Growing Greener Success Stories

The Aultman Watershed Association for Restoring the Environment (AWARE) was started in February 2000 by concerned citizens from Indiana and southwestern Indiana County who felt compelled to clean up the Aultmans Run Watershed.  Nearly 30 square miles in extent, this area empties into the Conemaugh River behind the Army Corps of Engineers dam, and it...

The Montour Run Watershed Association protects and remediates the 37-square-mile Montour Run Watershed in western Allegheny County.  Working with citizens' groups, businesses, local governmental agencies, elected officials, and the general public, we strive to bring about improvements in water quality. 

In August 2009, nestled into the rolling hills of southern Indiana County, a Memorial Park was dedicated to all the past volunteers and members of the Blackleggs Creek Watershed.   The events leading up to this dedication began decades ago and are filled with trial and error, as well as success for the Blackleggs Creek Watershed,...

  County Conservation District Watershed Specialists have been a vital force in Pennsylvania’s watershed movement for nearly 10 years, providing much needed environmental services in their counties and saving the state millions of dollars in project costs, in part by locating matching funding and in-kind contributions for environmental projects.  Whether it’s fighting Abandoned Mine Drainage, restoring...

In 2005, Montgomery County Conservation District was awarded Growing Greener funding to implement a stormwater best management practices demonstration site on the headwaters to the Little Neshaminy Creek in Montgomery Township. Montgomery Township is a suburban landscape in Montgomery County with high impervious cover.

Three years before Governor Rendell signed Executive Order 2004-1, creating the Pennsylvania Invasive Species Council, the Department of Environmental Protection recognized the devastating impacts of invasive plants in riparian areas.  

The Shoup’s Run Watershed Association has created a true success story from the Growing Greener Program.  When the group started in 1998, both Shoup’s Run and its major tributary, Miller Run, were a mess.     Both streams had been listed on the state’s list of impaired waters and had problems with flooding and erosion, pollution...

The following Growing Greener Watershed Program success story was submitted by Frank Weeks, President of the Upper Allegheny Watershed Association, Potter and McKean counties, describing how the Association and the watershed has improved as a result of Growing Greener. 

The  Genesee Headwaters Watershed Association was started with Growing Greener Funds five years ago and hasn't looked back. We applied for and received a GG Grant to do an assessment of our 86 square. mile headwaters of the Genesee River.                

The Kiski-Conemaugh Stream Team was formed in 1998 to address concerns brought to light in the Kiski-Conemaugh River Basin Conservation Plan.   This plan identified a need for a water monitoring program to collect baseline data on over 100 abandoned mine discharges in the Kiski-Conemaugh River Basin, which encompasses portions of Armstrong, Cambria, Indiana, Somerset,...