DCNR Issues 2009 Annual Report With Special Message From Acting Secretary Quigley

Saying the Department of Conservation and Natural Resources faced significant challenges during 2009 like many families, Acting Secretary John Quigley said reduced funding in the 2009-10 budget forced the agency to make difficult choices and endure the painful separation of employees furloughed as a result of budget issues.

Here is his cover letter in the agency's 2009 annual report along with links to agency accomplishments last year.

Just like our nation, our state and many families across Pennsylvania, the Department of Conservation and Natural Resources faced great challenges during 2009 related to the economy. Our reduced budget required difficult choices and the pain of the separation or reduction in work of respected full-time colleagues and valued seasonal employees.

Yet with collective hard work from each and every DCNR employee, the department remained focused on its mission and true to the action plan outlined for the agency. We have many achievements and accomplishments in which we may take pride as we look back on 2009.

In October Pennsylvania’s state park system earned the National Gold Medal Award for Excellence in Park and Recreation Management, honoring excellence in long-range planning, resource management, volunteerism, environmental stewardship, program development and professional development. It is truly an honor to be chosen as the best-managed state park system in the nation.

Work continues on our innovative Nature Inn at Bald Eagle State Park and we anticipate meeting the schedule to open in summer 2010. We met the challenge of the loss of our original partner at the Elk Country Visitors Center in the Pennsylvania Wilds and look forward to celebrating the opening this year with our new partners, the Pennsylvania Parks and Forests Foundation and the Keystone Elk Country Alliance.

Our efforts in seven large landscapes and with county natural inventories and greenway planning are forming real connections with communities and helping them protect and create places that they treasure.

Pennsylvania’s new five-year Outdoor Recreation Plan shows a need to change the way policy-makers and communities approach outdoor recreation in light of a population that is increasingly urban, and whose children are spending less time outdoors. Tough economic times will challenge us to seek increased opportunities for partnership, strategic investments and coordinated programming.

We launched a first-of-its-kind website to help people search, view, map and share information on the thousands of miles of trails in Pennsylvania. New trails, and readily available information on existing pathways, always are ranked high in surveys about outdoor recreation. This new site is our response to those requests.

Despite tight time frames mandated by law, DCNR successfully concluded an initial assessment of geologic carbon dioxide storage potential with three reports on the geologic potential, a risk assessment, and an analysis of the economic viability of an integrated, multi-user carbon capture and storage system.

These achievements represent only a sampling of DCNR’s work. This year-end report reflects on our key programs and expands on our accomplishments in 2009.

With the continued dedication of our talented DCNR staff, we will continue to do our best to meet our mission with available resources while seeking innovative ways to work more efficiently, more effectively and more economically. We will continue to be the dedicated, energetic, and visionary national leaders in conservation that the women and men of DCNR have demonstrated themselves to be. It is an honor to serve with them.

Highlights of 2009 by each organizational goal--

--Improve Stewardships and Management of State Parks and Forests

--Promote Statewide Land Conservation

--Build and Maintain Attractive and Sustainable Communities

--Creative Outdoor Connections for Citizens and Visitors

--Building Capacity