There’s a birthday celebration for one of State College and Centre County’s most popular philanthropic figures.
ClearWater Conservancy turns 35 years old on Tuesday, marking the anniversary of its incorporation on July 7, 1980.
In order to celebrate the big day, the organization is holding a birthday party at Rhoneymeade Arboretum, a site that holds significant value for ClearWater.
“It was our first conservation easement property, so that’s where we chose to celebrate,” says Katie Ombalski, a conservation biologist. “We’ll have cake and champagne at the event.”
The conservancy is asking attendees to bring photos or other ClearWater artifacts, along with stories and memories of the organization’s 35 years of land and water conservation efforts to share.
“Everybody is invited and we’re hoping that lots of our founders, board members, donors, and long-term supporters would come and help us celebrate,” Ombalski says.
ClearWater has a lot to show for its 35 years of work in the county, helping to protect and conserve the land and water of the region. The organization has been able to protect 8,362 acres of land through easements, conservation partnerships, and purchases, which are typically transferred to governmental conservation departments.
“We use conservation easements as our primary tool,” Ombalski says. “We also purchase land, but rarely do we own it. That’s a very small fraction and that’s hard for us to manage appropriately, so we’ll typically transfer it for public ownership.”
River and stream conservation has been a focus for the conservancy, which has installed 100 acres of riparian buffer along 77,790 feet of Pennsylvania streams. This provides cooling shade, slows stormwater runoff, and adds much-needed native habitat to the waterways.
Through its 35 years of existence, the conservancy has worked with local partners who have assisted in efforts like the annual Watershed Cleanup Day, which has removed and disposed of 5.82 million pounds of illegally dumped trash over those three and a half decades.
“The local construction and excavation industry will often assist and donate their equipment and operators for the day and we’ll clean up the sinkholes and streams,” Ombalski says. “An old practice used to be to use sinkholes as dump sites, so we remove a lot of household and farm trash. That has consisted of old pesticide containers and machinery that could leak fluid, and that’s in addition to the aesthetic issue.”
With 35 years of work in the history books, ClearWater Conservancy is looking forward to determine how it will expand its conservation efforts.
“We would like to increase our land conservation focus,” Ombalski says. “We are currently working with some land owners that have high priority properties with high conservation values and discussing the conservation of several thousand acres. We’re excited about being able to conserve these important habitats.”
The birthday celebration kicks off at 5:30 p.m at Rhoneymeade, located on Rimmey Road in Centre Hall.
