model land-use plan to create a statewide network of forested corridors and waterways. The plan seeks to protect thousands of miles of "greenways," such as forests, state and local parks, historic sites, trails, and rivers, by linking them together like the Interstate Highway System. "The state is leaping into the forefront of the greenways program," said Edward McMahon, director of the Conservation Fund's American Greenways Program and a member of Gov. Ridge's Greenways Partnership Commission, which put together the state plan.

It hasn't been easy rounding up U.S. Senate votes for what Senate leaders - Republican and Democrat - call "the most significant commitment of resources to conservation ever. " But the most important group of voters - the American people - is squarely behind boosting the nation's commitment to parkland, wilderness and water resources conservation. A recent poll found that an overwhelming majority favored doing far more to protect natural resources. Four out of five would set up a permanent land and water conservation fund to protect the land, water, wildlife and other natural resources of our country.

When Pennsylvanians filed their income-tax returns this year, the form asked if they'd like their refunds to go into a conservation fund - which ended up with more than $350,000. All told, 38 states offer more than 100 such options, ranging from cancer research in Arkansas to a veterans' cemetery in New Mexico. Obviously, the commonwealth could go further in panhandling its taxpayers for favorite causes. So the state chairmen of the two major political parties have been planning to recommend a new cause, with a $1 donation to be solicited annually from all taxpayers when they file.

Area conservation and planning groups will share more than $400,000 in state grants to help protect and improve waterways, the Department of Conservation and Natural Resources has announced. The grants are part of the state's Keystone Rivers Conservation Program, a four-year, $75 million assistance effort. Recipients are required to supply matching funds or in-kind services. Nineteen grants, totaling $1.06 million, were awarded this week to organizations around the state. The largest grant awarded in the second year of the program is $225,000 to develop a watershed conservation plan for the 10-county Schuylkill basin, including Bucks, Chester, Delaware, Montgomery and Philadelphia Counties.

One of the largest additions to Pennsylvania's state forests in more than a decade - 9,000 acres of unspoiled land and water in the middle of strip-mining country - is opening for public recreation 2 1/2 hours northwest of Philadelphia. The land in question is the 10-mile-long valley between the Big and Little Mountains on the border of Northumberland and Columbia Counties, according to a spokeswoman for the Department of Conservation and Natural Resources, which oversees 2.1 million acres of state forests.

Natural Lands Trust, a nonprofit land conservation organization in Upper Providence, Delaware County, has hired David J. Athey of Newark, Del., as its river-conservation program manager. Athey started with the conservation group this month. Initially, he will be working on the Schuylkill River Watershed Conservation Plan. The trust is involved in that project cooperatively with the Conservation Fund, a national organization with offices in Philadelphia and Washington, and the Patrick Center for Environmental Research at the Academy of Natural Sciences.

On a soggy autumn day, grantmakers planted the seeds for green summers of recreation and nature preservation along the Schuylkill. The William Penn Foundation yesterday announced $2.9 million in grants to benefit both wildlife and people, with projects ranging from Philadelphia parkland to suburban stream preservation and nature trails. "The more it is used and appreciated, the more supporters the watershed will have to preserve its resources for future generations," foundation president Harry E. Cerino said at a press conference at Flat Rock Park in Lower Merion.

Gen. George Washington's troops looked to the Continental Congress to arm, clothe and feed them at Valley Forge. Two centuries later, congressional help is needed once more - this time, to spare from development the site where those soldiers probably stood in line for their rations. A nation's freedom isn't at stake, but rather its devotion to preserving a piece of colonial history. That's why it's important and welcome that Congress is answering this call. The mission: to help the National Park Service buy 62 acres of privately owned land within the borders of Valley Forge National Historical Park.

GETTYSBURG, Pa. - Interior Secretary Ken Salazar on Friday announced the addition of a 95-acre parcel at Gettysburg National Military Park, saying it caps nearly two decades of efforts to acquire the property. What had most recently been a nine-hole golf course at the former Gettysburg County Club will henceforth be known by its historical name, the Emanuel Harman Farm. Major fighting occurred there on July 1, 1863, the first day of the Battle of Gettysburg, the bloodiest battle of the Civil War and a key victory for the Union forces.

A conservative group's shoot-'em-up fund-raising event is setting off fireworks across the political landscape - and has some candidates running for the hills. The Commonwealth Foundation is offering attendees at its May 8 "LiveFreePA" fund-raiser and candidates' forum in Lancaster County the chance to "fire a few rounds into a beat-up car bearing anti-freedom messages and icons. " On Tuesday, foundation president Matt Brouillette wrote in an e-mail sent to media and foundation supporters: ". . . I hope you'll join us May 8th to pump a few rounds (or fire a cannon . . .)

A $31 million land deal is in the works that could turn one of the largest privately owned properties in Chester County into a public playground. Stretching for two miles along the Maryland border, it encompasses 1,718 acres, and was assembled during the last half-century by descendants of the founder of Campbell Soup, the late George Strawbridge Sr. and his son, George Strawbridge Jr. If the deal is successful, the land stretching across parts of Franklin, Elk and New London Townships will be purchased with county, state and private funds.

An environmental crisis has been averted in Pennsylvania, as the state House yesterday approved - unanimously and with stunning speed - a three-year funding plan for the state's hazardous-sites cleanup program. Passage of the measure, endorsed by the state Senate in October, came just 19 days before the fund for remediation and monitoring of contaminated properties was to run out of money. As many as 130 employees of the Department of Environmental Protection were to be laid off. What is needed now is Gov. Rendell's approval - something he has promised to deliver, albeit reluctantly.

A legislative battle over a state Senate plan to shore up a hazardous-sites cleanup program by taking more than $40 million from a land-preservation fund was threatening the passage of Pennsylvania's budget yesterday. So lawmakers resorted to an old strategy: put off the problem. By mid-afternoon, Rep. Dwight Evans (D., Phila.) was recommending to House and Senate leaders that they wait two months to vote on the issue of future funding for the Hazardous Sites Cleanup Fund, known as HASCA.

Despite citizens' strong support for government spending for conservation and recreation, the state Senate has slashed funding for it. Motivated by a need to find $40 million a year for another state program, the Senate passed Senate Bill 913, which would cut the Keystone Recreation, Park and Conservation Fund by nearly 50 percent. The House must still take up the issue. In spite of a budget surplus, the governor seems inclined to support the cut. A growing number of House members oppose it. With today's intense development pressure, if land is not protected as parks and open space soon, it will be developed.

Families of Flight 93 have sealed a deal on a postage-stamp-size parcel that would be the first tract bought for a memorial to the 40 people on board the United Airlines jetliner when it slammed into the ground near here Sept. 11. The purchase of the three acres - only a fraction of the 2,200 planned for the Flight 93 Memorial park - is largely a symbolic gesture. But to many it is a sign that, at long last, the acquisition of land to honor the passengers and crew who thwarted an attack on Washington is gaining momentum.

During the summer hothouse in Harrisburg, as legislators pruned and poked and sweated over slot machines and property taxes, some key environmental legislation seemed to wither on the vine. One initiative, Gov. Rendell's $800 million bond issue, known as Growing Greener II, seemed close to death when lawmakers declined to authorize a bill that would put the borrowing before voters at the recent election. But the open-space conservation and waste-cleanup package is not dead.

One of the largest additions to Pennsylvania's state forests in more than a decade - 9,000 acres of unspoiled land and water in the middle of strip-mining country - is opening for public recreation 2 1/2 hours northwest of Philadelphia. The land in question is the 10-mile-long valley between the Big and Little Mountains on the border of Northumberland and Columbia Counties, according to a spokeswoman for the Department of Conservation and Natural Resources, which oversees 2.1 million acres of state forests.

Gen. George Washington's troops looked to the Continental Congress to arm, clothe and feed them at Valley Forge. Two centuries later, congressional help is needed once more - this time, to spare from development the site where those soldiers probably stood in line for their rations. A nation's freedom isn't at stake, but rather its devotion to preserving a piece of colonial history. That's why it's important and welcome that Congress is answering this call. The mission: to help the National Park Service buy 62 acres of privately owned land within the borders of Valley Forge National Historical Park.