The Kiski-Conemaugh Stream Team, a program of the non-profit Conemaugh Valley Conservancy Inc., and Natural Biodiversity are seeking help this holiday season like many non-profit environmental groups.

Funding priorities have changed at the state and national level, so budgets have been slashed for environment, education, health and human services. This leaves more of the responsibility on us – to tend to our shared backyard garden, our home, our streams, and our quality of life.

You can help by supporting groups like the Kiski-Conemaugh Stream Team and Natural Biodiversity we profile here. But other nonprofit groups need your help as well: watershed groups, the PA Organization for Watersheds and Rivers, the Chesapeake Bay Foundation, Pennsylvania Environmental Council, the Pennsylvania Resources Council, Pennsylvania Audubon and many more.

To find watershed groups in your area to support, visit the Watershed Directory webpage from the PA Organization for Watersheds and River.

Profiles

The Stream Team and Natural Biodiversity programs were founded in 1999 in Western Pennsylvania out of public concern for conservation and preservation of our natural resources. Over the past eight years, these programs have continued to grow and strengthen, becoming leaders, models, and mentors in environmental education and remediation bringing over two million dollars to our local communities.

Both organizations reach over 100,000 people annually and have educated over 70,000 students and citizens from inception.

Natural Biodiversity focuses on controlling various invasive plant species that plague our local communities, and supports community engagement and education at each of its twenty public control demonstration sites. The group addresses the growing concerns of habitat loss by restoring beneficial native plant habitats to serve wildlife, communities, corporations, and schools.

One of the most important components of Natural Biodiversity is education through school programs, service learning, internships, citizen workshops, Kids’ Patch online and Outdoor Heritage; all of which instill environmental stewardship within the hearts, minds, and souls of our citizens including our most precious resource, children, who can make a positive difference in everyone’s future.

Additionally, Natural Biodiversity plays an intricate role in engaging over 600 citizens in environmental action within local communities through several volunteer opportunities including: National Wildlife Federation Habitat Stewards, Weed Whackers, Weed Watchers, and Streambank Stewards. With these and many other programs, Natural Biodiversity strives to foster increased awareness and meaningful environmental improvement.

The Kiski-Conemaugh Stream Team focuses on stream restoration, through sampling, monitoring, remediation projects, and environmental education in schools and communities. River and stream sampling activities coordinated by the Stream Team provide critical baseline and evaluation data for watershed associations, conservation districts, and other environmental partners to document the need for and impact of restoration efforts.

Together with these partners, the Stream Team seeks to reduce the devastation associated with decades of industrial degradation. Additionally, the Stream Team inspires the next generation of environmental stewards and encourages a proactive conservation ethic through its education and outreach program, which includes two Trout in the Classroom projects, Outdoor Heritage, outdoor discovery workshops, and numerous “hands-on” activities in our schools.

The Stream Team has been acknowledged as a model program and has been duplicated by similar groups throughout the Commonwealth.

Natural Biodiversity and the Stream Team are working together to organize Outdoor Heritage 2008. April is Outdoor Heritage Month, and will feature a multitude of community initiatives, ranging from family Earth Day events to service-oriented National Wildlife Week habitat plantings. Many area partners will be involved, including conservation districts, public officials, watershed associations, and more.

Outdoor Heritage, the hands-on education event for area schools, with a focus on grades 3 - 9, will take place April 24 and 25 at Summer’s Best Two Weeks, Quemahoning Lake, Somerset County. Through this event, students, educators and schools will become empowered to utilize the sciences and other disciplines to explore developing solutions to some of the most pressing environmental challenges of the day.

Despite Natural Biodiversity’s and the Kiski-Conemaugh Stream Team’s excellent track records, fiscal responsibility, and momentum within their programs, these local collaborative efforts are in urgent need of your financial support!

By donating to Natural Biodiversity and the Kiski-Conemaugh Stream Team you will be supporting your local communities, and most importantly, you will be supporting education and outreach activities that instill our children with a sense of awe and wonder for natural resources, laying the groundwork for a new generation of stewardship.

To inquire about making a donation or volunteering your time with these groups, please call 814-532-5049.

For more information, contact Kristin Sewak, Natural Biodiversity, by sending email to: ksewak@naturalbiodiversity.org or Melissa Reckner, Kiski-Conemaugh Stream Team, by sending email to: mreckner@kcstreamteam.org .

Links: PA Senior Environment Corps Ending Due to Lack of Funding

Environmental Groups Ask for Restoration of Growing Greener Fund

Final Budget Restores Some Environmental Funding Cuts, Not Big Ones

Environmental Funding Needs Highlighted by Chesapeake Bay Foundation

More Environmental Groups Express Concern About Environmental Funding

Restore $100 Million in Cuts/Diversions from Environmental Programs

Appropriations Committees Hear of Environmental Funding Challenges

Groups Concerned About State Environmental Funding, Federal Cuts Hurt States

Environmental Bond Bill Passes, Existing Environmental Funding Reallocated

DEP Budget Cuts “Run Deep,” Push is On for Growing Greener II

12/21/2007