Events & Volunteer Opportunities
Become a WPC Photographer
January 31, 2021 to December 31, 2021
Take Photos or Capture Video as a WPC Photographer
Are you a shutterbug? You can use your hobby as a way to volunteer! Photographers are needed to document newly protected properties, member outings and volunteer events such as garden or tree plantings. Volunteers are asked to use their own camera equipment. To learn more, contact us at info@paconserve.org.
Buy Tickets to Experience Fallingwater
March 6, 2021 to December 31, 2021
Frank Lloyd Wright’s Fallingwater, which was added to the UNESCO World Heritage List in 2019, will reopen for the 58th tour season beginning Saturday, March 6, 2021. Located about 90 minutes from downtown Pittsburgh, Fallingwater opened to the public for its first house tour in 1964 and has welcomed a diverse range of visitors from around the world.
Fallingwater, designed by Wright in 1935, is open to the public as a house museum and is also designated as a National Historic Landmark and Commonwealth of Pennsylvania Treasure.
Fallingwater will offer exterior tour experiences, guided and self-guided, to visitors along with other tour options from March 6 through the end of 2021. Advance ticket purchase is strongly encouraged to schedule tours. Visit Fallingwater.org or call Fallingwater Visitor Services at 724-329-8501 for more information or to purchase tickets.
Become A Community Garden Steward
March 15, 2021 to November 30, 2021
Volunteer Opportunity
Have you ever seen a WPC garden and wondered how it stays looking colorful, strong and healthy? A loyal crew of volunteers known as Garden Stewards cares for the Conservancy’s many gardens. After spring planting, Garden Stewards help water, weed and clean up the areas. Stewards work from spring to fall.
Are you looking for a way to get outside and tend a garden? We can help! Can we count on you to help a garden bloom all summer long? Contact Lynn McGuire-Olzak at 412-586-2324 or lmcguire-olzak@paconserve.org to register to volunteer and learn how to get started as a steward. To help keep you safe, we've developed COVID-19 safety requirements for our community gardens volunteers. Click here to read these guidelines prior to volunteering with us. The gardens below need stewards to care for them in the 2021 season:
- Centre Ave. & Herron Ave., Terrace Village
- 2409 Shady Avenue - Allderdice High School
- Wenzell & Broadway Aves., Beechview
- Liberty Tunnels & Route 51, Beltzhoover
- 2350 Brownsville Road, Concord Elementary., Carrick
- Highland Park Bridge at Butler St., Highland Park
- 2409 Shady Ave. at Allderdice High School, Squirrel Hill
- Route 837 @ 5th Avenue (McKeesport / Duquesne Bridge), McKeesport
- Parkway West 22/30/60, Moon Township
- College Ave. (Rt. 26) & University Dr., State College, Centre County
- Rt. 66 & Rt. 322, Shippenville, Clarion County
- 93 East High St., Hooper Park, Greene County
April 22 (Earth Day) Webinar:
Pittsburgh Redbud Project Turns Five
March 30, 2021 to April 23, 2021
Free Webinar: Pittsburgh Redbud Project: Celebrating Five Years on Earth Day
Date: April 22, 2021
Time: 12:30-1:30 p.m., EDT
Since 2016, the Western Pennsylvania Conservancy has planted thousands of flowering native Eastern redbuds and other complementary native trees and shrubs so that each spring Pittsburgh’s riverfront trails and open spaces burst forth with vibrant pink blooms. Five years ago, this community forestry initiative known as the Pittsburgh Redbud Project was launched to increase urban tree canopy and reforest the riverfronts while highlighting the aesthetic benefits of spring.
With the help of several partners and volunteers this Colcom Foundation-funded initiative is creating an attractive reminder about the natural benefits and beauty of Pittsburgh’s riverfronts and greenspaces.
Join Brian Crooks, community forester at the Western Pennsylvania Conservancy, and Frank Dawson, the Pittsburgh-based landscape architect who conceptualized the Pittsburgh Redbud Project, for a free webinar on Earth Day celebrating the project’s fifth anniversary, and learn how you can help restore our riverfronts with native trees.
Join us for Pittsburgh Redbud Project: Celebrating Five Years on Earth Day on April 22, 2021 at 12:30 p.m., EDT!
This webinar is free and open to the public.
About the Presenters:
Brian Crooks graduated from Penn State University with a B.S. degree in Forest Science. He has been a community forester at the Western Pennsylvania Conservancy since 2015. Brian is an ISA certified arborist and a Pennsylvania pesticide applicator. He serves as chairperson for the shade tree commission in Oakmont, Pa.
Frank Dawson is a native of Pittsburgh and has a 28-year career as a landscape architect. Frank has his own practice, with a portfolio of design projects that span the United States, Bahamas, India and the United Arab Emirates. His work has involved campus master planning, healthcare, mixed use development, education, plazas, parks, cemeteries, exclusive homes, public art and community greening projects. He has been heavily engaged in the Pittsburgh design community for 18 years. He has served on the Pittsburgh Downtown Partnership’s Advisory Board P2P initiative, Riverlife Task Force’s Design Review Committee, Scenic Pittsburgh’s Advisory Board and the Josh Gibson Heritage Park’s Board of Directors. Frank remains an active member with the American Society of Landscape Architects and is currently the vice president of the PA/DEL Executive Committee.
Help Care for Nature: Volunteer for Land Stewardship
April 1, 2021 to November 14, 2021
Volunteer Opportunity
Volunteers are needed to keep natural areas clean and safe
Do you enjoy hiking and getting outdoors? Become a land stewardship volunteer and help keep these natural areas clean and safe! WPC owns and cares for more than 12,000 acres of land free and open to the public for outdoor recreation. Choose from a variety of locations to volunteer from March through November, from the north in Erie County to as far south as Fayette County. It’s fun, hard work, and you’ll learn a lot, too!
Subject to COVID-19 safety precautions. Accordingly, events could be canceled or modified, in which case a message will be sent immediately to the land steward email list.
For additional information and to register, please contact Andrew Zadnik, director of land stewardship at azadnik@paconserve.org or 412-977-9681 (cell).
2021 Land Stewardship Dates and Locations
Unless otherwise noted: For Saturday sessions, volunteers and staff meet at 9 a.m. at the property and work until 2 p.m., rain or shine. For weekday sessions, meet at 10 a.m. Counties are in parentheses.
Thurs., April 8: Bear Run Nature Reserve (Fayette) – place Black Loop trail markers
Sat., April 17: Helen B. Katz Natural Area (Crawford) – inspect/service tree tubes, stain table under pavilion
Thurs., April 26: Blakeslee Memorial Recreation Area (Elk) – general clean-up, trim around parking area and memorial
Wed., May 5: Wolf Creek Narrows Natural Area (Butler) – garlic mustard removal, clean and paint wooden kiosk
Sat., May 8: Lutzville Cliffs Natural Area (Bedford) – invasive plant removal
Wed., May 12: LeBeouf Wetlands Conservation Area and Lake Pleasant Conservation Area (Erie) – clean up dump site (LeBeouf), clean and paint wooden kiosk, replace bat house along trail (Lake Pleasant)
Sat., June 5: Fringed Gentian Fen Natural Area and Plain Grove Fens Natural Area (Lawrence) – invasive plant removal, woody vegetation control, tree-planting maintenance
Thurs., June 24: Bear Run Nature Reserve (Fayette) – invasive plant removal
Sat., July 24: Wolf Creek Narrows Natural Area (Butler) – trail maintenance, invasive plant control
Sat., August 21: Bennett Branch Forest (Elk) – boundary marking, trail maintenance
Sat., September 11: French Creek Watershed Clean-up – site TBD
Sat., October 16: Conneaut Marsh Natural Area (Crawford) – removal of an old bridge, tree-planting maintenance,
boundary-marking
Sat., November 13: Beechwood Farms Nature Reserve (Allegheny) – invasive shrub removal, potluck afterwards at WPC
office
April 27 Fallingwater Webinar:
Frank Lloyd Wright & The Automobile
April 1, 2021 to April 28, 2021
Free Fallingwater Webinar: Frank Lloyd Wright & The Automobile
Date: April 27, 2021
Time: 12-1 p.m., EDT
Register Today for this Webinar
Join Brandon J. Anderson, executive director & CEO of the Auburn Cord Duesenberg Automobile Museum, as he explores the history of Frank Lloyd Wright’s fascination with the automobile, both in his personal life and in his design concepts.
Attendees will learn about one of Wright’s favorite automobiles, the Cord L-29, of which he writes, “The proportion and lines of the Cord, too, come nearer expressing the beauty of both science and logic than any car I have ever seen.” Wright would go on to own many elegantly styled automobiles including Bentley, Jaguar, Packard, Cadillac and Mercedes-Benz.
This webinar will be livestreamed from the showroom of the museum, and you’ll experience firsthand two of Frank Lloyd Wright’s automobiles, his Cord L-29 and his Indiana-built Crosley Super Roadster, along with period vehicles similar to ones the Kaufmann family used for trips to Fallingwater.
Attend Frank Lloyd Wright & The Automobile on April 27, 2021 at 12 p.m., EDT!
This webinar is free and open to the public.
The Barn at Fallingwater: Wedding, Meeting and Event Venue
April 1, 2021 to December 31, 2021
Create an unforgettable wedding ceremony and reception in the unique and distinctive settings of The Barn at Fallingwater in Fayette County. This converted historic Pennsylvania dairy barn is located just 500 yards north of Fallingwater's main entrance along PA Route 381 in Mill Run, Pa. at the trailhead of WPC’s Bear Run Nature Reserve. Some wedding packages include photos at Fallingwater. Reserve The Barn today for your wedding!
Or are you looking for a location to host your next conference, meeting or special event? Consider The Barn, which has unique and beautiful multi-functional spaces to accommodate large groups of up to 100 with audiovisual and dimmable lighting capabilities. Event rental space can also include the adjacent flagstone courtyard for outdoor functions. Reserve The Barn today for your next meeting or special event!
For more information and details, contact Amy Gartley, special events coordinator, at 724-329-7802 or fallingwaterevents@paconserve.org.