Westmoreland Conservation District

Serving Westmoreland County, Pennsylvania

The District’s offices and education center are in an historic barn that has been adapted with a variety of energy-saving and conservation materials.

The organization's most recent major project – GreenForge – is the first green rehabilitation of a commercial building in Westmoreland County.  GreenForge also demonstrates a variety of innovative conservation, alternative energy, and green building features, including: a roof planted with living green plants, solar power, geothermal heat, and recycled building materials

Mission

The Westmoreland Conservation District promotes, educates, and implements conservation principles through examples and programs. We encourage best management practices and voluntary compliance of laws. Our Board of Directors, professionals, and volunteers are committed to the leadership and service required in pursuing a better environment. We use our skills and talents, and the cooperation of our partners, to build a culture of responsible stewardship and sustainability.

History

The Westmoreland Conservation District was established in 1949, when local farmers, seeking help to conserve their soil and water resources, approached the Westmoreland County Commissioners.

As Westmoreland County has grown and changed in the 59 years since that founding, the District has responded with new programs to help ensure minimal impact on all aspects of the county’s natural wealth – its soils, forests, streams, and open space – as well as its valuable, productive farmland.

During the 1950s and 1960s, the District first expanded its efforts to include the broader-based issues of flood prevention, an inventory of county soils, anti-litter campaigns, and land-use planning.

When the 1970s brought increased urbanization to Westmoreland County, the District added programs to control sediment and manage stormwater. It is one of the few districts in the state to have a hydraulic engineer (PE) on staff.

In the 1980s and 1990s, the District undertook efforts to reduce non-point-source pollution, protect groundwater, manage solid waste, beautify highways, and provide quality recreation areas.

Since 2000, the District has focused many of its energies on education and outreach. It established a formal conservation education program, targeted to upper-level students and adults, and created a number of citizens advisory committees to help ensure that the District’s programs and services are relevant to the public’s needs. The organization also moved into its own building next door to its former location (Donohoe Center). This new location – an 1880s-era barn constructed with conservation technologies, recycled materials, and water-saving landscape practices – not only serves as the District’s headquarters, but also as a practical demonstration of conservation-in-action.

Currently, the organization is undertaking the GreenForge project to add a third building to this “conservation campus.” GreenForge, the first green rehabilitation of a commercial building in Westmoreland County, will be used to promote sustainable development and to provide low-cost office space for grassroots conservation, agricultural, and rural development organizations.

Future Challenges

This is an environmentally critical period for Westmoreland County. We are facing one of our biggest environmental challenges: rapid urbanization – particularly along Westmoreland County’s Route 22 and 30 corridors – that is fast turning farmland into strip malls and putting more pressure than ever on streams to handle the runoff from this growing number of paved surfaces. An informed and participatory citizenry is critical to determining the future of the county and to striking a balance between the population’s need for goods, services, and buildings...and the desire to retain open space, heritage, resources, and quality of life.