Westmoreland County, PA – January 6, 2026 – More than 2,400 undeveloped forested acres located on Chestnut Ridge in Derry, Fairfield, and Ligonier townships in Westmoreland County are now permanently protected, thanks to the donations to the Western Pennsylvania Conservancy of land and a conservation easement on property owned by several local families. The property… Read More

Venango Township, PA – December 22, 2025– The Western Pennsylvania Conservancy announced today the permanent protection of 74 forested acres in Venango Township, Erie County. The land has added to the Conservancy’s now 1,138-acre West Branch French Creek Conservation Area. The property is primarily forest and wetlands, with frontage on West Branch French Creek and… Read More

Grove Township, PA – December 22, 2025– Hikers, hunters and anglers have additional forestland in Cameron County to explore and recreate on, thanks to the Western Pennsylvania Conservancy’s permanent protection of 183 acres, which were immediately conveyed to the PA Department of Conservation and Natural Resources (DCNR) Bureau of Forestry to be added to Elk… Read More

Winter’s first fluffy snow beckoned you to enjoy the downy flakes as you cleared the driveway. (It was good exercise, right?) By the sixth or seventh round of shoveling and scraping, snow’s magic has likely faded…but you can’t stand the thought of firing up the treadmill and slogging even one. more. mile. Get outdoors for… Read More

PITTSBURGH – October 30, 2025 – Officials from Pittsburgh Public Schools, the PNC Foundation and the Western Pennsylvania Conservancy, along with dozens of early childhood center students and their families, gathered yesterday to celebrate the completion of a new natural play space and outdoor classroom at PPS’ Spring Garden Early Childhood Center in Pittsburgh. The… Read More

Indiana, Pa. – October 23, 2025 – Traffic, brisk air and the threat of rain didn’t seem to slow seven volunteers from the Democratic Women of Indiana County and Pennsylvania American Water Company, along with staff from the Western Pennsylvania Conservancy on October 21 as they spruced up and planted shrubs, small trees and other… Read More

Pittsburgh, Pa. – October 20, 2025 – The board and staff of the Western Pennsylvania Conservancy are deeply saddened by the passing of longtime Conservancy Board Member Franklin Blackstone, Jr., who passed away on October 11, 2025. Franklin served as a member of the Conservancy board for 50 years, joining in 1975, and was a… Read More

Pittsburgh, Pa. – October 7, 2025 – Staff from the Western Pennsylvania Conservancy and PennDOT District 12, along with State Representative Leslie Rossi and Unity Township officials, gathered on October 3 to acknowledge the important collaboration and hard work to remediate and close a sinkhole in Unity Township, Westmoreland County. In winter 2023, the Conservancy… Read More