Our History

1932

A group of 10 citizens founded the Western Pennsylvania Conservancy under its former name — Greater Pittsburgh Parks Association — on February 16, 1932. Those citizens were: Edward Vose Babcock, Frank L. Duggan, Howard Covode Heinz, Richard Beatty Mellon, William Singer Moorhead, Frank Reith Phillips, Andrew Wells Robertson, Maurice R. Scharff, Edwin Whittier Smith and James Lyall Stuart.

1940

The organization’s first major restoration project is stabilizing, greening and maintaining a blighted hillside on Pittsburgh’s Bigelow Boulevard. We plant trees, vines and shrubbery at the site.

1945

Acquisition of McConnells Mill and Slippery Rock Gorge in Lawrence County for creation of McConnell’s Mill State Park. In 1974, the park was dedicated as a National Natural Landmark.

1951

Ferncliff Peninsula at Ohiopyle in Fayette County is acquired through a gift from Edgar J. Kaufmann Charitable Trust. In 1974, Ferncliff was dedicated as a National Natural Landmark.

1952

A natural area is acquired in Butler County to create Jennings Nature Reserve. Additional land is acquired in 1962 and 1969 to total 310 acres. This land is now known as Jennings Environmental Education Center, owned by PA Bureau of State Parks. Named for the famous botanist, Dr. Otto Emery Jennings, the reserve includes a relict prairie where the wildflower blazing star (Liatris spicata) blooms each August.

1955

Acquired Heiner Memorial, a wildflower-covered slope along Bear Creek in Butler County.

1959-64

3,000 acres acquired along Muddy Creek in Butler County, which today serves as the nucleus for Moraine State Park.

1960-65

Buchanan Run in Lawrence County is acquired, which includes 104-acres of hemlock-hardwood forest in scenic, steep-walled ravine.

1961-63

Acquired 300-acre wildflower reserve in Raccoon Creek valley in Beaver County. It is considered to be the finest stand of native wildflowers in southwestern Pennsylvania. The resource is now owned by the PA Bureau of State Parks.

1961-1968

Nearly 10,000 acres assembled along the Youghiogheny River in Fayette County for the creation of Ohiopyle State Park — ultimately to become the largest state park in Pennsylvania.

1963-81

Kaufmann Conservation on Bear Run in Fayette County, entrusted to WPC by Edgar Kaufmann, jr. This donation includes Frank Lloyd Wright's Fallingwater and the wild and beautiful Bear Run and 469 acres surrounding the house.

1964

Old Stone House in Butler County is acquired and restored by WPC. This popular 19th-century inn is now owned by the Pennsylvania Historical & Museum Commission.

Frank Lloyd Wright's Fallingwater opens for public tours. More than four million visitors from around the world have since toured the famous house on the waterfall.

1966

The Conservancy coordinates the restoration of Johnston Tavern in Mercer County — a boarding house and a stop on the Underground Railroad during the Civil War. This historic tavern is now owned by the Pennsylvania Historical & Museum Commission.

1966-68

WPC assembles 11,230 acres along Laurel Ridge, from the Youghiogheny River to the Conemaugh River. This land was conveyed to the Commonwealth as a substantial part of Laurel Ridge State Park and the 70-mile Laurel Highlands Hiking Trail.

1966-69

897 acres is acquired in Venango County and transferred to the Commonwealth for the creation of Oil Creek State Park.

1966-73

1,200-acre Schollard's Run Wetlands is acquired in Mercer County and sold to the Pennsylvania Game Commission.

1967-69

WPC purchases 1,900 acres along the Conemaugh Gorge in Indiana and Westmoreland counties and sold to the Pennsylvania Game Commission.

1969

Wattsburg Bog in Erie County is acquired. This bog is home to a unique stand of rare, wild orchids.

1970

A small fen measuring less than one acre is purchased in Lawrence County to protect a stand of the beautiful wildflower, fringed gentian.

1970-81

More than 9,182 acres of shoreline and islands is acquired in the Allegheny River corridor from Warren County to Allegheny County. Most of this land has been transferred to the Allegheny National Forest. Among the 16 islands acquired were Nine and Fourteen Mile Islands, donated by McDonough Corporation of Parkersburg, West Virginia; and Nicholson Island, donated by Dravo Corporation of Pittsburgh.

1971-74

The Conservancy assembles 9,500 acres of wild mountain land along the west slope of Laurel Hill in Westmoreland and Somerset counties. Known as the "Mountain Streams Project," this wild area has three sparkling-clear streams and includes the 3,000-acre Roaring Run Natural Area.

1972

Aided by a grant from Thomas Hay Walker of Sewickley, Pa., WPC assists the Bureau of State Parks in the restoration of Frankfort Mineral Springs, a 19th-century health spa adjoining Raccoon Creek State Park in Beaver County.

1973

Laurel Hill Furnace in Westmoreland County is donated to the Conservancy by the Reidenouer family. This historic structure is one of the best-preserved iron blast furnaces in the state.

1974

A 16-acre tract in Allegheny County isdonated to the Conservancy by the Henrici heirs. The land and home have been transferred to Allegheny County.

A 148-acre natural area near Zelienople is transferred at cost to Butler County.

1974-81

WPC acquires 395 acres in Pine Swamp, Mercer County. It is an unusual raised bog more commonly found in Maine, Eastern Canada and Alaska.

WPC acquires 935 acres in Conneaut Marsh (State Game Land 213), Crawford County, and sells the land to the PA Game Commission. One of the most significant wetlands in Pennsylvania, Conneaut Marsh has two of the state's four known nesting American bald eagles.

1975

280 acres of key lands is added along the upper reaches of the Youghiogheny River and adjacent to Ohiopyle State Park in Somerset and Fayette counties.

WPC acquires 88 acres in Potter County—an important tract within Susquehannock State Forest near the Hammersley Fork Wild Area. The land has been conveyed to the Bureau of State Forests.

WPC acquires 32-acre Miller Esker, a glacial formation in Butler County near Moraine State Park.

A key 5-acre indenture is purchased for the PA Game Commission's Middlecreek Waterfowl Management Area in Lancaster County.

1976

The Chessie System donates an abandoned 22-mile Indian Creek Valley Railway, running from Kregar in Westmoreland County to the Youghiogheny River in Fayette County.

WPC acquires Tryon-Weber Woods, an 84-acre tract of mature, American beech-sugar maple woods in Crawford County—considered to be one of the finest of its kind in northwestern Pennsylvania.

1976-79

Beechwood Farms Nature Reserve is established in Fox Chapel, Allegheny County, through a donation of 90 acres from Mrs. John F. Walton, Jr., and Mr. and Mrs. Joshua C. Whetzel, Jr. The largest private nature reserve in Allegheny County, Beechwood Farms is operated by the Audubon Society of Western Pennsylvania. Evans Nature Center, the focal point of the reserve, was made possible through a grant from Mrs. John Berdan and the Thomas Raymond Evans Foundation of Pittsburgh.

1977

1,275 acres is acquired in Fulton County as an addition to State Game Land 53.

190 acres is purchased in the upper Pine Creek gorge in Tioga County and conveyed to the PA Bureau of Forestry.

1978

98 acres in Fulton County is donated to the Conservancy by golfer Arnold Palmer and Latrobe contractor John M. Ridilla, for addition to State Game Land 53.

A large art bequest is willed to the Conservancy by Dorothy Kantner of Somerset, Pa. She is the granddaughter of the well-known 19th-century Pittsburgh artist, George Hetzel. The bequest included many paintings by Mr. Hetzel and his daughter, Lila; the Hetzel home and studio, and 150 acres of land.

500 acres in Bedford County is acquired from Judge Richard C. Snyder and Hubert L. Snyder for addition to State Game Land 97. In recognition of the conservation programs carried out on the land by the Snyder family, the tract has been designated the "Snyder Wildlife and Conservation Area."

224-acre private inholding is acquired within Michaux State Forest, Cumberland County. Once threatened by second home development, the land is now part of the state forest.

1979

The Conservancy transfers the deed to commonwealth for 17 miles of abandoned railroad right-of-way from Confluence to Bruner Run in the Youghiogheny River Gorge in Fayette County. This land is part of a 27-mile right-of-way that the Conservancy acquired from the Chessie System in 1978.

Conservancy assembles 12,670 acres of wild mountain land in Clinton and Centre counties for the creation of a major new state game land (#295). The largest project in Conservancy history to this date, this tract is best known for its famed wilderness trout stream—Cherry Run. The Cherry Run Project also protects four other mountain streams and nearly 20 square miles of game-rich forestland.

A significant five-acre inholding is acquired in State Game Land 42 along Baldwin and Powdermill runs in Westmoreland County and sold to the PA Game Commission.

The Conservancy purchases the 100-acre Wolf Creek Narrows Natural Area in Butler County. The site is famous for its spectacular display of spring wildflowers.

1990

WPC protects 2,731 acres for the Laurel Highlands Conservation Project, including three separate parcels totaling 1,036 acres in the Quebec Run Wild Area.

WPC gives six miles (62 acres) of abandoned Indian Creek Valley Railway right-of-way to Saltlick Township, Fayette County for a new hiking and biking trail.

WPC, which acquired 32 acres for Wattsburg Fen Natural Area in 1969, acquires an additional 251 acres at the natural area.

WPC brings the total land in the Clarion River Project to nearly 7,700 acres with the acquisition of 418 acres.

Mrs. Robert Kirkpatrick of Pittsburgh makes possible the addition of 67 acres to Bear Run Nature Reserve.

WPC starts a pilot Farm and Woodland Program to protect open space, preserve scenic beauty and raise capital funds.

In August, WPC purchases for the state a 7,225 acre in-holding of private land in the central portion of Sproul State Forest near the West Branch of the Susquehanna River and north of Renovo.

In October, WPC acquires a 22-acre property contiguous to State Game Lands 174 in the northeastern part of Indiana County near Glen Campbell.

1991

WPC protects a strategic French Creek access, a 1.4-acre parcel of streamside land located north of the Utica Bridge between the creek and the railroad tracks, to be conveyed to the PA Fish and Game Commission.

WPC acquires United States Steel property in Erie County to create a new 3,131-acre state game lands that will be named the “David M. Roderick Wildlife Reserve” in honor of the former USX board chairman.

WPC continues its work on the Clarion River Project by adding 400 acres, which involves five parcels of land near Clarington in Forest and Jefferson counties. WPC receives title to the 400 acres of land for timber rights that are granted to Collins Pine Company of Kane, Pa.

As part of the Allegheny River Project, WPC acquires a 61-acre riverside campground/boat launch area two miles north of Tionesta and across the river from the PA Fish and Game Commission access for addition to Allegheny National Forest.

A 75-acre forested parcel near DuBois in Clearfield County is the first gift to WPC's Farm and Woodlands Program. The second gift is 377 acres of forest and farmland featuring a native trout stream near Galeton in Potter County.

WPC buys a 2,200 acre private in-holding in the northwest portion of Sproul State Forest as well as the oil, gas and mineral rights for the land in order to consolidate public holdings, eliminate improper development and make forest management easier.

1992

WPC protects 67 acres containing Sideling Hill Creek barrens, the largest shale barren along the Pennsylvania portion of the stream.

WPC continues its work on the Laurel Highlands Conservation Project by acquiring 96 acres adjacent to the Quebec Run Wild Area of Forbes State Forest for addition to Forbes State Forest.

WPC acquires a 22-acre campground near Tionesta and five islands, known as the Siggias Island Complex, in the Allegheny River, increasing to 21 the total number of islands that WPC has acquired in the river.

WPC conveys the last nine miles of right-of-way for the Youghiogheny River Bike Trail to the commonwealth, which will extend the bike trail from Bruner Run to Connellsville.

WPC gives the Laurel Hill Furnace, located two miles from New Florence, Pa. to the Ligonier Valley Historical Society.

1993

WPC adds 1,645 acres to Quebec Run Wild Area in the Laurel Highlands of Fayette County.

WPC protects 149 acres in Greene County with the sale of two properties to the PA Game Commission to expand State Game Land 223.

The Nature Conservancy presents WPC with a gift of 69 acres in the Sideling Hill Creek Valley, an area of national importance in Fulton County.

WPC acquires mineral (coal and gas) rights on 2,061 acres in Moshannon State Forest, located in the west branch of the Susquehanna River watershed.

Three additional tracts, two in Somerset County and one in Westmoreland county, have been acquired as part of WPC’s Farm and Woodlands program.

The acquisition of a 52-acre inholding in the Susquehannock State Forest to be transferred, at cost, to the state Department of Environmental Resources.

In June, WPC acquires the 11,300-acre President Oil property between Tionesta and Oil City. It is renowned for its wild lands and high-quality trout streams.

WPC's Pittsburgh Park and Playground Fund wins a Renew America 1993 National Environmental Achievement Award.

1994

WPC protects 32 acres at Erie National Wildlife Refuge in Crawford County by purchasing surface oil, gas and mineral rights on the land, to be sold at cost to the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service.

WPC, which in 1989 acquired four parcels totaling 1,645 acres at Quebec Run Wild Area, announces that it has purchased the balance of the oil and gas rights on the property and will transfer them, at cost, to the state Department of Environmental Resources (DER).

WPC announces that 67 acres of rural property in Butler County has been donated to its Farm and Woodlands Program by Mrs. J. Lewis (Ruth) Scott of Pittsburgh.

The 1994 year-end fund drive reaches $202,000, exceeding the previous year's amount by more than $42,000, with all proceeds to go to the Mountain Streams II project.

Travel & Leisure magazine ranks the Youghiogheny River Bike Trail in Fayette County as “one of the 19 best walks in the world.”

1995

After 10 years of negotiations, WPC, with help from The Nature Conservancy, acquires 206 acres of shoreline, wetlands, and uplands surrounding Lake Pleasant, three miles northwest of Arbuckle in Erie County.

WPC receives 98 acres in Spring Creek Township, Warren County that borders State Game Land 143 from Donald M. Alstadt of Erie.

On the 21st anniversary of its Mountain Streams Project, WPC announces the purchase of 2442 acres of wild lands with exceptional trout waters in Westmoreland County from the Municipal Authority of Westmoreland County for $1.8 million. This land is added to Forbes State Forest.

With major funding from the Wildlife International Foundation, WPC protects its 18th natural area, Lutzville Cliffs, an eight-acre limestone cliff and slope above the Raystown Branch of the Juniata River in Bedford County.

In early May, WPC partners with the Pennsylvania Environmental Council and Allegheny College for the French Creek Project.

WPC mourns the loss of Maurice K. Goddard (1912-1995), who died on Sept. 14, 1995 as a result of injuries suffered in a fire at his Camp Hill, Pa. home. He was described as “Pennsylvania's top environmentalist for 25 years,” retiring in 1979 as Secretary of the DER.

In December, WPC acquires a 548-acre tract in Spring Creek Township south of Ridgway as part of the Clarion River Project. To date, 8,062 acres are protected through this project.

The 1995 Year-end Fund Drive Appeal raises nearly $159,000, which is earmarked for the protection of Lake Pleasant.

1996

On Oct. 19, 1996, U.S. President Bill Clinton signs legislation that makes a 51.7-mile stretch of the Clarion River part of the National Wild and Scenic River System.

Through a cooperative agreement with Butler County, WPC purchases a 14.5-acre property near the entrance to Alameda Park, a 407-acre county park adjacent to Butler.

WPC unveils Penn's Wood Partners, a new planned giving program that offers donors the chance to provide for WPC in their financial and estate planning.

WPC protects 200 acres near Elk State Forest in Elk and Cameron counties for addition to State Game Land 311.

WPC continues the Mountain Streams Project by acquiring 124 acres at the western edge of the original Mountain Streams property to be added to Forbes State Forest.

In February, WPC buys Pittsburgh's oldest commercial building at 209 Fourth Avenue and renovates the 161-year-old structure for its offices.

WPC acquires nine tracts totaling 1,341 acres in the Clarion River watershed as it continues work on the Clarion River Project.

1997

M. Graham Netting, a friend of WPC and a director for more than 50 years, dies on August 26.

Sixty-one-year-old Fallingwater is shored to prevent further deflections until a design solution can be developed to repair the cantilevers; meanwhile, an unrelated concrete restoration project is underway.

WPC acquires its 200,000th acre; currently, it has more than 25,000 acres of land and 10,000 acres of easements.

On Aug. 1, 1997, WPC and the Horticultural Society of Western Pennsylvania (HSWP) agree to work together for mutual benefit. The decision follows HSWP's receipt of a lease agreement from Allegheny County for the development of a botanical garden at Settler's Cabin Park.

WPC receives the 1997 Governor's Award for Environmental Excellence in the category of Energy Efficiency/Renewables. The award is given to WPC because of its action in reducing energy use, minimizing waste and promoting the use of reused and reusable building materials at its headquarters in Pittsburgh.

WPC agrees to undertake the Three Rivers Parkway Project to create a beautiful natural landscape along the Parkway West Corridor from downtown Pittsburgh to the Pittsburgh International Airport.

1998

Forty Pittsburgh public schools come alive with flowers in the second year of the School Garden Initiative.

WPC receives a donation of 72 acres in the Sideling Hill Creek Valley in southcentral Pennsylvania from Christopher and Missy Lipsett.

WPC president Larry Schweiger signs an agreement to sell the 11,000-acre H.J. Crawford reserve, located between Tionesta and Oil City in Venango County, to Chagrin Land Limited Partnership, an affiliate of Industrial Timber & Land Company (ITL).

On April 7, peregrine falcon eggs hatch in a nest on the 37th floor ledge of the Gulf Tower in downtown Pittsburgh. The hatching is earlier than expected and includes more eggs than usual. WPC's Charles Bier and volunteers built and placed the nest atop the Gulf Tower.

A study of Fallingwater guests who toured the Frank Lloyd Wright masterpiece finds that nearly nine out of every 10 Fallingwater visitors live outside of the area.

The WPC board of directors agrees to buy part of Tamarack Swamp in Centre County. A total of 351 acres are purchased.

100 WPC volunteers, with Duquesne Light and The Pittsburgh Project, complete nine hours of planting The Welcome Garden, using more than 30,000 flowers, at the entrance to the Fort Pitt Tunnels.

WPC acquires the 103-acre Shipley tract in Bedford County from the heirs of the estate of Stanley Shipley to provide further protection to the Sideling Hill Creek watershed.

In the summer, WPC's Natural Heritage staff completes County Natural Heritage Inventories (CNHI) for Bedford and Westmoreland counties.

WPC celebrates the designation of the Sideling Hill Creek Watershed as “Exceptional Value” watershed by the PA Department of Environmental Protection.

1999

2011

Fallingwater’s 75th anniversary is celebrated throughout 2011, honoring the legendary architect Frank Lloyd Wright and the Kaufmann family who commissioned the project.

WPC acquires high-priority land in the Ligonier Valley that includes several small wetlands and 1,900 feet of frontage along Loyalhanna Creek, a long-term conservation priority for WPC.

In what has become a new tradition, volunteers and WPC staff welcome spring by planting flowers throughout downtown Pittsburgh in 400 large, potted planters. By late May, flowers bloom in in 140 community gardens in 20 Western Pennsylvania counties, thanks to thousands of volunteers.

WPC scientists identify the Allegheny Front as a top conservation priority. The mountainous region, which spans 160 miles from the Maryland border to Williamsport, serves as a connecting corridor for biodiversity, including migrating birds such as the golden eagle.

Building upon its longstanding focus on the Ligonier Valley, WPC protects two farms as well as property owned by the Ligonier Camp and Conference Center in Ligonier Township, Westmoreland County. The farms easements are acquired in collaboration with the Westmoreland County Agricultural Lands Preservation Board, which will assume stewardship responsibilities for the easements.

Following PA Governor Tom Corbett’s decision to implement the recommendations from the Marcellus Shale Advisory Commission, WPC, Chesapeake Bay Foundation, Pennsylvania Environmental Council, and the PA chapter of the Nature Conservancy urge that the Commonwealth moves quickly to improve oversight and management of Marcellus development, including preventing surface impacts from future state forest land leasing.

A symposium featuring contributors to the new book edited by Fallingwater Director Lynda Waggoner, called “Fallingwater,” is held in June at the Carnegie Museum of Art in Pittsburgh as one of Fallingwater’s 75th anniversary events.

More than 272 acres of undeveloped forested land in Donegal Township, Westmoreland County, are protected by the Conservancy. The property was protected under a conservation easement that will provide Randall Reserve, a nonprofit organization dedicated to protecting the area’s natural features, funding to continue to protect it as a public natural area.

A new exhibition in honor of the 75th anniversary, “Kaufmanns: Pittsburgh’s Purveyor of Culture,” regarding at the Kaufmann family and its landmark department store, opens at Fallingwater’s Visitors Center.

In conjunction with Grow Pittsburgh, WPC announces City Growers, a new program to assist local groups interested in starting community vegetable gardens within the city of Pittsburgh. Grow Pittsburgh and WPC staff will assist in all phases of garden construction and planting.

Updated inventories are completed for Delaware, Pike and Butler counties. Pennsylvania Natural Heritage Program scientists update 971 existing records of rare animals and plants, and document 848 new locations of rare plants and animals.

In September, a 75th Anniversary Gala caps the Fallingwater celebrations. Guests enjoy cocktails and hors d’oeuvres at the fabled house, with a gourmet dinner under a clear tent set in an illuminated meadow nearby. A dazzling light and sound show, using Fallingwater as backdrop, is the evening’s highlight.

WPC acquires 82 forested acres near the bluffs of the Lake Erie shoreline. The property, which will be added to the David M. Roderick Wildlife Reserve, contains a wetland forest with rare plant and animal species, and an ideal habitat for birds including the bald eagle, peregrine falcon, and scarlet tanager.

WPC watershed conservation scientists continue research on the eastern hellbender, focusing their efforts on the Allegheny National Forest. Scientists find the salamanders in eight streams where they were unknown before.

At the end of the year, WPC announces the protection of 1,600 forested acres on Evitts Mountain in Bedford County. The acquisition creates a linkage of protected lands from Rocky Gap State Park in Maryland to Pennsylvania’s Buchanan Forest.

2012

In January, WPC notes the passing of Joshua C. Whetzel Jr., who served as the Conservancy’s president and CEO from 1969 to 1978 and later as board chairman, and a visionary leader in land and water conservation. During his tenure, Whetzel challenged the Conservancy to purchase and conserve large landscapes, an uncommon practice for land conservation organizations in the 1970s. He also advocated for protected lands to be accessible to the public for recreation.

WPC purchases 55 acres in Venango County to permanently protect the habitat of the eastern massasauga rattlesnake, a state-endangered species. The property also has natural habitat that is ideal for many other wildlife species, including songbirds.

A 77-acre Erie County property that includes more than 2,700 feet of frontage on the West Branch of French Creek is permanently conserved, adding to over 3,700 acres WPC has already protected along French Creek. Later in the year, WPC acquires 283 acres along Cussewago Creek in Crawford County, a major French Creek tributary.

WPC and partner organizations continue to document new hellbender populations. During 500 hours of sampling, 78 hellbenders are captured, processed, then released. Initial reports indicate that a healthy, well-balanced hellbender population, including juveniles, sub-adults and mature adults, occurs only in Tionesta Creek.

WPC achieves accreditation from the Land Trust Accreditation Commission, an independent program of the Land Trust Alliance. Accreditation demonstrates WPC’s compliance with national quality standards and recognizes its sound finances, ethical conduct, responsible governance and lasting stewardship of protected lands.

WPC, with support from Duquesne Light Company, installs a vertical garden on the side of a building in downtown Pittsburgh’s cultural district. The trellis-style garden wall will help to shade the building in summer and reduce winter wind chill.

TreeVitalize Pittsburghcelebrates the planting of its 15,000th tree since its inception in 2008. The initiative, under WPC management, has a goal of planting 20,000 trees by the end of 2013. TreeVitalize Pittsburgh is a joint project of Allegheny County, the City of Pittsburgh, Tree Pittsburgh, PA Department of Conservation and Natural Resources, and WPC.

Staff botanists complete a study of rare plants. Ninety surveys were conducted, resulting in 75 new and updated rare plant records.

WPC participates in a 12-state effort to monitor the population of the threatened wood turtle. A long-term monitoring site is established in Centre County, which will allow staff and volunteers to study the turtle population over time.

Through an agricultural easement, WPC protects more than 37 acres of farmland at the headwaters of Tubmill Creek in Fairfield Township, Westmoreland County. The watershed is a conservation priority because of its rich aquatic life.

2013

As part of its decades-long effort to protect the French Creek watershed, WPC acquires over four acres along the creek in Venango, Crawford County.

About 100 acres are added to Buchanan State Forest, resulting in better public access to the forest’s Sweet Root Natural Area. The land in southern Bedford County links two a smaller area that contains parking, a picnic area and a trailhead. The acquisition of this property will result in the protection of valuable ecological resources.

Through a conservation easement, WPC permanently protects more than 131 acres in the Laurel Highlands. This large open space sits near seven farms that were already protected by easements, and includes land along Loyalhanna Creek.

On Earth Day, TreeVitalize Pittsburgh volunteers planted the 500th tree in Wilkinsburg. It’s part of the TreeVitalize goal of planting 20,000 trees throughout the greater Pittsburgh area by the end of 2013--; which is reached in November.

The watershed conservation staff planted more than 15,000 seedlings throughout Western Pennsylvania. Ultimately, the project will result in planting 20,000 native trees and shrubs to create riparian buffers.

Opera Theater of Pittsburgh performs the American Opera “Shining Brow” on the terraces of Fallingwater for two memorable nights in June. The piece focuses on tumultuous times in the life of Fallingwater architect Frank Lloyd Wright, and is presented on the 146th anniversary of his birth.

WPC reaches a land conservation milestone when it completes a conservation easement on a family farm in Donegal Township. This brings the total land the Conservancy has permanently protected in the Ligonier Valley to over 10,000 acres through voluntary conservation easements since the 1970s.

WPC initiates a comprehensive multiyear project to evaluate the condition of Pennsylvania’s rare plant and animal habitats in areas with potential Marcellus and Utica Shale drilling. Field researchers establish 80 sites for long-term monitoring of shale drilling sites. More than 60 percent of important habitats in the state, containing nearly 500 threatened and endangered species, are in shale gas regions.

With the help of the Erie mayor’s office and its downtown partnership, WPC takes its tree-planting efforts north, planting about a half dozen swamp white oaks in downtown Erie. In 2014, WPC plans to plant 32 more trees in the city.

In late November, the Fallingwater Museum Store opens a “pop-up” holiday boutique in downtown Pittsburgh. It features gift items from the onsite store, including Frank Lloyd Wright Signature Products such as clocks, vases, and stained glass. The store is open until the end of the year.

A culvert replacement project in the Allegheny National Forest, which began in 2012, continues. The project opens more than eight miles of the upper reaches of the watershed to fish and other organisms that previously were unable to access those areas. Post-project fish surveys show five times more trout present in these stream stretches after the culvert replacements.

WPC purchases two properties totaling 145 acres along the Great Allegheny Passage in Somerset County. The acquisitions enhance the hiking and biking trail that the Conservancy helped create more than 35 years ago and provide access to the nearby Casselman River.

In 2013, the Conservancy also acquired or protected more than 330 acres of woodland, wetland and bird conservation area in Erie and Westmoreland counties.

2014

As part of its ongoing effort to protect French Creek, WPC purchases a 60-acre property in LeBoeuf Township, Erie County. The land provides a forested buffer for the biologically diverse stream, considered one of the most ecologically significant in the northeastern United States.

WPC permanently protects 54 acres of forested wetland in Springfield Township, Erie County, adjacent to the David M. Roderick Nature Reserve. The area includes a habitat for rare dragonflies, and a state Important Bird Area. The land will be added to a State Game Land.

Fallingwater invites high school students and K-12 educators to apply for its one-week summer residency programs. Students participate in camps focusing on architecture, environment, and design in the context of Fallingwater. Teachers learn how architecture and design can help students gain 21st century critical thinking skills.

Roughly 466 acres of forested slopes and riverside land in Chapman and Grugan townships, Clinton County, are protected by WPC’s acquisition and conveyance to the state Department of Conservation and Natural Resources Bureau of Forestry. A portion of the land stretches along the West Branch, the largest tributary system of the Susquehanna River.
The Conservancy wins a Challenge Award grant from the U.S. Forest Service for its work conducting freshwater mussel surveys in the Clarion River and other major tributaries in the Allegheny Forest. By the end of summer, 16 sites in the river and five in the Kinzua Reservoir are completed; three species of freshwater mussels are documented.
At Presque Isle State Park, Erie County, WPC scientists continue to monitor the Piping plover, a federally listed shore bird. It’s one of many species being monitored to determine if they are affected by climate change, energy development, or other factors.

WPC welcomes springtime to the city by hosting its second annual bulb giveaway at the farmers’ market in downtown Pittsburgh’s Market Square. In 2013, the Conservancy gave away thousands of recycled tulip and daffodil bulbs in 40 minutes. Later in the spring, WPC staff hangs more than 400 flower baskets throughout downtown Pittsburgh.

Staff and volunteers from WPC, Grow Pittsburgh, and Pennsylvania American Water plant fruit trees and berry bushes adjacent to a community vegetable garden in Mt. Oliver Borough.

Fallingwater welcomes two authors of very different books to book signings. Western Pennsylvania legend Dan Rooney, chairman of the Pittsburgh Steelers and North Side native, along with co-author Carol Peterson, signs copies of “Allegheny City: a History of Pittsburgh’s North Side.” Later in the year, author and architect Steven Reiss signs copies of his book “Frank Lloyd Wright’s Pope-Leighey House,” a detailed story of one of Wright’s innovative Usonian-style houses.

2015

More than 17,000 acres of forestland and waterways in Norwich and Sergeant townships, McKean County are permanently conserved as intact working forest, making this protection the single largest land acquisition in WPC’s 83-year history. It is also the largest land addition to the state forest system in 65 years, significantly increasing the amount of state forestland available for hunting, fishing, hiking and other recreational activities.

Ten buildings designed by Frank Lloyd Wright, including Fallingwater, are nominated by the United States to the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) World Heritage List. They are the first works of modern American architecture to be nominated.

WPC conveys almost 1,000 acres in Wharton Township, Fayette County, to the state, for addition to Forbes State Forest. The property serves as a connecter between the state forest and the Fort Necessity Battlefield.

Working with several partnering agencies, WPC moved thousands of federally listed, threatened and endangered freshwater mussel species, as well as common mussels, from the direct impact zone of the Hunter Station Bridge replacement on the Allegheny River near President, Pa. Of the common mussels, 402 individual mussels of eight species were relocated into 10 sites in the Clarion River.

Due to popular demand, Fallingwater’s annual Fayette County Appreciation Day becomes a twice-yearly event, with free admission offered to county residents in March, along with the traditional November Day. In 2014, almost 1,000 people visited on the appreciation day.

Slippery Rock’s North Country Brewing Company of creates Ryeparian Rye Pale Ale, and designates five percent of sales revenue to support WPC’s tree-planting efforts along Western Pennsylvania’s stream banks, also known as riparian zones.

WPC permanently protects 39 acres adjacent to its 202-acre Wolf Creek Narrows Natural Area in Slippery Rock Township, Butler County. It’s the fifth addition to Wolf Creek Narrows since its original acquisition in 1979.

Staff conduct vernal pool surveys to help landowners monitor the health and state of these important breeding sites for amphibians.

The Pennsylvania Natural Heritage Program begins an in-depth survey of Bedford County. Habitats for two state endangered plant species, the tall larkspur and canby’s mountain lover, are of special interest. Both rely on a naturally restricted, limestone-rich habitat.

Landowners Richard and Miriam Williams amend an existing conservation easement, originally donated to WPC in 2009, to include an additional 146 acres atop Jacks Mountain in Granville Township, Mifflin County. The area, a valuable habitat for timber rattlesnakes, forest interior birds, and black bears, now spans 339 acres.

The death of philanthropist Elsie Hillman on August 4 is noted by the Conservancy. Mrs. Hillman and the Hillman Foundation are longtime supporters of the Conservancy. The foundation’s most recent gift supported the creation of an open-air classroom at Fallingwater’s Visitors Center.

Goats from Steel City Grazers visit the hillside above Pittsburgh’s Bates Street Corridor for a few days in September, to naturally rid the area of invasive knotweed.

TreeVitalize Pittsburgh plants a ceremonial tree in Troy Hill to commemorate the 25,000 trees that have been planted in the Pittsburgh area since the program began in 2008. TreeVitalize Pittsburgh is a joint project of WPC, Allegheny County, City of Pittsburgh, Tree Pittsburgh and the PA Department of Conservation and Natural Resources.

As part of its ongoing commitment to help conserve land along Western Pennsylvania’s portion of the Great Allegheny Passage (GAP) trail, WPC protects more than 138 acres adjacent to WPC’s Casselman River Conservation Area in 2015. The Somerset County conservation area is now more than 280 acres.

WPC scientists work with the Pennsylvania Game Commission to monitor bat populations in the region’s caves during hibernation, when they are susceptible to white nose syndrome, a fatal fungal disease.

2016

WPC, along with the Cultural Trust, PNC Bank and the Pittsburgh Downtown Partnership, purchase 21 tons of magnesium chloride, a tree-friendly alternative to rock salt, for downtown Pittsburgh streets and sidewalks.

The Sisters of Charity of Nazareth donate a conservation easement on 32 acres of its property in Dunbar Township, Fayette County. The property has been used by the order for retreats and recreation for more than 60 years. With the easement, wildlife habitat and water quality are permanently protected.

WPC expands its conservation efforts to Potter County, with the acceptance of a conservation easement donation from a Homer Township landowner. The property
is located in the Sinnemahoning Creek watershed and includes mostly forested slopes, wetlands and high-quality streams with substantial beaver dams.

The Pittsburgh Redbud Project, an initiative to plant hundreds of native Eastern redbud trees along the trails, hillsides and parks in view of downtown Pittsburgh’s riverfronts , is launched by WPC with funding from Colcom Foundation. The project’s goal is to plant 1,200 new trees, including redbuds, evergreens, and complimentary trees, by spring 2017.

The Dr. Colson E. Blakeslee Memorial Recreation Area, a 24-acre natural area in Elk County, is dedicated and opened to the public. The site is named in honor and memory of Blakeslee, a local doctor and emeritus WPC board member, fondly known as “Doc,” who died in 2011. Blakeslee was a tireless advocate for conservation efforts in the region.

WPC conserves an additional property along the Great Allegheny Passage with the acquisition of a 329-acre tract in Black Township, Somerset County. The conservancy has now protected 609 acres in the Casselman River Conservation Area.

Land in Pennsylvania’s Laurel Highlands that provides wildlife habitat and scenic views of Laurel Hill State Park in Somerset County is now permanently protected. This land consists of approximately 184 acres in Middlecreek Township, Somerset County and was transferred the property to the Department of Conservation and Natural Resources Bureau of State Parks. The area becomes a permanent addition to Laurel Hill State Park.

A new population of upland chorus frog is found during a Natural Heritage Inventory update in Bedford County. The frog is an endangered species, with fewer than five populations known through the state.

The World Heritage Committee of the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) votes to refer the United States’ submission to the World Heritage List for future consideration. The nomination, a collection of 10 buildings designed by Frank Lloyd Wright, includes Fallingwater.

In September, a new field office opens in Franklin, Venango County. It serves as a hub for WPC’s efforts in Northwestern Pennsylvania communities, where it has protected more than 40,000 acres of land to date.

WPC and its partners complete the relocation of thousands of mussels from the Hunter Station Bridge demolition site on the Allegheny River near Tionesta to the Clarion River. Approximately 400 mussels were moved there in 2015 and showed a 95 percent survival rate.

WPC successfully completes the Our Shared Legacy campaign, the first comprehensive fundraising campaign in the Conservancy’s 84-year history. More than 24,000 people, foundations and corporations contributed to the campaign over a five-year period. These donors made 65,000 gifts totaling $59 million in private funding to support WPC.

WPC’s work to conserve French Creek, documented as having the highest level of aquatic biodiversity of any stream of its size in the Northeastern United States, continues in 2016. A total of 436 acres in Crawford County are protected and made available for recreational use.

WPC accepts the donation of its first conservation easement from Centre County. The 186-acre property in Haines Township will continue as a working farm. The Conservancy co-holds the easement with the Centre County Farmland Trust.

WPC watershed staff surveyed 14 new streams for hellbender salamanders, conducted 94 unassessed water surveys to detect the presence of native brook trout, and performed 76 miles of visual assessments to identify watershed improvement needs and potential threats in local waterways.

2017

The Conservancy protects more than 156 acres in Bedford County, which are transferred to the PA Department of Conservation and Natural Resources (DCNR) Bureau of Forestry to become a new addition to Buchanan State Forest. The forest now spans almost 70,000 acres across Franklin, Fulton and Bedford counties.

Along with the Frank Lloyd Wright Foundation and other Wright-designed public buildings across the country, Fallingwater celebrates Frank Lloyd Wright’s 150th birthday year throughout 2017. In addition to a special series of lectures, Fallingwater hosts “Wright for Wright,” an exhibition focusing on the homes Wright designed for himself. Commemorative items are offered at the museum store, and the café serves items based on Wright’s favorite foods, including birthday cake.

WPC protects 120 acres in Miles Township, Centre County, including a forested riparian buffer along a portion of Elk Creek. The creek, a tributary to Penns Creek, is in the Chesapeake Bay watershed.

WPC’s land trust accreditation from the Land Trust Accreditation Commission, an independent program of the Land Trust Alliance, is renewed. First accredited in 2012, the Conservancy is one of 389 accredited land trusts nationwide. The commission, an independent program of the land Trust Alliance, awards the accreditation seal to organizations that meet rigorous quality standards and strive for continuous improvement.

With support from WPC members and residents Nelson and Carol Craige, the Garden Club of Allegheny County, and Rivers Casino, WPC introduces its latest community garden, along Ohio River Boulevard near the North Shore.

Hickman Chapel, a fixture along Route 381/National Scenic Byway near Fallingwater in Fayette County, is donated to WPC for restoration and preservation. Built in 1901, the chapel hosted its last worship service in the 1980s.

WPC acquires oil and gas rights to 89 acres of its 107-acre Tryon-Weber Woods Natural Area in Sadsbury Township, Crawford County. The acquisition eliminates any future surface disturbance from oil and gas extraction on this natural area. A mature 40-acre beech-sugar maple stand within the natural area, where some trees are around 100 feet tall and at least 90 to 120 years old, is thought to be the last remaining of its kind in Western Pennsylvania and the easternmost stand in the national range for this type of forest.

A limestone cave system to be used for bat conservation is part of 13 acres protected by WPC in Franklin Township, Huntingdon County. Once known as Indian Caverns, the cave system will be restored as shelter for cave-dwelling bats, which have been decimated by disease. The protection also helps provide access 1,200 feet of public fishing access to the renowned Spruce Creek.

In addition to these acquisitions, WPC also protects almost 450 acres across the region, including 145 acres to be added to Laurel Ridge Park in Westmoreland County; 92 acres along French Creek, Crawford County; and other areas in Somerset, Crawford and Westmoreland counties.

After more than 40 years of working at Fallingwater in various capacities, Lynda Waggoner announces that she will retire as director of Fallingwater and WPC vice president in early 2018. Waggoner, who first came to Fallingwater as a teenage tour guide in 1965, has served as its director since 1996.

An 84-acre natural area was protected in Addison Township, Somerset County, and is now open to the public for hiking, fishing and nature watching along Whites Creek.

2018

We install the City of Pittsburgh’s first ADA-accessible community flower garden at the First United Methodist Church of Pittsburgh in the city’s Shadyside neighborhood, with funding from the Allegheny County Regional Asset District. Featuring six raised wheelchair-accessible flower beds, it expands gardening opportunities for people with disabilities or other physical limitations.

With volunteers, we plant more than 3,800 trees in cities and towns across the region.

With partners the Pittsburgh Water and Sewer Authority, ALCOSAN and the City of Pittsburgh and more than 200 volunteers, we plant 13,000 perennials, 87 shrubs and 25 trees in a newly installed bioswale at Centre and Herron avenues in Pittsburgh’s Hill District neighborhood.

We continue work with the PA Game Commission and PA Fish and Boat Commission to improve cave access, airflow and climate consistency for hibernating bats at Indian Caverns in Huntingdon County. Our scientists document 16 rare plant species and 25 limestone plants on the surrounding property, as well as 19 invasive species.

We protect 1,948 acres, bringing the total WPC-conserved land in Western Pennsylvania to more than 257,000 acres.

Our South Branch French Creek Conservation Area in Erie County opens to the public. It protects 193 acres that span 1.5 miles of frontage along the creek’s south branch and is our first property acquisition along the South Branch of French Creek. To date, the Conservancy has protected more than 5,000 acres within the 1,250-square-mile French Creek watershed.

We purchase 35 acres of forested frontage across from the Great Allegheny Passage Trail, expanding the Casselman River Conservation Area in Somerset County to 644 acres.

We expand Toms Run Nature Reserve by more than 50 acres, and begin work on a 2.5-mile loop trail and expanded parking.

Our Farmland Access Initiative progresses when we acquire a 47- acre property near Grove City in Mercer County, on which we will establish two farms available for lease to farmers.

The Joshua C. Whetzel, Jr. Memorial Recreation Area Trail is completed. The 0.6-mile hiking trail is part of the 700-acre Casselman River Conservation Area.

In a proactive effort to combat the invasive and deadly threat of hemlock woolly adelgid insects, we plant a small grove of hemlock trees at our Wolf Creek Narrows Natural Area. If/when the insects appear at the preserve, the trees could be used for raising predatory beetles.

We continue to restore habitat for the federally threatened eastern massasauga rattlesnake on approximately 20 acres at Tippery Meadows Natural Area in Venango County, with funding from the PA Game Commission.

Our watershed team removes four dams within State Game Land 51 and an abandoned water utility line that created a passage barrier just above the town of Dunbar. This reconnects 51 miles of Dunbar Creek and its tributaries with the Youghiogheny River, and creates an entirely free-flowing stream system for the first time in more than 100 years.

Justin Gunther begins as the new director of Fallingwater and vice president of the Conservancy in April. He served as Fallingwater’s curator of buildings and collections from 2007 to 2011.

2019

Fallingwater is inscribed to the UNESCO World Heritage List on July 10 along with seven other Frank Lloyd Wright-designed buildings from across the United States as part of a serial nomination, after more than 20 years of planning and preparation. This international honor substantiates Wright as the most significant American architect of the 20th century.

WPC-owned preserves in Erie, Bedford and Fayette counties expand. In Erie County, 390 acres expand the West Branch French Creek Conservation Area to nearly 1,000 acres. Sideling Hill Creek Conservation Area in Bedford and Fulton counties expands by 100 acres, adding more forest buffer along sections of Sideling Hill Creek, a tributary to the Potomac River and home to populations of rare freshwater mussels.

Four acres that include more than 600 feet of frontage along Route 381 in Stewart Township, are protected. The entirely forested property, which includes the approach to Fallingwater, is added to the 5,119-acre Bear Run Nature Reserve.

The new Joshua C. Whetzel, Jr. Trail in Westmoreland County is officially opened and dedicated to honor the conservation legacy of the late Joshua C. Whetzel, Jr., who served as president and chief executive officer of WPC from 1969 to 1978.

Thanks to staff and volunteers, at Toms Run Nature Reserve in Allegheny County the three-mile trail, an ADA-accessible pathway and a parking area to accommodate school buses are all completed.

At Bear Run Nature Reserve, staff use a girdling technique to gradually convert conifer stands planted in the late 1950s to a native mixed deciduous forest.

As part of the team of scientists and specialists from across the NatureServe Network, WPC staff members work on a national project to combine 40 years of natural heritage information, providing expertise to help create the Map of Biodiversity Importance (MoBI). The work, done in partnership with Esri, Microsoft and The Nature Conservancy, uses GIS data to model the habitats for more than 2,200 of the country’s most imperiled plant and animal species.

With our Pennsylvania Game Commission partners, during a one-year study, staff examine where suitable grassland habitat is located across the state and identifies more than 5,000 potential sites for grassland bird conservation.

In a multi-year study that concludes in 2019, WPC scientists from the PA Natural Heritage Program and watershed conservation program conduct research in the Ohio River to seek mussel species, including the endangered salamander mussel. They find 13 freshwater mussel species.

With funds from the Allegheny Regional Asset District, we open Pittsburgh’s second ADA-accessible community flower garden at an existing WPC community flower garden site in the city’s Homewood neighborhood at the corner of Frankstown Road and Bennett Street.

At Pittsburgh Pioneer Education Center in the city’s Brookline neighborhood, we enhance a sensory garden by planting a variety of native perennials and purchasing an indoor growing station, an adaptive watering hose and a cedar storage shed, thanks to a grant from Pennsylvania American Water. The garden, which we helped to build in 2010, utilizes plants and various structures and features that stimulate children with physical, mental and multiple disabilities through touch, scent, sound, color and texture.

More than 11,000 garden volunteers, 19 new garden stewards and nearly 850 community forestry volunteers help plant and care for community flower gardens and trees in the region.

Conservancy staff and volunteers plant a new garden in Wilkinsburg that features native, pollinator-friendly perennials and annuals.

TreeVitalize Pittsburgh plants 667 trees in 31 low-tree canopy Pittsburgh neighborhoods including Homewood, South Side Flats and downtown Pittsburgh and multiple Allegheny County communities, including the City of Clairton, Harrison Township and Verona Borough. To date, staff and volunteers have planted more than 33,000 trees through TreeVitalize Pittsburgh.

Through the Pittsburgh Redbud Project, staff and volunteers plant 890 trees and 310 shrubs, bringing the number of trees planted through the project to more than 3,400.

With conservation partners, landowners and volunteers, we plant 10,833 riparian trees and shrubs on 49 acres, bringing our riparian plantings to more than 55,000 trees since 2001. The plantings are in 10 counties in Western and Central Pennsylvania — Armstrong, Bedford, Blair, Butler, Cameron, Clarion, Greene, Indiana, Potter and Warren.

The Clarion River is named 2019 Pennsylvania River of the Year by the PA Department of Conservation and Natural Resources and the Pennsylvania Organization for Waterways and Rivers. Since the 1970s, we have done extensive land protection and watershed restoration work to benefit the river. In 2019, we co-host a 24-mile paddling sojourn on the Clarion River and hold two Clarion River cleanups in cooperation with county conservation districts, Trout Unlimited and local schools, during which 112 volunteers cleaned up 37 miles.

Pennsylvania names the Eastern hellbender, a species of concern, as the state amphibian, recognizing its importance as an indicator species for clean water. The Conservancy has monitored hellbender populations since 2007.

We complete eDNA work on 26 new locations in the Driftwood Branch of the Sinnemahoning Creek watershed to search for hellbenders, finding two locations with low concentrations of DNA present.

We provide Canoe Access Development Funding for partners to create or improve nine canoe access sites on local streams and rivers, bringing the number of access sites funded in 10 years, since 2009, to 76.

2020

Our land protection staff protects 2,188 acres:

• 35 acres of wetland and forest, now named LeBoeuf Wetlands Conservation Area, in the French Creek watershed.
• 561 acres of forestland in Benezette Township, Elk County, within Moshannon State Forest.
• 119 acres of forestland in Bedford County, added to Buchanan State Forest.
• 19 forested acres in Mann Township added to the now 375-acre Sideling Hill Creek Conservation Area in Bedford County.
• 50 forested acres in Ligonier Township, Westmoreland County.
• 27 acres of farmland in South Huntingdon Township, Westmoreland County, now leased as part of our Farmland Access Initiative.

The Pennsylvania Natural Heritage Program completes natural heritage inventories for 10 counties in Southwestern Pennsylvania. The project, conducted in partnership with the Southwest Pennsylvania Commission, yields 643 natural heritage areas across the region, 111 of which are habitats of global significance species, 67 are of regional significance, 457 are of state significance and eight are locally significant.

A Climate Change Connectivity Study, conducted in partnership with PA Department of Conservation and Natural Resources, analyzes the state’s most important habitats and the most functional connections between those habitats. The data creates baseline information to determine how species might be able to escape climate conditions that become unsuitable.

An irruptive migration of boreal finches, including grosbeaks, occurs in numbers unseen in decades, in response to habitat changes and diminished food sources. In an ongoing project, we partner with Carnegie Museum of Natural History’s Powdermill Avian Research Center and the Finch Research Network and use new nanotag technology to track winter movements of evening grosbeaks to inform conservation strategies and decisions to help protect this vulnerable species.

We transform a community flower garden in Pittsburgh’s Larimer neighborhood into a rain garden, a partnership with Pittsburgh Community Services, Pittsburgh Public Schools’ Lincoln Elementary School and the Conservancy. We plant nine trees and 262 native plants.

Community forestry and natural heritage program staff begin ecological inventories at Allegheny County’s Round Hill and White Oak parks. The work will produce an overview of areas visited, unique botanical features and a summary of major assets and challenges.

Community Gardens and Greenspace staff begin using ecologically friendly tools, including two electric lawn mowers, a battery-powered weedwhacker, hedge trimmer and leaf blower. Local Roots Landscaping gives a Husqvarna self-propelled, electric-powered, emissions-free mower that uses guide wires and GPS-assisted mapping.

Watershed conservation staff partner with Jim Zwald Chapter of Trout Unlimited, Elk County Conservation District, LandVest and Seneca Resources to implement 24 projects to stabilize eroding streambanks and improve in-stream habitat along 1,600 feet of the West Branch of the Clarion River.

Watershed conservation staff discover eight species of freshwater mussels in the Kiski River in Armstrong County, including fat mucket, pink heelsplitter and black sandshell. It has been more than a century since these species were known to inhabit these waters.

Fallingwater is open only one week in March before closing due to the global COVID-19 pandemic. On June 13, the site opens for self-guided exterior tours and guided exterior tours. Winter walks debut in late 2020. Online audiences  enjoy new, free monthly webinars and new weekly interactive livestream tours called “A Closer Look.”

Fallingwater partners with 412 Food Rescue to distribute free “Farmers to Family” food boxes of farm-fresh produce and dairy in the Visitor Center parking lot to families struggling with food insecurity.

In response to ongoing nationwide racial injustice, Fallingwater joins a regional Diversity, Equity, Inclusion and Justice working group that includes staff from many regional museums and cultural institutions.

2021

The Pittsburgh Redbud Project celebrates five years of “pinking” Pittsburgh. Since 2016, staff, volunteers and partners have planted 3,716 trees for the Pittsburgh Redbud Project—of which approximately 1,600 are native Eastern redbud—along the Three Rivers Heritage Trail, on the North Shore Riverfront Trail and in downtown Pittsburgh along the riverfronts.

Conservancy staff install an outdoor classroom at Beechwood Early Childhood Learning Center, complete with plants, playground equipment that inspires movement and learning and multi-lingual pavers.

Conservancy staff and volunteers plant more than 1,000 perennial flowers, three trees, 24 shrubs and 55 grasses in the First Avenue and Grant Street garden in downtown Pittsburgh, creating safe nesting habitat for pollinators.

Staff partners with Allegheny County Parks and the Allegheny County Parks Foundation to conduct Ecological Assessment and Action Plans for Round Hill Park and White Oak Park.

Watershed conservation staff restores fish passage and mobility by replacing culverts in four local streams, reopening and reconnecting 8.42 miles of the upper reaches of local watersheds to fish and other organisms that previously could not access those areas, including in the Allegheny National Forest in Elk and Forest counties.

Staff complete 81 freshwater mussel surveys in headwater streams of the Youghiogheny River in Fayette County, Tionesta Creek in Warren County, Buffalo Creek in Armstrong and Butler counties and French Creek in Venango County.

We permanently protect seven properties totaling 493 acres, 241 of which are conveyed to the PA Department of Conservation and Natural Resources for the enjoyment of all. One property becomes the newest WPC publicly available nature preserve, now known as the Franklin Line Canal Natural Area, consisting of about 20 acres of islands in French Creek in Venango County.

We transfer 532 acres of forestland we own along the Clarion River in Elk County near Ridgway to the U.S. Department of Agriculture U.S. Forest Service to become a new addition to the Allegheny National Forest (ANF). The land becomes a part of the Clarion River Remote Recreation Area within the now 514,185-acre national forest. This property is part of the Conservancy’s effort since the 1970s that has protected more than 13,000 acres along the Clarion.

Staff protects two forested properties totaling 152 acres in the Pennsylvania Wilds along First Fork Sinnemahoning Creek. A 63-acre forest in Grove Township, Cameron County are added to Elk State Forest. In Summit Township, Potter County, 89 acres are added to Susquehannock State Forest. In Bedford County, 119 forested acres in Southampton Township are transferred to DCNR to be added to Buchanan State Forest. We protect 50 acres of wildlife habitat and scenic views in the Laurel Highlands along the Great Allegheny Passage Trail in Black Township, Somerset County. To date, the Conservancy has protected more than 264,000 acres.

We launch “41 Places: Nature Near You Needs You,” a fundraising and awareness campaign to support efforts to steward our 41 nature preserves in 16 counties that are open for the public to enjoy.

To possibly control the spread of invasive and destructive hemlock wooly adelgid at Bear Run Nature Reserve, in November we release a natural predator, the Ln beetle, within a nursery habitat, or insectary. We hope to know by fall 2022 if the beetles are feeding on the HWA eggs and young adelgids.

Our PNHP scientists and researchers conduct more than 200 field surveys for rare plant and animal species. The team also updates 350 natural heritage areas, which are ecologically important areas that provide habitat for rare plants, animal and natural communities.

A unique mussel silo study is launched in partnership with the U.S. Forest Service. We place silos housing juvenile mussels at strategic spots in 13 streams, including the Little Mahoning Creek, Kiski River and Allegheny River, to test the survival rate of the mussels.

To address the need for waterbird-specific wetland habitat conservation, the Conservancy’s PNHP staff leads an intensive marsh bird survey in Pennsylvania’s largest contiguous wetlands— Conneaut Marsh, Pymatuning Reservoir and Hartstown Marsh—in Crawford County. Data includes 27,438 bird detections of 148 species, including 27 species of conservation concern in the state. Our analysis of the data will inform wetland conservation for marsh birds across the state.

The Pennsylvania Game Commission delists the peregrine falcon from its threatened species list. In 1989 Conservancy staff observed a pair of falcons hunting around Pittsburgh’s skyscrapers. Before that, it had been 33 years since peregrine falcons had been known to nest in the region. The Conservancy managed nesting boxes from 1990 to 2006, including at the Gulf Tower, where 63 young hatched between 1991 and 2010.

Fallingwater reopens for interior tours in May 2021 after only offering exterior tours during much of the 2020 season. Virtual school field trips are launched as the COVID-19 pandemic continues.

Fallingwater Café receives Gold designation by Sustainable Pittsburgh Restaurants.

The Visitor Center, designed by Edgar Kaufmann jr.’s partner, Paul Mayén, celebrates 40 years.

 

2021

The Pittsburgh Redbud Project celebrates five years of “pinking” Pittsburgh. Since 2016, staff, volunteers and partners have planted 3,716 trees for the Pittsburgh Redbud Project—of which approximately 1,600 are native Eastern redbud—along the Three Rivers Heritage Trail, on the North Shore Riverfront Trail and in downtown Pittsburgh along the riverfronts.

Conservancy staff install an outdoor classroom at Beechwood Early Childhood Learning Center, complete with plants, playground equipment that inspires movement and learning and multi-lingual pavers.

Conservancy staff and volunteers plant more than 1,000 perennial flowers, three trees, 24 shrubs and 55 grasses in the First Avenue and Grant Street garden in downtown Pittsburgh, creating safe nesting habitat for pollinators.

Staff partners with Allegheny County Parks and the Allegheny County Parks Foundation to conduct Ecological Assessment and Action Plans for Round Hill Park and White Oak Park.

Watershed conservation staff restores fish passage and mobility by replacing culverts in four local streams, reopening and reconnecting 8.42 miles of the upper reaches of local watersheds to fish and other organisms that previously could not access those areas, including in the Allegheny National Forest in Elk and Forest counties.

Staff complete 81 freshwater mussel surveys in headwater streams of the Youghiogheny River in Fayette County, Tionesta Creek in Warren County, Buffalo Creek in Armstrong and Butler counties and French Creek in Venango County.

We permanently protect seven properties totaling 493 acres, 241 of which are conveyed to the PA Department of Conservation and Natural Resources for the enjoyment of all. One property becomes the newest WPC publicly available nature preserve, now known as the Franklin Line Canal Natural Area, consisting of about 20 acres of islands in French Creek in Venango County.

We transfer 532 acres of forestland we own along the Clarion River in Elk County near Ridgway to the U.S. Department of Agriculture U.S. Forest Service to become a new addition to the Allegheny National Forest (ANF). The land becomes a part of the Clarion River Remote Recreation Area within the now 514,185-acre national forest. This property is part of the Conservancy’s effort since the 1970s that has protected more than 13,000 acres along the Clarion.

Staff protects two forested properties totaling 152 acres in the Pennsylvania Wilds along First Fork Sinnemahoning Creek. A 63-acre forest in Grove Township, Cameron County are added to Elk State Forest. In Summit Township, Potter County, 89 acres are added to Susquehannock State Forest. In Bedford County, 119 forested acres in Southampton Township are transferred to DCNR to be added to Buchanan State Forest. We protect 50 acres of wildlife habitat and scenic views in the Laurel Highlands along the Great Allegheny Passage Trail in Black Township, Somerset County. To date, the Conservancy has protected more than 264,000 acres.

We launch “41 Places: Nature Near You Needs You,” a fundraising and awareness campaign to support efforts to steward our 41 nature preserves in 16 counties that are open for the public to enjoy.

To possibly control the spread of invasive and destructive hemlock wooly adelgid at Bear Run Nature Reserve, in November we release a natural predator, the Ln beetle, within a nursery habitat, or insectary. We hope to know by fall 2022 if the beetles are feeding on the HWA eggs and young adelgids.

Our PNHP scientists and researchers conduct more than 200 field surveys for rare plant and animal species. The team also updates 350 natural heritage areas, which are ecologically important areas that provide habitat for rare plants, animal and natural communities.

A unique mussel silo study is launched in partnership with the U.S. Forest Service. We place silos housing juvenile mussels at strategic spots in 13 streams, including the Little Mahoning Creek, Kiski River and Allegheny River, to test the survival rate of the mussels.

To address the need for waterbird-specific wetland habitat conservation, the Conservancy’s PNHP staff leads an intensive marsh bird survey in Pennsylvania’s largest contiguous wetlands— Conneaut Marsh, Pymatuning Reservoir and Hartstown Marsh—in Crawford County. Data includes 27,438 bird detections of 148 species, including 27 species of conservation concern in the state. Our analysis of the data will inform wetland conservation for marsh birds across the state.

The Pennsylvania Game Commission delists the peregrine falcon from its threatened species list. In 1989 Conservancy staff observed a pair of falcons hunting around Pittsburgh’s skyscrapers. Before that, it had been 33 years since peregrine falcons had been known to nest in the region. The Conservancy managed nesting boxes from 1990 to 2006, including at the Gulf Tower, where 63 young hatched between 1991 and 2010.

Fallingwater reopens for interior tours in May 2021 after only offering exterior tours during much of the 2020 season. Virtual school field trips are launched as the COVID-19 pandemic continues.

Fallingwater Café receives Gold designation by Sustainable Pittsburgh Restaurants.

The Visitor Center, designed by Edgar Kaufmann jr.’s partner, Paul Mayén, celebrates 40 years.

2022

We celebrate the 2020 installation of the rain garden in Pittsburgh’s Larimer neighborhood with a ribbon-cutting ceremony, which was delayed due to COVID-19 protocols. The garden is adjacent to Pittsburgh Public School’s Lincoln PreK-5. Lincoln teachers and upper grade students worked with graduate students from Carnegie Mellon University’s Entertainment Technology Center to develop augmented reality (AR) experiences that featured simulated demonstrations of the rain garden ecosystem.

Community Greening staff finish transitioning an existing community flower garden in downtown Pittsburgh at Grant Street and First Avenue to pollinator-welcoming habitat with native trees, herbs, grasses and shrubs and native perennial flowers.

With the help of 7,830 volunteers, we plant 82O street and community trees in Pittsburgh and Allegheny County neighborhoods, as well as 1,787 perennials in 2.69 acres of perennial beds that help pollinators thrive, and 77,648 annuals at 13O community gardens.

French Creek was named River of the Year in 2022. The 1,250-square-mile French Creek watershed has been a WPC conservation priority for half a century. Everyone can enjoy nature on 15 WPC-owned preserves within the watershed.

Conservancy members asked lawmakers to boost Pennsylvania’s Growing Greener Program by more than $500 million. A large chunk of federal American Rescue Plan funding went to environmental, conservation and outdoor recreation investments.

Watershed conservation staff participate in 159 educational, outreach and technical assistance events.

Watershed conservation staff are completing a streambank stabilization on Elk Creek and enhancing habitat on our Lower Elk Creek Nature Reserve. After 10 years of fundraising, we fix a more than 20-feet-high eroding bank with a 600-feet-long stacked stone wall.

We restore 30 stream miles. We complete stream restoration at the former Indian Caverns property on Spruce Creek in Huntingdon County, and remove two dams on Greenlick Run in Fayette County, opening four miles of habitat for aquatic species.

We provide six Canoe Access Development Fund grants to organizations to help people get on the water.

With partners and volunteers, we plant 6,210 riparian trees and shrubs, bringing the total planted since 2001to 72,828.

We remove 11 aquatic organism passage barriers such as inadequate culverts and dilapidated dams.

We award 20 Watershed Mini Grants totaling $41,000 to 20 local environmental organizations in 13 counties.

Three Conservancy-owned preserves expand by 285 acres. We protect more than 1,400 forested acres in Bedford, Erie, Jefferson and Westmoreland counties, including 140 acres along the Clarion River, the 2019 River of the Year, providing one-half mile of forested riparian buffer along and expanding our now 630-acre Dutch Hill Forest in Jefferson County.

Thanks to a donation of 33 acres from Regis and Jamie McHugh, land that was once home to the historic Oakford Park in Jeannette, Westmoreland County is being reimagined as a local public greenspace.

We protect 460 acres within the French Creek watershed. As of 2022, the Conservancy has protected more than 6,000 acres within the biologically diverse river system.

We protect 150 forested acres in Bedford County for State Game Lands 48.

Land steward volunteers contribute 1,481 hours to improve 14,139 acres of WPC preserves.

Staff monitor more than 40,600 acres protected by conservation easement.

At Tryon Weber Woods, we add a new parking area and a 1.3-mile loop trail. At Toms Run Nature Reserve, we complete a connector trail. We improve parking areas at six preserves: Bennett Branch Forest, Lake Pleasant Conservation Area, Plain Grove Fens Natural Area, West Branch French Creek Conservation Area, Whites Creek Valley Natural Area and Wolf Creek Narrows Natural Area.

At Wolf Creek Narrows Natural Area, we plant a hemlock insectary, or nursery, for the Ln beetle (Laricobius nigrinus), a natural predator of hemlock wooly adelgid.

Thanks to the 789 donors who responded to our “41 Places: Nature Near You Needs You” fundraising campaign in 2021 and 2022, we receive $632,000 to improve and enhance preserves. In 2022, staff and volunteers begin improvements at several preserves to remove past traces of damage to land, control invasive species and maintain welcoming trails, signage and parking.

At West Branch French Creek Conservation Area we remove a deteriorating retaining wall to create a safer parking area, and resurface the parking lot and universal access pathway.

The littlest hikers enjoyed StoryWalks® in 2022 at our Toms Run Nature Reserve. Signs featuring pages of children’s books were displayed along a short, flat trail near the parking lot.

The Pennsylvania Natural Heritage Program turns 40.

Conservation science staff report 113 field surveys.

The first Pennsylvania Native Species Day is celebrated on June 17.

PNHP botanist Scott Schuette works with researchers at Bucknell University to conduct genetic assessments of three globally rare plant species, including Canby’s mountain-lover, found on limestone cliffs and outcrops in a few areas in central Appalachian states.

PNHP staff entered 894 new records for plants, animals or communities of conservation interest in the conservation database.

PNHP staff surveyed sites in 12 Northwest Pennsylvania counties to identify which invasive weeds could find their way to Lake Erie watershed. About 1,4oo invasive weed presences were recorded within 491 individual survey areas and 136 survey sites.

At Fallingwater, the year begins with an ambitious goal to raise $2.4 million through the “World Heritage Preserved: Forging a Future for Fallingwater” Campaign for the preservation of Fallingwater’s major building systems that need urgent attention. These are in addition to funds raised since 2019.

Fallingwater’s 59th tour season kicks off March 5, 2022.

On hiatus since 2020 due to COVID-19 protocols, the In-Depth Tour returns and allows smaller groups of visitors to explore the secondary spaces of the main and guest house.

Two exhibitions are on view in Fallingwater’s Speyer Gallery. “Building Fallingwater” features historic photography, archival materials and original film footage of Fallingwater’s main house construction from 1936-1937. “Touchstone: A Half-Century of Craft” highlights the Touchstone Center for Crafts’ 50-year history and efforts toward promoting craft education in the Laurel Highlands.

The Fallingwater Soirée fundraising event returns after a two-year hiatus due to the pandemic.

2023

The Conservancy creates two new outdoor spaces that provide teachers with numerous opportunities to incorporate learning related to STEM and the natural environment into school instruction.

An outdoor classroom at Laurel Valley Elementary School in New Florence, Westmoreland County includes an ADA-compliant pathway, a teaching shed with white boards, six child-sized picnic tables, four flower-shaped chalkboards, eight trees and 26 pollinator-friendly perennials.

Students are enjoying a new outdoor play area at Pittsburgh Public Schools’ Chartiers Early Childhood Center, thanks to funding from PNC Foundation’s Grow Up Great initiative. Featuring 19 native trees, 14 shrubs, 60 pollinator-friendly perennials, ADA-accessible pathways, picnic tables, benches and 122 stepping stones, the space encourages motor skill development, nurtures creativity and stimulates curiosity.

The Conservancy’s New Community Vegetable Garden in Pittsburgh’s historic Manchester neighborhood features eight raised garden beds, seven accessible garden beds, 30 feet of benches and four reclaimed wooden stools, making gardening more accessible for school students and community members. The space features several native trees, hundreds of shrubs and pollinator-friendly perennials.

Pittsburgh Canopy Alliance, in which WPC is a partner, receives an $8 million grant from the U.S. Forest Service to improve the urban tree canopy in underserved and unrepresented communities in Allegheny County Justice40 Zones—economically distressed areas vulnerable to the effects of climate change.

The Conservancy protects 3,079 acres, including 460 to establish the Babcock Family Nature Reserve in McKean County. Located within the within the Ormsby Swamp Natural Heritage Area, the preserve honors the legacy of the Babcock Family’s longstanding connection with the Conservancy and commitment to conservation.

Two Laurel Highlands conservation projects protect wildlife habitats and preserve the viewshed along the Pennsylvania Turnpike. In Jefferson Township, Somerset County, 410 acres now safeguard water quality and wildlife habitat along Clear Run Creek. The acres are added to Forbes State Forest. In Mount Pleasant Township, Westmoreland County, we protect 65 acres via a conservation easement. Since the 1970s the Conservancy has permanently protected nearly 27,000 acres in the Ligonier Valley, of which more than 10,000 are through conservation easements.

In Warren County, 109 acres in Columbus Township are conserved along Brokenstraw Creek, a tributary to the Allegheny River. The acreage is immediately conveyed to the PA Game Commission and is an addition to State Game Land 197.

In Cameron County, we protect 414 acres of forestland in Gibson Township, safeguarding more than 6,500 feet of frontage along Driftwood Branch Sinnemahoning Creek. The property is conveyed to the PA DCNR and added to Elk State Forest.

We protect more than 130 acres along Nine Mile Run in Ulysses Township, Potter County. The acres are now part of Susquehannock State Forest.

Conservancy staff continue to work with partners, including Indiana University of Pennsylvania, to advance the “Untold Stories of Pennsylvania’s State Parks & Forests” project. It will help discover, interpret and share the untold stories of underrepresented and marginalized groups associated with lands currently operating as state parks and forests in Western Pennsylvania.

On our preserves, 71 volunteers contributed 835 hours removing invasive plants, building trails and clearing debris.

At Helen B. Katz Natural Area in Crawford County, we complete a 40-acre wetland restoration, planting native vegetation and treated exotic invasive plants. Next to a small parking area, we plant a wildflower meadow on one and one-quarter acres.

In 2023, staff and volunteers construct or enhance seven parking lots at preserves, including at Dutch Hill Forest, two other WPC preserves in the Clarion River region and Sideling Hill Creek Conservation Area in Bedford and Fulton counties. Also at Sideling Hill, we remove two structures.  At Lake Pleasant Conservation Area in Erie County, we finish removing two large structures.

2023 marks 50 years since the federal Endangered Species Act was enacted to provide a framework to conserve and protect endangered and threatened species and their habitats.

WPC’s Pennsylvania Natural Heritage Program biologists continue to assess 1,400 invertebrates, including snails, butterflies, dragonflies, beetles, mayflies, spiders and more, for the PA 2025-2035 State Wildlife Action Plan.

In July, WPC’s PNHP Avian Ecologist David Yeany and Bird Lab Executive Director Nick Liadis discover the first breeding occurrence of Swainson's warbler in Pennsylvania at Bear Run Nature Reserve. It is the northernmost breeding record for the species.

Jessica McPherson, WPC senior botanist with the PNHP, finds the first documented instance in PA of Carex purpurifera (purple sedge) during an anniversary hike with her husband in the Laurel Highlands.

WPC’s watershed conservation team removed 10 barriers, including dams and undersized culverts, to improve aquatic organism passage and reconnect 12 miles of stream.

At the National Rise to the Future Award ceremony in Washington, D.C., WPC’s Watershed Conservation program accepts a national award for decades of work to improve water quality in the Allegheny National Forest. ANF staff nominated the Conservancy for the award.  Staff accepts the U.S. Forest Service’s Partnership Award on behalf of the Conservancy’s watershed work in the ANF and the Allegheny Watershed Improvement Needs (WINs) Coalition.

WPC Watershed Forestry Specialist Danielle Rihel received the Outstanding Watershed Individual of 2023 award from the Armstrong Conservation District, a Certificate of Recognition from the PA Senate, and a Watershed Conservation Award from the U.S. House of Representatives.

In spring, staff and 14 volunteers plant 800 live stakes of trees to further stabilize streambanks along Lower Elk Creek at our Lower Elk Creek Conservation Area in Erie County.

As part of the development of a PA DCNR Rivers Conservation Plan for the Girty’s Run watershed, WPC completes extensive surveys to outline possible freshwater mussel habitat downstream and upstream of the Girty’s Run delta, within the Allegheny River near Pittsburgh.

Charles Bier, the Conservancy’s senior director of conservation science, retires after 43 years at WPC. His many positions included caretaker, nature steward and naturalist educator at Fallingwater and Bear Run Nature Reserve, and botanist, zoologist, ecologist and data processor at WPC. He helped to establish the Pennsylvania Natural Heritage Program and conducted more than 1,000 field surveys, documenting more than 1,500 occurrence records that are foundational to the 30,000+ records in the PNHP database.

2023 marks the Falllingwater’s 60th consecutive year of being open to the public.

Work starts in February on Fallingwater’s World Heritage Preserved initiative. Conservators expose the stone walls for mortar work and testing. Fallingwater’s maintenance team assesses cracks in Fallingwater’s chimney walls, repointing portions of the deteriorated mortar to repair cracks. Mortar specialists from Graciano test for the presence of water and consider various grout-injection options.

Fallingwater Fireside launches, featuring in-person discussions in the Living Room. Artist and sculptor Bryan Hunt, Grammy Award-winning cellist Mike Block and architect Daniel Libeskind are the inaugural featured speakers.

A new exterior tour, Guided Grounds Walking Tour, provides insights into the Bear Run landscape and broadens a sense of discovery for visitors.

Sogetsu Pittsburgh, an organization that hosts a collective of artists studying and displaying ikebana, partners to become Fallingwater Institute Artists-in-Residence. They study the landscape and consider interdisciplinary possibilities of ikebana where craft, art, architecture, nature and composition harmonize.

Other 2023Fallingwater Artists-in-Residence include Félix de la Concha, who revisits for plein air paintings; Emma Baiada, who continues work on a video artwork that provides a behind-the-scenes look at Fallingwater staff; and Dr. Barry Kerzin, who offers a meditation workshop for staff.

A collaboration with the Westmoreland Museum of American Art results in a new exhibition, Frank Lloyd Wright’s Southwestern Pennsylvania, which features animations of unbuilt projects Wright designed for Pittsburgh and Fallingwater.