eConserve

"75 Years of Fallingwater"

WPC News Briefs

Project Updates

Tussey Mountain Forestland
Tussey Mountain Forestland
  • The Watershed Conservation program completed watershed conservation plans for Sinnemahoning Creek, Lower Mahoning Creek, Brokenstraw Creek and the headwaters of the Allegheny River.
  • In December 2010, the Land Conservation program conserved 113 acres of forestland along Tussey Mountain in Bedford County; 113 acres of undeveloped coastline along Lake Erie; and 137 acres in Somerset County with more than 2,000 feet of frontage along Laurel Hill Creek.
  • WPC’s Colcom Revolving Fund for Local Land Trusts program and The North Country National Trail Association hosted an event January 22 at Jennings Environmental Education Center for the local conservation community to discuss ways to help increase permanent protection of the North Country National Scenic Trail and the surrounding landscape.
  • The Natural Heritage Program completed the Gatesburg barrens project, which identified current and historic locations of Scrub Oak Shrubland barrens, to prioritize parcels for conservation.
  • WPC completed management plans on private lands through the Landowner Incentive Program to protect vernal pools, streams and eastern massasauga rattlesnake habitats.
  • In December, the Natural Heritage Program completed the Conservation Opportunity Areas (COAs) project and identified 36 COAs — places with clusters of Species of Greatest Conservation Need, most critically imperiled plant species, and associated habitats.
  • The Status Assessment of the Blanding’s Turtle in Pennsylvania, funded by a State Wildlife Grant, was completed in December after finding 779 Painted Turtles, 747 Snapping Turtles, 43 Musk Turtles, and four Blanding’s Turtles.
  • WPC’s Natural Heritage Program completed mussel surveys over the 13-mile length of Conewango Creek in Pennsylvania, and, with the Watershed Conservation program, completed a State Wildlife Grant project for the Pennsylvania Fish and Boat Commission that surveyed the Allegheny River Navigational Pool 9 for freshwater mussels and mapped the river from Lock and Dam 9 upstream to Parker.

Grants & Awards

  • The Watershed Conservation program received two Growing Greener grants and a National Fish and Wildlife Foundation grant, all of which will help to improve water quality by addressing sediment and nutrient pollution to rivers and stream, protecting streambanks and reducing the impacts of dirt and gravel roads.
  • New funding from the USDA will help to coordinate invasive species control and education activities across the Lake Erie Watershed.
  • A new sponsorship by Huntington Bank saved WPC's "Welcome Garden" at the Fort Pitt Tunnel from potential closure.

Milestones

  • 2011 marks the 10-year anniversary of the Watershed Conservation Program, which opened in January 2001. A record-breaking 12,000 people volunteered with the community Gardens and Greenspace program in 2010.
  • Edgar Tafel, the last living Frank Lloyd Wright apprentice who worked on Fallingwater and a Fallingwater Advisory Committee member emeritus, died January 18, 2011 at his home in New York, New York.
  • Mario di Valmarana, a charter member of the Fallingwater Advisory Committee and friend of Edgar Kaufmann jr., died Oct 13, 2010 at his home in Venice, Italy.