The Headwaters Resource Conservation and Development Council Executive Director Dale Fox has announced the successful launch of a new initiative, the Headwaters Conservation Partnership, which enrolls local businesses and industries in the cause of conservation. Their first participant in the Headwaters Conservation Partnership is Northwest Savings Bank.
As members of the Headwaters Conservation Partnership, businesses donate to fund conservation projects in the partnership’s eight-county market area. Headwaters RC&D then leverages those donations, multiplying the funds available by applying for government grants and then administers the funds. Projects are chosen based on recommendations from County Conservation District and Planning Office RC&D Council representatives. If donors choose, they can specify which counties they would prefer their gifts to be applied or they may designate the funds to any and all areas. Donors will receive public credit as a partner for all projects approved during the 12 months following their donation.
Headwaters RC&D’s Executive Director Dale Fox and Chair Matt Marusiak, and Northwest Central Region President Jon Rockey made the announcement.
Fox stated, “The Headwaters Partnership is unique; we match community conservation needs in Cameron, Centre, Clearfield, Clinton, Elk, Jefferson, McKean and Potter Counties with charitable giving from private concerns of all kinds. Then we use our expertise to increase those funds through grants and apply them for the local good”.
Marusiak echoed her remarks. “The Headwaters Conservation Partnership is a great way to make real, on-the-ground projects happen that conserve our natural resources and help develop and maintain natural-resource related community projects such as greenways and rail-trails.”, he said. “There are new opportunities for charitable giving for conservation purposes”.
“We are a full-service community bank”, said Rockey, president of the Central Region of Northwest Savings Bank. “As a community bank, we take support of our home communities as one of our duties, so I am very proud that Northwest Savings Bank is the first member of the business community to join the Headwaters Conservation Partnership. I know we won’t be the last. Our donation will allow Headwaters to continue to expand its work with conservation, and that will benefit all of us who live and work in this eight-county area”.
The Headwaters RC&D Council board, which consists of representatives from each of the eight counties involved, including County Commissioners, County Planning Commission members, and County Conservation District representatives, decided to make the program as broad as possible, and to invite companies and small businesses of all types and sizes, as well as individuals, to participate as donors.
Headwaters RC&D believes that this is an innovative and effective partnership that enables a variety of companies to join in its efforts to conserve and restore the natural resources that people love and enjoy so much in Pennsylvania’s spectacular land of forests, rivers, farms and small towns. As Ms. Fox shares, “What better legacy can one bequeath to future generations than to leave the places that you have spent your life in better shape than when you arrived. We often say that natural resources can’t speak for themselves, but we do hear their cries when we see streams stained orange by acid mine drainage or unable to support fish due to acid rain, degraded farmland eroding into streams and rivers, or poorly managed forests. This is your chance to make a real difference”.
For more information about how to participate in the Headwaters Conservation Partnership, see Headwater’s web site at www.headwaterspa.org. A donation form can be downloaded from the Headwaters Conservation Partnership page.
Headwaters RC&D, established in 1975, is a regional non-profit organization that promotes quality of life and economic sustainability by restoring, protecting and enhancing natural and cultural resources in North Central Pennsylvania. Headwaters provides many services to the region including grant writing, project management, technical assistance, financial partnerships, conferences and workshops, and much more related to agriculture, forestry, water quality and community development in the heart of the Pennsylvania Wilds region