The Keystone 10 Million Trees Partnership sees 2021 as a year of exponential growth.

“We have locked in contracts to significantly expand tree production for 2021 and 2022,” Partnership Manager Brenda Sieglitz said. “We are working diligently with our 167 partners to find homes for the 210,000 trees in 2021 (over 144,500 in the Spring) and 500,000 trees in 2022.

“We are engaging agriculture landowners in south-central Pennsylvania who are able to convert land from crops and agriculture to tree plantings along riparian areas,” Sieglitz added. “We need our partners’ help in finding more land for trees for this year and beyond.”

Though partners are glad to bid farewell to 2020, conservation calluses had silver linings during a COVID-19 year.

“One of our biggest accomplishments of 2020 was to put together a joint professional contract for 50 acres of riparian buffer plantings that would have otherwise been delayed until volunteer help could be utilized,” Sarah Xenophon of the Penn State Ag and Environment Center wrote in the new partnership blog in January, under PARTNERS at tenmilliontrees.org.

“This not only alleviated our volunteer restrictions, but also provided us an opportunity to try a new logistical management plan and support conservation contractors who truly needed the work in the fall.

“It’s obvious that these special circumstances pushed us to think above our regular timelines and outside of our regular avenues of operation, truly fast-tracking innovation,” Xenophon added.

The Lebanon Valley Conservancy (TLVC) knows that partnership and preservation can change the landscape.

“The partnership has evolved beyond planting trees and has rooted relationships in our community,” TLVC Executive Director Laurie Crawford wrote in the partnership blog for February.

“Partnering with our easement owners helps to protect our investment and enhance the conservation values of the properties,” Crawford continued.

“As we moved to years two and three with the partnership, I noticed new landowners, with hundreds of acres of valuable lands with forest, streams, and open space, were interested in planting trees,” Crawford said. “Following up with them after the plantings gave us an opportunity to talk about easements and protection of the valuable ecological treasures on their properties.”

To learn more visit tenmilliontrees.org.

We didn’t have water bodies in my childhood neighborhood. We had bridges, yes—but our bridges spanned railroad tracks that flowed through impervious fields. I loved jumping in puddles before sewers took rainwater “somewhere” else. It’s no wonder that I wanted to build urban infrastructure when I grew up.

I learned—in school—water’s criticality to every aspect of a thriving society—economic, social, health, environment. I had to wait until college though because my K-12 curriculum didn’t include these lessons. Many classmates are still unaware of the connections of clean water to their daily lives. Thankfully, that changed for me after we threw our caps.

Since 2002, Pennsylvania students and teachers have benefited from environment and ecology standards in state-wide curricula; advancing students’ environmental literacy, preparing them for future careers, and engaging in investigations that develop critical thinking skills, problem solving abilities, and job readiness.

But that could all change. In a glaring oversight, newly proposed science education standards in Pennsylvania could eliminate all of these requirements.

In the future, we will be sharing information about these changes. Join us in calling for important changes needed in the science education standards during the public comment period.

News & Notes From the Pennsylvania Office of the Chesapeake Bay Foundation WINTER 2021

Keystone 10 Million Trees PartnershipLooking Forward to a Year of Growth

From the Desk of Shannon GorityPENNSYLVANIA DIRECTOR

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The Keystone 10 Million Trees Partnership is looking for homes for 210,000 trees in 2021.

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Revived Agriculture Cost-Share Bill Could Highlight Legislature’s New Two-Year SessionCBF and partners are anticipating legislation in the state Senate that will offer financial support that farmers in Pennsylvania want and need so they can keep soil on the land, reduce polluted runoff into local streams, and protect their long-term viability.

During the last legislative session, State Senator Gene Yaw (R-Lycoming) introduced Senate Bill 1272, to establish the Agricultural Conservation Assistance Program (ACAP) and target funding for local farms through their county conservation districts.

While SB1272 did not pass before the end of the session, Senator Yaw plans to re-introduce similar legislation in the new session that opened in January.

“Given the challenges of meeting a 2025 deadline to have all practices in place to meet the Chesapeake Bay clean-up plan, now is the time for Pennsylvania to enact legislation that will provide a roadmap for meeting those goals,” Senator Yaw said.

“Farmers are willing to do the right thing and conservation districts are standing by to help. But both lack the resources. We thank Senator Yaw for an important first step,” said Shannon Gority, CBF Executive Director in Pennsylvania. “Everyone wants agriculture to succeed and it is long past time that it gets the resources and technical assistance to finish the job. Our economy, health, heritage, and quality of life depend on it.”

CBF, Pennsylvania Farm Bureau, and Penn State Agriculture and Environmental Center worked jointly to propose the program that would direct funding to conservation districts, and provide the needed technical assistance to farms and the flexibility to determine conservation practices specific to local needs.

ACAP is the agricultural cost-share program Pennsylvania sorely needs to get the Commonwealth back on track toward meeting its clean-water goals.

BY KASSIE FENN

A year ago, CBF educators found themselves asking the question, “How do we continue to Learn Outside during a global pandemic?” The answer is by create engaging and experiential watershed educational opportunities for students and teachers, virtually!

As of February, thousands of students throughout Pennsylvania, Maryland, and Virginia have joined CBF educators online, for locally focused environmental instruction and guided investigations designed to provide students the opportunity to discover our regionally unique species and ecosystems.

This spring we’re launching five new lessons for the Online Watershed Learning (OWL) Program, continuing to guide students in examining the most pressing environmental challenges of the watershed and inspiring them to take action to face these challenges in their communities!

Building connections to our commitment to Learn Outside, CBF takes a vested and demonstrable interest in education here in the Keystone State. We’ve been actively engaged in the review of the Pennsylvania State Science Standards and are encouraging the inclusion of a requirement that all students learn about the Commonwealth’s Environment, Ecology, and Agriculture.

The advancement of environmental literacy is crucial in supporting students in developing

the critical-thinking and problem-solving skills necessary to confront the numerous environmental problems we face.

The importance and value of environmental literacy and education cannot be understated, and we need your help. Please send a message today to the Pennsylvania Department of Education, www.education.pa.gov, urging them to include specific and meaningful standards for Environment, Ecology, and Agriculture in the science standards.

Kassie Fenn is Student Leadership and Education Manager for CBF in Pennsylvania.

To help students to Learn Outside during a global pandemic, CBF is launching five new lessons for the Online Watershed Learning (OWL) Program this spring.

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Students Continue to Learn Outside Duringthe Pandemic Through CBF’s OWL Online

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The Keystone 10 Million Trees Partnership awarded its first Mira Lloyd Dock Partnership Diversity Awards to Rafiyqa Muhammad, left, of Harrisburg and Kristen Thomas, right, of Lancaster. The women were recognized for their conservation and urban beautification work in under-represented portions of their communities. The partnership awards include $5,000 worth of trees and supplies each, to Muhammad and Thomas to be applied to work in their cities.

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A grant from the National Fish and Wildlife Foundation (NFWF) will provide CBF with nearly $2 million in investments to support planting and maintenance of 360 acres of new trees and boost efforts in eight Pennsylvania counties toward achieving local plans for cleaner water.

NFWF grants are made through the Chesapeake Bay Stewardship Fund, funded primarily by the Environmental Protection Agency and through the Chesapeake Bay Program.

CBF will administer the three-year NFWF grant of $975,000 and a matching amount of $977,880.

The grant will be used to engage, train, and certify 15-20 private sector landscape professionals in buffer installation and maintenance, doubling and potentially tripling the workforce on the ground.

The grant will provide nine trained technicians to assist priority counties in outreach and education to 2,400 landowners within Adams, Bedford, Centre, Cumberland, Franklin, Lancaster, Lebanon, and York Counties.

The Pennsylvania Department of Conservation and Natural Resources Riparian Forest Buffer Advisory Committee will help coordinate the NFWF grant to CBF.

Investments by the Keystone 10 Million Trees Partnership will be in the form of technical assistance, trees, supplies, and forward contracting of maintenance activities on the 360 acres.

This project will also test a new incentive program with simulated property tax relief for each acre of buffer installed.

Chesapeake Bay Landscape Professionals will create a certification program and a one-day workshop on buffer maintenance for 17-20 contractors. CBF will contract with those who go through the training.

CBF issued this statement from Pennsylvania Executive Director Shannon Gority, in response to Governor Tom Wolf’s $37.8 billion General Fund budget proposal for fiscal year 2021-22.

Ms. Gority said:

“In his budget address, Governor Wolf asked us to ‘Imagine, no more chronic underfunding’ when referring to investments in education. At CBF, we have been imagining what it would be like to have no more chronic underfunding of Pennsylvania’s commitment to clean water.

“This while the public health, social, and economic costs of Pennsylvanians living with over 25,000 miles of polluted rivers and streams continue to grow.

“Unfortunately, this proposal does little to help the Commonwealth change course from being significantly behind in meeting its clean-water goals. It remains unclear how the state will close the over $320 million annual shortfall in investments needed to achieve its Clean Water Blueprint by 2025.

“In the coming months as Governor Wolf and the legislature work toward a final budget, we urge them not to raid 13 dedicated environmental and conservation funds, that support critical clean water efforts like Growing Greener, in order to fill gaps in the General Fund to pay the state’s bills.

“We similarly urge them to recognize the linkages of water quality, climate change, economic distress, and social unrest and to fund programs that can improve all four—such as the planting of forested

riparian buffers and other agricultural best management practices.

“When considering COVID relief strategies, investments in agricultural and environmental infrastructure will put people to work, provide demand for small businesses, clean up water and air pollution, and combat climate change.

“Clean water is critical to the health, wellbeing, and quality of life of all Pennsylvanians and a lot of work lies ahead. It is time our elected leaders act on that.

“CBF looks forward to working with the Governor and legislators toward a legacy of clean water for future generations.”

CBF feels the Keystone State’s budget proposal does little to help the Commonwealth change course from being significantly behind in meeting clean water goals.

Pennsylvania’s Proposed Budget Does Littlefor Chronic Underfunding for Clean Water

Those renewing their Pennsylvania driver’s licenses or vehicle registrations online can make voluntary $3 donations to the new Keystone Restricted Account Fund. Those donations will help to pay for more trees to be planted in the Commonwealth through the state Department of Conservation and Natural Resources.

DidYouKnow?

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NFWF Grant to CBF Will Lead to 360 Acres of New Trees in Eight Pennsylvania Counties

PENNSYLVANIA1426 North Third Street Suite 220Harrisburg, PA 17102717-234-5550

PHILIP MERRILLENVIRONMENTAL CENTER6 Herndon Avenue Annapolis, MD 21403 410-268-8816 888-SAVE-BAY

C B F . O R G T EN M I L L I O N T R EE S .O RG

By SHANNON GORITY

More trees will be planted, streambanks stabilized, and local businesses supported thanks to $34 million in Growing Greener grants made to 149 local water quality improvement projects, announced by Pennsylvania’s Department of Environmental Protection.

Growing Greener has been funding watershed restoration projects for 20 years, since Pennsylvania Governor Tom Ridge signed a bill establishing it at $650 million over five years. Sadly, funding for Growing Greener’s Environmental Stewardship Fund (ESF) has decreased by 75 percent, from an average of $200 million per year since the mid-2000s, to about $60 million in 2016.

The ESF is the source for much of these Growing Greener grants. Some of the grants also came from the federal Acid Mine Drainage Set Aside and Surface Mining Conservation and Reclamation Act Bond Forfeitures.

These grants are also growing greener bank accounts as investments benefit local job markets and economies.

Land surveyors, appraisers, scientists, engineers, planners, drafters, hydrologists, geologists, and agricultural consultants who have families to feed will benefit from these 149 local projects.

Let’s not forget the plant nurseries, architects, landscapers, carpenters, electricians, heavy equipment operators, fencing installers, paving contractors, arborists, and others who have bills to pay. Some businesses may even add jobs.

Growing Greener funds support projects on more than 55,000 family farms.

Clearly, Growing Greener investments are a win-win for local water quality, those who make it happen on the ground, and natural resources we all share.

This year, CBF’s assessment of the State of the Bay remained at a D+ grade, but declined by one point from the 2018 report. While concerning, the decline is largely due to ineffective management of the Bay’s striped bass population, as opposed to other water-quality concerns.

Of the 13 indicators CBF assesses, four showed declines. Despite several years of assaults to environmental protections and flagging political will, most water-quality measures are showing improvements.

But there is hope.

“President-elect Biden has long been a reliable partner in Bay restoration efforts, and we are optimistic that the new administration will take the protection of water quality and human health more seriously,” said

CBF President William Baker. “Pollution is not just a problem here in the Bay, it is a problem around the world. This is a historic opportunity to demonstrate to the world that by following the science, we can save a national treasure.”

Shannon Gority, CBF Executive Director in Pennsylvania, said “The Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection’s latest biennial report lists 25,468 miles of our waters, 5,500 miles more than in its 2016 report, as being damaged by pollution.”

Gority added that, “As the miles of polluted waters continue to grow, it is past time for elected officials at the state and federal levels to provide the leadership, funding, and technical support needed to get the Keystone State back on track toward reaching its Clean Water Blueprint goals by 2025.

“The new year is one of opportunities for legislators to have positive impact on the quality of our air and water, and the health and economic welfare of all Pennsylvanians, by including agricultural and environmental infrastructure in COVID relief strategies,” Gority said. “Investments in these sectors will put people to work, provide demand for small businesses, clean up water and air pollution, and combat climate change.

“Farmers in the Keystone State have shown they are willing to invest their time, land, and effort to restore and protect local rivers and streams,” Ms. Gority added, “but they cannot pay for it all themselves.”

In CBF’s latest State of the Bay report, most water quality measures in the watershed are showing improvements.

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While CBF’s State of the Bay Report ScoreHas Dropped Slightly, There is Still Hope

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More and more CBF members are including CBF in their charitable or estate plan. Why? Because the greatest story of environmental recovery ever cannot be told in one generation, and the Bay’s restoration is a story that must go on.

To make your very best gift, consider all your assets—cash, stock, real estate, retirement accounts, life insurance policies, etc. Then give us a call or speak with your personal advisors about creative gift options like gifts in your will, living trusts, beneficiary

designations, or even gifts that pay you income. Charitable trusts or gift annuities are good examples.

Even those who can’t make a large cash gift now can have a significant impact on CBF’s mission and the future health of Pennsylvania’s rivers and streams.

To request a booklet or learn more about planned gifts, visit cbf.org/planned-giving or contact Lane Whigham at 717-204-4040 or LWhigham@cbf.org.

Get Creative With Your Giving—Think CBF

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Growing Greener Grants Are a Win-Winfor Local Economiesand the Environment