ACTION ALERT
Here we go again. Thank you for making calls and keeping our legislators thus far from attempts to balance the budget on the backs of dedicated environmental funding sources. Unfortunately, it is looking like the Environmental Stewardship Fund, the Keystone Recreation, Park, and Conservation Fund and dedicated money for farmland preservation are all back on the table as potential methods to balance budget. As
you recall, these funds are important vehicles for community recreation and addressing
needs throughout the park and forest system. The legislature will be meeting throughout the weekend so please reach out today and through the weekend to express your support for these funds and their impact on the lands you love.
The Keystone Fund invests in conservation and recreation improvement projects in state parks and forests, and in libraries and historic preservation. A 2012 report by the Trust for Public Land showed that $1 invested in the Fund returns $7 in natural and business services to the Pennsylvania economy. Since 1993, the Keystone Fund has supported over 4,500 projects aross the Commonwealth, making Pennsylvania a better place to live, work, and play.
Additionally, the Keystone Fund was established by referendum vote passed overwhelmingly by the citizens of Pennsylvania specifically to create a dedicated funding source for these important assets.
The Growing Greener Environmental Stewardship Fund is likewise a dedicated fund that’s used for
environmental restoration and conservation as well as community revitalization projects. It is funded through tipping fee for trash as well as a bond and supports farmland preservation and watershed clean-up as well as rehabilitation of parks and forests, open space protection, and community recreation. it also supports wastewater treatment facilities.
As to farmland preservation funds, you might ask why we should care about that when our focus is the state parks and forests. Quite simply, farmland preservation supports open space preservation. Travel to your favorite state park or forest and you will see firsthand how the beauty of the land approaching the state parks and forests (and various components of them) can change when development encroaches too closely to the public lands we love.
Please email your state representatives and senators, as well as Governor Wolf, and call their Harrisburg offices now to urge them to oppose any transfers from these funds to balance the budget. Use your social media to spread this message and rally your friends and family to the cause. Finally, when you are out and about enjoying your state parks and forests this weekend, take pictures and share them to social media at #PABudget.
Our legislators must continue to hear that we care about our parks, forests, and recreation and that these funds - used for the purposes for which they were intended - make a big difference in people’s lives.
Marci Mowery, President
