A conservation organization has awarded grants totaling about $54,600 to six projects designed to enhance natural resource conservation and outdoor recreation in Berks County.<\/p>\n
Schuylkill Highlands Conservation Landscape announced the local grants as part of nearly $98,000 awarded to 12 projects in the organization\u2019s six-county region.<\/p>\n
The recipients\u2019 initiatives reflect the program\u2019s commitment to connecting residents and visitors to the outdoors; encouraging nature-based tourism and sustainable economies; promoting land, water, and greenway conservation; and supporting local partnerships and leveraging regional impact, officials said in an announcement.<\/p>\n
Grants were awarded to following organizations and their projects in Berks:<\/p>\n
Schuylkill River Greenways National Historic Association: $15,000, examining two state-owned coal desilting impoundments in Bern Township to develop an alignment for new off-road trail for public use.<\/p>\n
Colebrookdale Railroad Preservation Trust: $12,500, installation of interpretive plaques and benches, including ADA-compliant seating, as well as complementary landscaping.<\/p>\n
Our Town Foundation Hamburg: $11,474, installation of wayfinding signage guiding pedestrians and cyclists into downtown Hamburg as well as native habitat gardens<\/p>\n
Berks Nature:\u00a0$10,264, development of a sustainable stone staircase connecting two trails at Neversink Mountain Preserve.<\/p>\n
South Heidelberg Township: $4,736, evaluation of the cost, design and recommendations for converting 21.14 acres of township-maintained grass lawn into meadow.<\/p>\n
Dreibelbis Farm Historical Society Inc.: $640, removal of invasive plants, including Japanese knot weed, at Historic Dreibelbis Farm near Virginville.<\/p>\n
Other recipients in the area:<\/p>\n
Great Marsh Institute, Elverson: $15,000, support for the mowing and spraying of 40 acres of phragmites and 10 acres of reed canary grass.<\/p>\n
Valley Forge Park Alliance: $10,000, expansion of Volunteer Stewardship Training Initiative at Valley Forge National Historical Park, training volunteers in ecology, invasive species, and visitor engagement.<\/p>\n
Heidelberg Township, Lebanon County: $5,312, additions to Schaefferstown Park including an ADA-accessible trail extension, parking, picnic pavilions, benches, a bike rack and Bike FixIt station, native landscaping and upgrades to softball fields.<\/p>\n
Perkiomen Watershed Conservancy, Schwenksville, Montgomery County: $5,000, construction of a covered outdoor classroom with picnic table seating to support outdoor STEM lessons, creek investigations, camps, workshops and community programs year-round.<\/p>\n
Pennsburg, Montgomery County: $4,515, addition of benches and shade trees at the borough nature preserve and Seip Park.<\/p>\n
Watershed Coalition of the Lehigh Valley, Nazareth, Northampton County: \u00a0$3,500, creation of an illustrated story map for the Tohickon Watershed.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe are thrilled to support these community-driven efforts that align with the Schuylkill Highlands\u2019 vision of a connected, sustainable, and accessible landscape,\u201d said Estelle Wynn Dolan, Schuylkill Highlands program manager. \u201cThese projects will have a lasting impact on the region\u2019s ecological health and quality of life, as well as providing residents and visitors with access to our outdoor resources.\u201d<\/p>\n
Schuylkill Highlands was established in 2006 by the Pennsylvania Department of Conservation and Natural Resources and is administered by Natural Lands. The public-private partnership focuses on the region where the Schuylkill River watershed intersects with the Pennsylvania Highlands and includes all of Berks and portions of Lebanon, Lancaster, Chester, Montgomery, and Bucks counties.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"A conservation organization has awarded grants totaling about $54,600 to six projects designed to enhance natural resource conservation…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":258313,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[11],"tags":[349,182,139,708,28,128,130,129,289,706],"class_list":["post-258312","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-reading","tag-berks-county","tag-local-news","tag-news","tag-outdoors","tag-pennsylvania","tag-reading-city","tag-reading-city-headlines","tag-reading-city-news","tag-things-to-do","tag-top-stories-reg"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/258312","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=258312"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/258312\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/258313"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=258312"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=258312"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=258312"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}