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Celebrate 20 Years of ESF and Advocate!

This week, the Environmental Stewardship Fund—known as Growing Greener—celebrates 20 years of protecting clean water, reducing flooding, conserving and restoring land, and improving parks and trails.

On December 15, 1999, Governor Ridge signed the bipartisan legislation that established the Environmental Stewardship Fund (ESF) to support projects to improve water quality, reduce flooding, preserve open space and farmland, restore damaged land, and enhance outdoor recreation.

In the 20 years since, ESF grants have improved the lives of millions of Pennsylvanians while revitalizing communities and boosting our state’s economy. As we celebrate this landmark, we can’t lose sight of the fact that there’s much more work to do.There are still more than 19,000 miles of rivers and streams unsafe for drinking, swimming, fishing, and boating.

State parks and forests require nearly $1 billion in necessary repairs.

More than 200,000 acres of abandoned mine lands and thousands of brownfield sites pollute our water and threaten human health and safety.

And the list goes on.

Please contact your state senators and representatives this week in honor of the anniversary, and:

  1. Explain the importance of the ESF to your community. (Find specific ESF projects here.)
  2. Let them know that with the huge problems facing Pennsylvania, and local projects in need of funding, a strong ESF is needed more than ever.
  3. Ask them to increase state environmental investments for 2020–2021, including boosting ESF.
Thank you.

Budget Wrap-Up

In the depths of winter, the Administration proposed repurposing the Keystone Recreation, Park and Conservation Fund and the Environmental Stewardship Fund (ESF): $30 million of Keystone Fund monies that would normally be invested in on-the-ground projects would instead be redirected to pay for the general operations of DCNR. Likewise, $16 million of ESF monies would be repurposed to pay for general operations at DEP and other agencies.

In the ensuing months, many of us worked to educate the Administration, senators, and representatives on what a bad proposal this was. Thank you to all who acted. You made a difference in the 2019-2020 state budget.

However, we have a lot of challenging work ahead of us. Here’s a summary of the budget outcomes:

  • The Keystone Fund was left untouched.
  • The Environmental Stewardship Fund was whacked:
    • $16 million for project investments were redirected to pay for government operations in 2019-2020.
    • The fiscal code included an amendment to the ESF’s enabling act so that the General Assembly can also take money in future budget years without having to go to the trouble of amending the ESF’s enabling act like it did this year; this greases the skids for future trouble. The temptation will now be stronger to push government operating expenses into the ESF in future budget years.

There are other items—good and bad:

  • The REAP tax credit gets a $3 million boost to help farmers put in place best management practices to protect waterways.
  • Once again, a large portion ($38 million) of the Oil and Gas Lease Fund was tapped to fund general DCNR operations. This may be unconstitutional, but the courts will have to resolve that. (The courts could find that all Oil and Gas Lease Fund money, which is the income the state receives from leasing State Forest land for drilling, must be reinvested directly into the public lands affected by the drilling.)
  • $2.25 million that was previously provided to Heritage Areas out of general tax dollars will now be paid out of ESF.
  • The Budget Secretary was given the power to redirect up to $45 million of each special fund (Keystone and ESF are just two of many special funds in state government) to pay for DEP and DCNR operations. Although the Governor’s office tells us that no such redirection is contemplated for Keystone and ESF, we will have to be perpetually on guard against changes in thinking.
  • The amendment to SB 575 promoted by the Growing Greener Coalition, which would have permanently relieved the ESF from paying debt service (presently $20 million annually) on Growing Greener 2 bonds, was not considered.

(For a more detailed look at environmental spending in the budget, check out David Hess’s PA Environment Digest Blog.)

So, what does $16 million in lost ESF project investments cost Pennsylvania? $16 million could have been used to:

  • Install and maintain 3,200 acres of riparian forest buffer to clean up our streams and rivers; or
  • Restore to life 51 miles of streams harmed by abandoned mine drainage; or
  • Permanently protect 5333 acres of productive farmland—67 80-acre farms; or
  • Take any number of other measures to improve our water quality, reduce flooding, protect wildlife, or create outdoor recreational opportunities.

The Environmental Stewardship Fund was established to fund projects that make lasting improvements in communities. Among its other activities, the Growing Greener Coalition will work in the coming months to refocus the Administration’s and legislators’ attention on this purpose. The Coalition will also work to communicate on the big picture issue that elected officials are ignoring $100s of millions in conservation investment needs.

Again, thank you to all who advocated for the Keystone Recreation, Park and Conservation Fund and the Environmental Stewardship Fund this year. Best wishes for this summer season.

Sincerely

Andrew M. Loza
Executive Committee member, Growing Greener Coalition
Executive Director, Pennsylvania Land Trust Association

Urgent: Protect Environmental Stewardship Fund

The 2019-2020 state budget that legislative leaders and Governor Wolf are moving to complete in the next few days includes a roughly $10 million diversion of Environmental Stewardship Fund (ESF) project investments to pay for government operations. A $10 million loss for Pennsylvania’s natural resources may not seem so bad to them given the much larger cuts proposed in February’s executive budget. Nevertheless, Pennsylvania shouldn’t be cutting $10 million from the environment when research demonstrates that the state is already underinvesting in environmental needs by $100s of millions each year.

  1. Call Governor Wolf’s office at 717-787-2500. Urge his office to work with legislative leaders to undo this $10 million loss for ESF projects. Thank them for the Governor’s leadership in seeking to boost environmental funding through his Restore PA proposal, but also tell them that present environmental project funding shouldn’t be cut—not at all, that we shouldn’t move backward—while working to get Restore PA passed.
  2. Call your state senator and representative and also tell them to undo the $10 million loss for Environmental Stewardship Fund projects—taking action any way they can. Point out to them that the General Assembly also needs to take leadership in addressing the annual multi-hundred million dollar shortfall in environmental investments. Ask them to take up these issues with their House and Senate leaders.

Resources and Background

Check out today’s Coalition letter to Pennsylvania legislators and Governor Wolf on this subject.

Why act now? Because the House will probably vote today and the Senate will probably vote soon after

See the Growing Greener Coalition’s website, https://pagrowinggreener.org for past Coalition communications and background material.

Visit GrowingGreener.info to learn more about how the projects funded by the Environmental Stewardship Fund benefit communities across Pennsylvania.

Find your legislators here.

Open Letter to Governor Wolf and Members of the General Assembly, 6/25/19

On June 25, the Growing Greener Coalition sent the following letter to Governor Wolf and members of the General Assembly concerning a budget proposal to divert roughly $10 million from potential Environmental Stewardship Fund project investments. View the PDF here.

The Environmental Stewardship Fund was established to make environmental investments—to fund on-the-ground projects—not to pay for government operations. The need for a robust Environmental Stewardship Fund has never been greater given Pennsylvania’s billions of dollars of project needs:

  • to reduce destructive flooding, restore waterways to productive life, and protect drinking water
  • to address the Chesapeake Bay watershed, MS4, and other regulatory requirements that aim to achieve the same; and
  • to rehabilitate state park and forest infrastructure and county and local park facilities, support farmland preservation, and more.

Why, given this tremendous need, does the proposed budget divert roughly $10 million in potential ESF project investments to pay for government operations?

This spring, Pennsylvania’s watershed implementation plan for the Chesapeake identified a $257 million/year shortfall to restore water quality. This number doesn’t include needs in the Delaware, Ohio, and other river basins or non-water environmental infrastructure needs. Why are you on the verge of cutting $10 million from environmental projects when annual funding needs to be expanded by $100s of millions?

The pending budget expands the Rainy Day Fund. Pennsylvania is having plenty of rainy days—causing all manner of flooding problems. At a time when the State is proposing to increase the Rainy Day Fund, why would it cut funding for ESF investments? ESF will deliver on-the-ground results for communities now, and help us avoid future costs from water pollution and property damage.

Governor Wolf and members of the General Assembly, the Growing Greener Coalition requests that you:

  • Adjust the final 2019-2020 budget to ensure that there is no loss of new funding for environmental projects.
  • Move administrative expenses charged to ESF back into the General Fund.
  • Work to address the state’s multi-hundred-million-dollar annual shortfall in environmental investments—whether through Restore PA, some variation on it, or other funding mechanisms.

For more information, please don’t hesitate to reach out to the people and organizations of the Coalition including:

Chesapeake Bay Foundation
Harry Campbell, PA Executive Director
[email protected]

Conservation Voters of PA
Joshua McNeil, Executive Director
[email protected]org

Foundation for Pennsylvania Watersheds
John Dawes, Executive Director
[email protected]

Lancaster Farmland Trust
Jeffrey Swinehart, Chief Operating Officer
[email protected]lancasterfarmlandtrust.org

Natural Lands
Oliver P. Bass, President
[email protected]

PennFuture (Citizens for Pennsylvania’s Future)
Jacquelyn Bonomo, President & CEO
[email protected]

Pennsylvania Environmental Council
John Walliser, Senior Vice President
[email protected]

Pennsylvania Land Trust Association
Andrew M. Loza, Executive Director
[email protected]

Pennsylvania Park and Forest Foundation
Marci Mowery, President
[email protected]

Pennsylvania Recreation and Park Society
Tim Herd, CEO
[email protected]

Sierra Club PA Chapter
Joanne Kilgour, Chapter Director
[email protected]

The Conservation Fund
Kyle D. Shenk, Pennsylvania State Director
[email protected]

The Nature Conservancy, PA Chapter
Ronald L. Ramsey, Senior Policy Advisor
[email protected]

The Trust for Public Land
Owen Franklin, PA State Director
[email protected]

Trout Unlimited
David Kinney, Eastern Policy Director
[email protected]

Western Pennsylvania Conservancy
Cynthia Carrow, Vice President
[email protected]

Make Your Voice Heard

“Silence is the voice of complicity.” I’m reluctant to use this maxim, knowing that good people face many obstacles to voicing their concerns: shyness, uncertainty as to facts, burnout from years of seemingly talking to brick walls. Nevertheless, in Harrisburg, silence is in effect a position—a tacit endorsement of wherever the status quo is heading.

In the coming weeks, your state legislators will choose whether to build on past constructive efforts to help Pennsylvania communities by restoring waterways to productive life, reducing flooding, repairing parks, and conserving land—or backslide by diverting money from state funds that were established specifically to fund these efforts.

Your state senators and representatives need to hear from you. Silence tells them that you don’t care deeply about conservation of our natural and recreational resources—that they should focus their energies and state monies elsewhere. Don’t let this happen. Reach out and tell them to:

  1. Support the new green investments called for in the Governor’s Restore Pennsylvania proposal; and
  2. Oppose any budget that would divert money from the community and conservation investments made by the Keystone Recreation, Park and Conservation Fund and the Environmental Stewardship Fund. (More about the budget threats here.)

Also, please distribute this message to your friends, family, and colleagues (or use parts of it as you see fit).

Thanks for caring.

Andrew M. Loza

Executive Committee Member, Growing Greener Coalition

Executive Director, Pennsylvania Land Trust Association

Background and Resources

Find your legislators here

Summary of Restore PA’s conservation and environmental components

Information about budget threats to the Keystone Fund and Environmental Stewardship Fund

Information about the Keystone Recreation, Park and Conservation Fund

Information about the Environmental Stewardship Fund

Call Now. Tomorrow’s Too Late for Environment.

Please call your state senator today, preferably now, and urge them to support the pending Killion amendment to SB 575: A02156.

First and foremost, the pending Killion amendment will stop the practice of using Environmental Stewardship Fund monies to pay the debt service on the Growing Greener 2 bonds issued during the Rendell administration. This will free up $26 million annually for new projects that can be funded by ESF.

Demand for Environmental Stewardship Fund investments hugely exceeds funding availability. Senator Killion’s pending amendment takes a small but important step in boosting ESF’s ability to fund projects in communities across the commonwealth.

Check out today’s Growing Greener Coalition letter to Pennsylvania Senators on this subject.

Why act today? Because the vote is expected today.

Why a pending amendment? It’s because the amendment hasn’t been formally introduced but is informally available. You can find its content here. (There’s another Killion amendment—officially published—with different content that’s not of consequence, which potentially could cause confusion for some.)

The Killion amendment also makes a few tweaks to the Environmental Stewardship Fund supported by the Coalition: one, ensuring that increased ESF investments channeled through DCNR go to both state parks and forests and community grants on a 50/50 basis; and two, providing a pathway to leverage untapped federal tax incentives and private philanthropy for farmland preservation while increasing funding levels for county programs (by allocating a small portion of ESF to privately initiated agricultural conservation easements).

Find your senator here.

Support Restore PA’s Conservation Investments (and Oppose Cuts)

Please call your state senator and representative and urge them to greatly boost the state’s investments in protecting water, conserving land, and improving communities (find your legislator here):

  1. The Governor calls for substantial conservation investments in his Restore PA proposal (which addresses a variety of infrastructure projects). Ask your legislators to support Restore PA’s conservation investments. Also, post on social media by tagging your legislators and using the hashtag #RestorePA. Here is a set of social media graphics highlighting the need for boosted investments in protecting water, conserving land, and improving communities.
  2. In addition, ask your legislators to leave the Keystone Recreation, Park and Conservation Fund and the Environmental Stewardship Fund untouched in this year’s budget. Pennsylvania can’t afford to backslide in its community and conservation investments.

Read the Growing Greener Coalition’s letter to members of the General Assembly and Governor Wolf on this subject.

Learn more about threats to the Keystone Fund and Environmental Stewardship Fund.

Summary of Restore PA’s Conservation and Environmental Components

Governor Wolf’s Restore Pennsylvania proposal includes funding for:

  • Green stormwater infrastructure that reduces flooding and keeps dangerous pollutants out of waterways (e.g., rain gardens, street trees, and bioswales).
  • Stream and floodplain restoration projects that improve wildlife habitat while preventing erosion and downstream floods.
  • Infrastructure that protects communities from rising floodwaters (e.g., dams, levees, and flood walls).
  • Creative solutions to help municipalities move forward with pollution-reduction plans to meet stormwater mandates and protect homes and businesses from destructive flooding.
  • Remediation of abandoned mines that scar the landscape and pollute waterways.
  • Conservation of areas that supply drinking water for communities, reduce flooding by absorbing massive amounts of stormwater, and provide other benefits to communities.
  • Preservation of farmland that provides the food we eat and is the backbone of rural economies.
  • Crucial infrastructure in state parks and forests (e.g., roads, dams, and bridges), which host millions of visitors each year and support local economies.
  • Trails and parks that help communities thrive.
  • Cleanup of brownfields and blighted properties, which can transform from unused and dangerous spaces into hubs for community revitalization and economic growth.
  • Removal of lead and other toxic contaminants (e.g., found in paint on old homes or water pipes) that threaten public health.
  • Public transportation systems that increase mobility and access to opportunities while also reducing carbon emissions.

Click here for a more detailed summary of Restore PA and other resources.

Open Letter to Members of the General Assembly and Governor Wolf

The Growing Greener Coalition sent the following letter to Governor Wolf and members of the Pennsylvania General Assembly on March 19, 2019. View the PDF here.

Pennsylvanians want to reduce destructive flooding, restore waterways to productive life, and protect our drinking water. We need to do this to protect public safety and health. We need to do this as a moral imperative and constitutional responsibility. And we need to do this because the investments made to restore and protect our waters produce long-term cost savings and economic returns that more than pay for the initial investments.

The organizations and people of the Growing Greener Coalition urge the General Assembly and Governor Wolf to greatly boost the state’s investments in reducing flooding, restoring waterways, protecting drinking water, and providing other conservation benefits:

  • The Coalition reiterates that Pennsylvania can’t afford to backslide in its community and conservation investments. Every dollar flowing into the Keystone Recreation, Park and Conservation Fund and the Environmental Stewardship Fund needs to be invested in projects that protect and restore Pennsylvania’s environmental assets, not diverted to pay for government operations.
  • The Coalition applauds the Governor’s attention to conservation investment needs in his Restore Pennsylvania proposal and encourages legislators to work with the Administration to make these investments happen.

In building on past successes and boosting the state’s conservation investments, the General Assembly and Governor can achieve many lasting and diverse benefits for Pennsylvanians, including:

  • Major reductions in property damage and loss of human life caused by flooding
  • Progress for local governments in meeting MS4 requirements
  • State progress in meeting mandatory Chesapeake Bay requirements
  • Safer drinking water and lower water treatment costs
  • More miles of streams restored for recreation and economic use
  • Federal investments leveraged that otherwise would not come to Pennsylvania
  • Boosts to the agricultural and outdoor recreation industries
  • Restoring parks for communities across the Commonwealth
  • And much more

The public’s enthusiasm for these investments continues to be overwhelming. For example, 75% of Republican voters, 82% of Democrats, and 87% of independents actually support spending more on conservation, even if it would mean taxing themselves more to do it. (See survey results at https://conservationtools.org/conservation-benefits/205.)

Thank you for your attention. For more information, please don’t hesitate to reach out to the people and organizations of the Coalition including:

 

Chesapeake Bay Foundation

Harry Campbell, PA Executive Director

[email protected]

 

Conservation Voters of PA

Joshua McNeil, Executive Director

[email protected]

 

Foundation for Pennsylvania Watersheds

R. John Dawes, Executive Director

[email protected]

 

Lancaster Farmland Trust

Jeffrey Swinehart, Chief Operating Officer

[email protected]

 

Natural Lands

Oliver P. Bass, President

[email protected]

 

PennFuture (Citizens for Pennsylvania’s Future)

Jacquelyn Bonomo, President & CEO

[email protected]

 

Pennsylvania Environmental Council

John Walliser, Senior Vice President

[email protected]

 

Pennsylvania Land Trust Association

Andrew M. Loza, Executive Director

[email protected]

All Major Pennsylvania Sportsmen and Wildlife Groups Oppose Environmental Funding Transfers

In an unprecedented move, Backcountry Hunters and Anglers, Ducks Unlimited, National Wild Turkey Federation, Pennsylvania Council of Trout Unlimited, Pennsylvania Federation of Sportsmen and Conservationists, Pheasants Forever/Quail Forever, Quality Deer Management Association, Rocky Mountain Elk Foundation, Theodore Roosevelt Conservation Partnership, Trout Unlimited, and United Bowhunters of Pennsylvania wrote to members of the House and Senate opposing Governor Wolf’s proposal to use money from the Keystone Fund and Environmental Stewardship Fund to pay the operating expenses of the Department of Environmental Protection (DEP) and Department of Conservation and Natural Resources (DCNR).

Together, members of these organizations have contributed tens of thousands of hours of volunteer work to help restore Pennsylvania’s stream, woodland, and lake habitats. They are doing more than their share to restore Pennsylvania’s environment. This unprecedented joining of hunting, angler, and wildlife groups joins Pennsylvania’s major environmental, recreation, and mine reclamation groups in opposing the use of Environmental Stewardship and Keystone Fund project monies to pay the operating expenses of DEP and DCNR.

The letter read:

On behalf of the undersigned groups representing thousands of Pennsylvania sportsmen and women, we are writing today with major concerns about future funding for the Environmental Stewardship Fund (ESF) and the Keystone Recreation, Park and Conservation Fund.

We value the projects funded by these programs that restore fish and wildlife habitat, improve sportsmen’s access to streams and forests, and enhance the conservation efforts of the Commonwealth’s independent fish and game agencies.

We are dismayed that the Governor’s budget proposal would redirect much-needed resources from the ESF and the Keystone Fund in order to pay for state government operations in the coming fiscal year.
We appreciate the need for the Commonwealth to properly fund the Departments of Environmental Protection (DEP) and Conservation and Natural Resources (DCNR). The work of those agencies is critical to ensuring healthy fish and wildlife habitat and plentiful outdoor recreational opportunities.

However, these resources should come from the General Fund—not from dedicated sources established to support local, on-the-ground projects that conserve and restore our waters, set aside natural lands, and support state parks and recreation.

In particular, the sportsmen and women represented by our organizations want to see more resources—not less—for the ESF, which funds the highly successful Growing Greener program.
In 2018, a statewide poll conducted for the Theodore Roosevelt Conservation Partnership found that 80 percent of hunters and anglers support funding the Growing Greener program at $200 million annually. Under the Governor’s budget, expenditures for this critical work would be cut to $65 million in the coming year.

These ESF has provided critical seed money to conserve more than 80,000 acres of open space, restore more than 1,600 acres of abandoned mine lands, and fund 400 projects to reduce flooding and improve water quality.

The Keystone Fund has leveraged $1 billion to complete more than 5,000 projects. Every dollar from the ESF is matched by at least another dollar in additional investment; usually, the multiple is higher: Trout Unlimited, for example, raises another two dollars for every dollar invested by Growing Greener into its abandoned mine drainage (AMD) cleanup projects. Since 1993, every dollar spent from the Keystone Fund has leveraged three additional dollars.

These investments in our natural resources pay dividends. Healthy waterways are a critical component of Pennsylvania’s $28 billion outdoor recreational economy, which
Hunters and anglers alone contribute $1.3 billion to the Commonwealth’s bottom line.

The work funded by the Environmental Stewardship Fund and the Keystone Fund are a boon to sportsmen and women in Pennsylvania:

Sportsmen’s access and headwaters protection:
The Keystone Fund helped the Wildlands Conservancy and its partners acquire the 500-acre Klondike property, which was turned over to the Pennsylvania Game Commission (PGC) to expand State Game Lands 312. Local chapters of Trout Unlimited, the National Wild Turkey Federation, the Ruffed Grouse Society, and the Pennsylvania Federation of Sportsmen and Conservationists contributed to the purchase. This acquisition did not just provide public access to land where hunters can pursue deer, turkey, and grouse, but it also protected the headwaters of the Lehigh River, a popular destination for anglers and a source of drinking water for thousands of Pennsylvanians.

The ESF and the Keystone Fund also helped to preserve a 1,600-acre stretch of Blue Mountain that is open to seasonal hunting, and the headwaters of the Letort Spring Run, a spring creek in Cumberland County with Class A wild trout status and international renown.

AMD cleanup:
Since 1999, Trout Unlimited has been at work in the Kettle Creek watershed in Clinton, Potter, and Tioga counties, where coldwater streams were severely degraded by 19th century coal mining and clearcutting. Two decades of abandoned mine drainage (AMD) cleanup, habitat restoration, and streambank stabilization projects have improved water quality and heralded a rebound in the watershed’s native brook trout population. TU is also providing technical assistance to dozens of groups working in their own watersheds at hundreds of sites to clean up some of Pennsylvania’s 5,600 miles of AMD-impaired streams. In Centre County, Growing Greener helped the PGC and the Rocky Mountain Elk Foundation reclaim 40 acres of abandoned mine lands on State Game Lands 100, providing grasslands for elk, deer, turkey, and other species, and treating AMD pollution on Contrary Run.

Agricultural conservation:
On Warrior’s Mark Run, a wild trout water in Huntingdon County, the conservation district used ESF funding to help two local farmers protect the stream from grazing cows and their nutrient-rich manure.

The project, which included streambank restoration and installation of 10,000 feet of fencing and cattle crossings, provided multiple benefits: It ensured both a healthy fish population and improved water quality for downstream drinking water supplies.

Stream restoration:
In Lancaster County, the ESF provided portions of the funding for an ambitious restoration of Lititz Run that featured streamside buffer plantings, wetlands reconstruction, cattle fencing, streambank stabilization, in-stream restoration, and stormwater management improvements. The projects completed over the course of a decade led to improved water quality, lower stream temperatures, and a rebounding trout population. In Tioga County, the ESF helped finance restoration on Mill Run, eliminating downstream sediment buildup and enhancing the trout population. Construction of a fishing path provided better access for anglers, including those with disabilities. Much has been accomplished by projects funded by the Environmental Stewardship Fund and the Keystone Fund, but much remains to be done. Pennsylvania has 19,000 miles of impaired streams and rivers, more than 180,000 acres of abandoned mines. Thousands of acres of fish and wildlife habitat that sportsmen and women cherish are in need of conservation.

We urge you to work with your colleagues to craft a budget plan that leaves the ESF and the Keystone Fund intact, and going forward, to identify new sources to support the important and necessary work for which these funds were created.