DCNR Acting Secretary Cindy Dunn honored by National Wildlife Federation

Cindy Adams Dunn, acting secretary of the Pennsylvania Department of Conservation and Natural Resources (DCNR), was honored on March 12 by the National Wildlife Federation (NWF) for her contributions and achievements in the environmental field. Her work to reduce carbon pollution, promote clean energy, and protect wildlife and their habitats from the risks of climate change has made her a recipient of the Women in Conservation Award, given to those deserving women that have shown exceptional leadership and dedication to conservation and climate action.

Dunn follows in the footsteps of other strong women who have had significant roles in the conservation movement, including fellow Pennsylvania native, Rachel Carson. Carson, most famously known for her book, Silent Spring, brought the environmental movement to mainstream America during the 1960s. Present-day environmental leader Gina McCarthy, the current Administrator of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), has taken the necessary steps forward to protect people and wildlife from the effects of climate change by proposing the agency’s Clean Power Plan, a standard to reduce industrial carbon pollution.

“Cindy is a true asset to the conservation community,” said Collin O’Mara, president and CEO of the National Wildlife Federation. “We at NWF believe that highlighting and bringing women into the environmental story is important to reach the common goal of protecting all people, communities, landscapes and our precious wildlife from the impacts of climate change.”

PennFuture is proud to be the Pennsylvania affiliate of the National Wildlife Federation.

Jennifer Quinn is central Pennsylvania outreach coordinator for PennFuture and is based in Harrisburg. She tweets @QuinnJen1.

Save Allegheny Mountain

In Somerset County, the Mountain Field and Stream Club has been hiking, hunting, fishing, and hosting community gatherings since 1936. The club owns 1,400 acres of beautiful, forested land on top of Allegheny Mountain, part of the 180-mile ridgeline known as the Allegheny Front. For decades, club members have helped care for the land by cutting trails, maintaining meadows, and stocking streams where they teach the next generation of kids to fish. 

Fall on the Mountain Field and Stream Club's land

The Club's property sits on top of the Pennsylvania Turnpike's Allegheny Tunnel. This winter, the Pennsylvania Turnpike Commission is expected to select a "preferred alternative" for its plan to expand Interstate 76. Three out of six possible routes involve abandoning the tunnel altogether and, instead, opening up a wide, v-shaped gash through the top of the mountain - and directly through the Mountain Field and Stream Club's forests - to allow for a multi-lane highway. 

PennFuture and the Mountain Field and Stream Club are working to ensure that the Turnpike Commission does not blow a hole through Allegheny Mountain. To learn more, visit savealleghenymountain.org

An open cut through the mountain would create an impassable barrier, fragmenting the landscape. The Allegheny Front extends across Pennsylvania and serves as a migration route not just for birds and mammals but for plant species as well. Furthermore, the Club's land is crossed by Deeter's Run, a tributary to the Raystown Branch of the Juniata River, where native brook trout are abundant. Wetlands, meadows and other essential wildlife habitat dot the property. The Turnpike Commission's proposal puts all of this at risk.  

An open cut in place of the Allegheny Tunnel would be an environmental disaster and could:

• Destroy hundreds of acres of vital forest habitat and wetlands 
• Eliminate important wildlife migration routes
• Risk harming a bat hibernaculum, home to the endangered Indiana bat 
• Damage two high-quality streams
• Threaten the source of Berlin Borough's public water supply

Want to get involved? E-mail Valessa Souter-Kline at souter-kline at pennfuture dot org.

Valessa Souter-Kline is western Pennsylvania outreach coordinator for PennFuture and is based in Pittsburgh. She tweets @ValessaSK.

Here we go again: Stop the new (old) industry bill that imperils state wildlife

In early March, strong citizen action from across our state stopped Pennsylvania House Bill 1576, which was driven by natural gas, coal, and oil interests.

HB1576 would have undermined the ability of Pennsylvania's wildlife management agencies to protect threatened and endangered species, and our best native trout streams.

PennFuture helped lead a diverse coalition of environmental, conservation, hunting, angling and recreation organizations opposed to HB 1576. This broad coalition generated thousands of e-mails, phone calls, letters, office visits and letters to the editor across the Commonwealth. 

Support for this bad bill greatly eroded in both the House Republican and House Democratic Caucuses as members heard from their constituents and grasped the fact that HB 1576 was an attack on science-driven wildlife management and essentially a solution in search of a problem.  

Now these industries are launching another attack -- essentially re-packaging the same bad ideas in a different bill. 

The same industries who couldn't take no for an answer have launched the 'Son of House Bill 1576' proposal that would similarly give political appointees the ability to second guess and veto decisions to list wildlife species as threatened or endangered, or to designate wild trout streams.

This proposal has yet to be formally introduced -- but it could be voted on by the House as early as the week of April 28. 

Please TAKE ACTION and urge your House member to oppose the 'Son of  House Bill 1576' that would give the oil, gas, and coal industries even wider latitude to destroy habitats and wildlife. 

We stopped this bill once, and we can stop it again -- with your help. 

We need to tell Harrisburg and the fossil fuel industry that enough is enough.

Andrew Sharp is PennFuture's Director of Outreach and is based in our Philadelphia office. He tweets @RexBainbridge.