HARRISBURG – An innovative series of speakers intended to engage citizens in conserving the South Mountain region’s natural landscapes by exploring lessons from the past will begin the evening of Feb. 18, at the Woods Center at the Capitol Theatre, in Chambersburg.
The event, including a reception at 6 p.m. and a lecture at 7 p.m., is free and open to the public.
Entitled “South Mountain: The Cradle of Conservation,” the lecture will be given by Susan Rimby, chair of the Department of History and Philosophy at Shippensburg University. It will be followed by a panel discussion of notable conservationists from the region to talk about protecting the landscape today and in the future.
“Pennsylvania has a long and compelling history of conservation,” Department of Conservation and Natural Resources acting Secretary John Quigley said. “Inspired by the state and the nation’s early conservation leaders and their struggles, this series seeks to put today’s environmental issues into a broader context and inspire action within our communities.”
The series is organized in the spirit of the Michaux Lectures, a series of talks given by Joseph Rothrock during the late 19th century as part of his work to protect and restore Pennsylvania’s forests and natural landscape. His educational mission became a catalyst for lasting change in the state’s environmental history.
Rothrock, a Pennsylvania native, was a pioneer in forest management in the United States and is often referred to as the commonwealth’s “Father of Forestry.”
Rimby’s presentation will explore how concerned citizens in organizations like the Pennsylvania State Federation of Women’s Clubs and the Pennsylvania Forest Association lobbied for the funds to establish a state park system; reforest South Mountain; and create a school to train professional foresters — one that still exists at Penn State Mont Alto.
“The panel that follows the lecture will encourage a new generation to find in the past a positive vision for the future of South Mountain,” said Allen Dieterich-Ward, an assistant professor of history at Shippensburg University and the chair of the South Mountain Partnership committee on the speaker series.
“Future lectures will be held at different locations throughout the region, and will explore issues such as food and sustainability, valuing our forests, the Appalachian Trail, the region’s impact on the Chesapeake Bay and the connection between events like the Civil War and the landscape.”
The presentation is a program of the Pennsylvania Humanities Council supported in part by the National Endowment for the Humanities and its “We the People” initiative.
On Feb. 19, community leaders from throughout the South Mountain region will attend a summit to discuss ways to enhance its “sense of place” and expand the region’s economy by capitalizing on its natural and cultural resources. The summit will be held at the Penn Township Fire Hall in Newville from 8:30 a.m. to 3:30 p.m.
The first South Mountain Speakers Series is part of the region’s Conservation Landscape Initiative—a DCNR effort to engage communities, local partners, state agencies and funding opportunities to conserve the high-quality natural and cultural resources while enhancing the region’s economic viability.
The South Mountain Conservation Landscape Initiative—one of seven such regional initiatives in the state—encompasses Adams, Cumberland, Franklin and York counties. The South Mountain Partnership working on the initiative, led by DCNR and the Appalachian Trail Conservancy with many others, promotes and hopes to encourage economic growth and revitalize local communities based on the abundance of recreational and heritage tourism opportunities.
South Mountain is at the northern end of the Blue Ridge Mountains. Communities in the 400,000-acre region have thrived off fertile limestone agricultural lands, the timber that fed iron furnaces, plentiful game and wildlife, and abundant pure spring water that is captured by the mountains’ permeable soils and released into the valleys. A rich cultural heritage exists in communities like Gettysburg, Chambersburg and Carlisle, and many smaller communities.
For more information, visit here or call the Appalachian Trail Conservancy at 717-258-5771.