From PennFuture (http://www.pennfuture.org):
This is a HUGE deal!
We are overjoyed to let you know about $884.75 million included in the just-passed state budget that will have impacts on clean water, green spaces, parks, energy efficiency, and Pennsylvania’s communities for generations to come. This is truly a generational opportunity for Pennsylvania and its residents.
The first big win came in the form of $696 million for the new State Parks and Outdoor Recreation Program – formerly known as the Growing Greener program – as well as the new Clean Streams Fund. The inclusion of this funding in the budget is the culmination of years of hard work and determination from PennFuture and our partner organizations who never stopped advocating on behalf of our parks, green spaces and natural resources.
Since its inception in 1999, the program formerly known as Growing Greener has funded hundreds of local parks and trail projects, conserved more than 80,000 acres of threatened open space, and restored hundreds of miles of streams and waterways. The program has also protected more than 78,000 acres of farmland, restored more than 1,600 acres of abandoned mines, and helped reduce flooding and water pollution through 400 watershed protection projects and more than 100 drinking and wastewater treatment improvements.
What exactly does this funding mean for Pennsylvania? It means conserving and remediating our precious land and water resources. It means reducing flooding and cleaning our polluted waterways. It means investing in our communities by funding parks, greenways and trails in communities across Pennsylvania at a time when we need it most.
The money included in the budget will also create a new Clean Streams Fund to tackle water pollution from nonpoint sources such as agriculture runoff and drainage from abandoned mines. Specifically, this new Fund will establish new programs and give a boost to existing programs. It would create the Agricultural Conservation Assistance Program to help farmers and the Municipal Stormwater Assistance Program to provide funding to local governments to manage stormwater.
PennFuture, along with countless other organizations and partners, has advocated for funding for Growing Greener III and the Clean Streams fund for years, and we are overjoyed that lawmakers in Harrisburg got both items across the finish line in this year’s budget.
In addition to the $696 million for the State Parks and Outdoor Recreation Program, we are overjoyed that $63.75 million was included in the budget for critical agencies like the Department of Environmental Protection, the Department of Conservation and Natural Resources, the Department of Agriculture, and the commissions that are tasked with protecting and preserving our river basins. Those increases will directly result in more staffing, more programming and enhancements to outdoor spaces and clean water that Pennsylvanians cherish the most.
These victories don’t belong solely to PennFuture, but also to the millions of Pennsylvanians who cherish clean air, clean water and open spaces that offer the opportunity to reflect on the natural beauty of our Commonwealth. PennFuture thanks each elected official who helped secure this funding, and we eagerly anticipate watching these investments reverberate for years to come.
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