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Explore With Us Get Outside. Get Involved. The Pennsylvania Environmental Council (PEC) is proud to join Purple Lizard Maps and other outdoor-industry partners in celebrating our state’s unparalleled bounty of parks, trails, waterways, and public green space. We encourage all who recreate outdoors to learn about the places they love and get involved in local efforts to protect and enhance them. https://youtu.be/7MRO45UDWL4?si=RgkwSdr8suLKZE-G Public Lands Ride Since 2020, PEC has welcomed cyclists to Black Moshannon State Park for the Public Lands Ride. Participants in the annual group ride can choose from a selection of routes designed for riders of all ages…

This article was originally published on DiscoverNEPA as part of the monthly series, Get Your Tail on the Trail. Log your miles at location “Split Rock Trail” to participate in the Trail of the month! Sign up for free at TailontheTrail.org. Rachael Stark is PEC’s Northeastern Pennsylvania Program Coordinator. Take a stroll along the picturesque Split Rock Trail at the North Branch Land Trust (NBLT) Picton Wildlife Sanctuary South and enjoy immersing yourself in the changing of the season. The unassuming North Branch Land Trust George and Lillian Picton Wildlife Sanctuary (South) is located at 424 Pond Creek Road, White…

The 53rd Environmental Partnership Dinner returned to Philadelphia on Thursday, Nov. 9. to honor environmental excellence, leadership and accomplishment in southeast Pennsylvania. Distinguished guests included DCNR Secretary Cindy Adams Dunn, Montgomery County commissioners Kenneth E. Lawrence and Jamila Winder, and Miss Pennsylvania Miranda Moore. Before announcing the awards, PEC Vice President Patrick Starr took a moment to recognize President Davitt Woodwell, who is retiring at the end of the year. “Davitt has been a phenomenal leader of PEC over the last decade, and he is leaving PEC at the top of its game,” Starr said. Moore, who worked as an…

So far in our series on the 2023 Northeast Environmental Partnership Awards, we’ve highlighted individuals who excelled in working with and inspiring others to protect northeast Pennsylvania’s environment. In this final installment, we hear from two organizations, Earth Conservancy of Luzerne County and Scranton Tomorrow, who have formed similar networks— including with some familiar faces from this year’s awards. Earth Conservancy https://youtu.be/pnyb8uc1FqY Earth Conservancy received recognition for its Espy Run Stream Restoration project. A tributary of the Nanticoke Creek watershed, which eventually runs into the Susquehanna River, Espy Run had been devastated by decades of coal mining. Old aerial photos…

Protecting Pennsylvania’s watersheds is a collective effort, carried out by everyone from agency experts to community volunteers. At the PA Statewide Watershed Conference, they all come together to share strategies, build on successes, and make lasting connections. The 2023 PA Statewide Watershed Conference, Oct. 29-30, convened agency leaders, environmental organizations and community volunteers from across Pennsylvania at the Grand Hotel in Altoona. The biennial event, organized by the Pennsylvania Organization for Watersheds and Rivers (POWR), is an opportunity to exchange ideas and forge partnerships. Just in time for the conference, POWR released the “Community Watershed Organization Cumulative Impacts & Successes…

Two of Lackawanna County’s environmental champions received Environmental Partnership Awards during the 33rd Annual Evening for Northeast Pennsylvania’s Environment for their work to make the area a healthier, greener place to live, work and play — all while inspiring others to do the same. Nicole Shapiro Director of Environmental Sustainability, Lackawanna County https://youtu.be/wwHrWSTBbSw?si=P_TwA-mn1bVCPRRS Lackawanna County native Nicole Shapiro works as the county’s recycling coordinator and runs its Environmental Office. A major part of her work includes educating the public about how to recycle properly and assisting the 40 local municipalities with their own recycling programs. To that end, Shapiro organizes school…

The Shapiro Administration touted a “first-of-its-kind” collaboration between the Department of Environmental Protection (DEP) and CNX Resources on Thursday. The Washington County-based natural gas producer will voluntarily strengthen its environmental monitoring and chemical disclosure practices as an example to the rest of the industry, which would be held to similar standards under a rulemaking currently being prepared by DEP. For the second time in recent weeks, PEC President Davitt Woodwell joined the governor at an event announcing the initiative. “Today’s announcement demonstrates that partnership, continuous improvement, greater public transparency, and strong regulatory standards are not just aspirational – they are…

In response to the Commonwealth Court’s decision on Pennsylvania’s participation in the Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative (RGGI) to reduce carbon dioxide emissions from the electric generation sector, the Pennsylvania Environmental Council issued the following statement: “Today’s decision marks another unfortunate delay for action on climate change and preparing Pennsylvania and its communities to succeed in the inevitable clean energy transition. It’s important to note what was not questioned by the lower court’s decision – that there is an undeniable need to reduce emissions of greenhouse gases, and that RGGI offers the clear benefits of a demonstrated, efficient, and flexible means…

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: October 30, 2023 News from: Pennsylvania Organization for Watersheds and Rivers Contact: Tali MacArthur, Pennsylvania Environmental Council Phone: (570) 285-8013 Email: [email protected] POWR Releases Report on Impacts of Community Watershed Organizations ALTOONA— The Pennsylvania Organization for Watersheds and Rivers (POWR) released its 2022 Watershed Organization Cumulative Impacts Report on Sunday during its Statewide Watershed Conference in Altoona, PA. Pennsylvania is home to hundreds of Community Watershed Organizations (CWOs). Most are small nonprofits with limited annual budgets and few or no professional staff, supported by active and passionate volunteers. They are active in a variety of activities that enhance…

The Three Rivers Heritage Trail in Allegheny County extends more than 33 miles on both banks of the Allegheny, Monongahela, and Ohio Rivers. The robust trail network has been decades in the making and would not have been possible without an equally robust network of people committed to trail work — including, perhaps most of all, Allegheny County’s “trail czar,” Darla Cravotta. More than 200 people joined Pittsburgh’s Friends of the Riverfront to celebrate the progress of the Three Rivers Heritage Trail and Water Trail during a fundraiser and mixer on Thursday, October 26. The event took place at Steel…

Among the recipients of this year’s awards from the Northeast Environmental Partnership are two conservationists whose stewardship is rooted in an early fascination with the natural world. For both men, recreation (particularly fishing) was the key to cherishing ecosystems and wanting to keep them healthy for generations to come. Thomas P. Shelburne Environmental Leadership Award John Levitsky, Luzerne Conservation District https://youtu.be/AViyVVi8R4k The Thomas P. Shelburne Environmental Leadership Award recognizes lifetime achievement on behalf of northeastern Pennsylvania’s environment. 2023 recipient and Luzerne County native John Levitsky’s fascination with wildlife began when he was just a boy, with the gift of a…

On Wednesday, October 18, Governor Josh Shapiro visited Hillman State Park in Washington County, site of the 100th orphaned and abandoned gas well to be plugged and capped since he took office in January. Federal funding is helping to revitalize Pennsylvania’s chronically under-resourced orphan well plugging program, tackling a major source of methane emissions that contribute to global warming and threaten human health and safety in the Commonwealth. “Thanks to real investment from the administration in Washington and leaders in Congress, we have plugged more wells in the first ten months of our administration than the Commonwealth plugged in the…