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"Whoa" also is the word for the passage of the budget in Harrisburg last week and the incredibly welcome news that all of your efforts helped to secure:
- $100 million to an Outdoor Recreation Program to be managed by the DCNR for State Parks and Forest infrastructure, conservation, and recreation projects (including three new state parks);
- $220 million to a newly created Clean Streams Fund;
- $320 million to Commonwealth Financing Authority for water, sewer, flood, and high hazard dam projects.
The PA Outdoor Corps is secure with a clean extension of the Reemployment Fund through the Department of Labor & Industry that provides much of their funding; critical agencies like DEP, DCNR, and Agriculture also received support for additional staffing, programming, and improvements.
If you made a call, wrote an email, authored an op/ed piece, or otherwise made your feelings known in support of the parks and forests, you are due - and hereby receive - hearty thanks!
The key initiative for PPFF this week is Latino Conservation Week, kicking off tomorrow. Our partners in the Bureaus of State Parks and Forests have done a great job in organizing an exciting slate of activities over the next week and we thank them for their energy. Thanks, too, to the Latino Connection and our board member George Fernandez for agreeing to bring CATE to Beltzville and Neshaminy this week for mobile health and vaccination clinics, and to board member Maria Montero for assisting us with interpretation.
From bilingual story trails to paddle events and hikes, with furry critters and lots of fun, this is an exciting program. Check out ppff.events/lcw to get in on the act.
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