Pennsylvania’s 185-mile-long Kittatinny Ridge houses 160 miles of the Appalachian Trail; provides important drinking water supplies; and supports vital forest habitat for various bird, mammal, reptile, and amphibian species. The Ridge is a significant migration flyway used by millions of birds, and it is the largest of PA’s Important Bird Areas. Audubon Pennsylvania leads the Kittatinny Ridge Conservation Project (KRCP), a group of local, regional, and state organizations and agencies dedicated to protecting the Ridge from further habitat loss, fragmentation, and inappropriate land use. The following article addresses a KRCP initiative supported by Audubon Pennsylvania. For more information on the KRCP please visit KittatinnyRidge.org.
--From Timothy D. Schaeffer, Ph.D., Audubon PA Executive Director

Audubon PA Helps Inspire Local Conservation Efforts
By Jeanne Barrett Ortiz, Director, Environmental Advisory Council Network

Thanks to a partnership between Audubon Pennsylvania, the Pennsylvania Environmental Council (PEC), and the Pennsylvania Department of Conservation and Natural Resources, a number of local governments are forming Environmental Advisory Councils to help protect the Kittatinny Ridge.

Many elected officials want to help conserve the beauty and health of Kittatinny Ridge, but they often struggle to fit conservation issues into busy day-to-day administrative workloads. In response to this dilemma, Audubon Pennsylvania and the Pennsylvania Environmental Council embarked on a project in August 2005 – visit elected officials along the Ridge and inform them about a highly effective and money-saving conservation tool: an Environmental Advisory Council (EAC).

An EAC is a group of residents, typically environmental professionals and other knowledgeable residents, appointed by elected officials to offer advice and assistance on matters dealing with the protection, management, and use of natural resources within a municipality. EAC members donate their expertise for the benefit of their own communities. EACs work closely with municipal officials on a wide range of projects including open space and water resource protection, natural resource inventories, ordinance development and site plan review, habitat protection and restoration, greenways and trails, clean energy, sustainable agriculture, and more.

As part of the Kittatiny Ridge project, Audubon Pennsylvania and PEC asked to speak about EACs at boards-of-supervisors meetings. As a result, there are now nine EACs in communities situated along the Ridge in Monroe, Northampton, Lehigh, and Berks Counties, and more are being formed. These EACs are busy reviewing and improving ordinances and site plans, drafting official maps, tracking deer and invasive species, promoting public education, and restoring habitats.

To learn more about EACs and to help organize or join an EAC in your community, contact Jeanne Barrett Ortiz, Director, EAC Network, at 215-592-7020, x103 or jortiz@pecpa.org. You can also contact Holly Smith, Audubon Pennsylvania Education Project Coordinator at 717-213-6880 x12. You can also visit EACnetwork.org. For information on the Kittatinny Ridge Conservation Project, visit KittatinnyRidge.org.

EACs help protect open space along the Kittatinny Ridge.