The Pocono Forest and Waters Conservation Landscape Assistance Program Thursday announced the award of its 2015 mini-grants, according to the PA Environmental Council.  The grants were awarded to:

-- Anthracite Scenic Trails Association – Survey and title work for a proposed trail alignment of the Back Mountain Trail in Luzerne Borough to the Levee Trail System in Edwardsville Borough.

-- Rail Trail Council of NEPA – Purchase and installation of three bicycle racks and three picnic tables for D&H Trailheads and scenic areas along the Lackawanna River.

-- Diamond City Partnership – Creation of a modular wayfinding signage system to direct downtown visitors and improve access to and between downtown Wilkes‐Barre, the D&L Trail, the Susquehanna Water Trail, riverfront parks, and state parks and forests.

-- Live Well Luzerne/Wilkes-Barre Family YMCA – Development of parks, trails and river superhero characters and a Superparks! website to promote the benefits of public lands for environmental and personal health, and especially mental wellness throughout the conservation landscape.

-- Lackawanna Heritage Valley Authority – Creation and installation of directional signage and interpretive kiosks along the Lackawanna River Heritage Trail from Market Street to Green Ridge Street to educate trail users of the site’s environmental history and features, amenities nearby, the innovate natural play area, and trail map detailing points of interest, and connections ahead to improve the overall experience of trail users.

-- Delaware Highlands Conservancy – Creation of a short call to action video that draws parallels between the clarity and purity of our minds with the cleanliness of the water. The video will leverage an organized river clean‐up day with an interview with Gen Samten – a respected Buddhist monk‐ and visuals of the Delaware and Lackawaxen rivers. Viewers will be encouraged to share their own videos, pictures, and stories about how they protect water in the Upper Delaware River region.

-- Pike County Office of Community Planning – Update and printing of the extremely popular Pike Outdoors guide and development of an interactive mobile application to go along with the updated paper version.

-- Countryside Conservancy – Development of educational and informative signage in select areas along the Countryside Conservancy’s Trolley Trail. Signage pieces will depict actual scenes and/or historical postcards from the Northern Electric Trolley era.

-- Greater Hazleton Area Civic Partnership – Design and create a picnic area to enhance the trailhead of the Greater Hazleton Rails to Trails.

A review committee met and ranked the applicants using a grant scoring criteria to determine the selections.

Thanks to funding provided by the Department of Conservation and Natural Resources, the program was able to award a combined $60,000 to the mini-grantees, who have until August 31, 2016 to complete the projects.

Under the Pocono Forest and Waters Conservation Landscape, PEC has implemented a mini-grant program that funds projects that support the conservation landscape’s goals of conservation, connections, and community.

For more information, visit the Pocono Forest and Waters Conservation Landscape Assistance Program webpage.

7/27/2015