The Nature Conservancy Moves Pa. Headquarters to Harrisburg

Chapter positions for next 50 years of conservation

HARRISBURG – For half a century the world’s largest conservation organization has protected land in Pennsylvania. It now plans to leverage its local and international experience to work with state officials and local conservation groups to set a vision for the next 50 years in the Commonwealth.

The Nature Conservancy, a science-based international nonprofit that preserves the plants, animals, and natural communities that represent the diversity of life on earth, moved its Pennsylvania Chapter headquarters to Harrisburg from Conshohocken. The move positions chapter leadership near government policymakers and reflects the Conservancy’s statewide conservation focus.

“In its early years, The Nature Conservancy was focused on eastern Pennsylvania,” said State Director Bill Kunze. “Many of our volunteers were in the Philadelphia area and had a significant interest in protecting those unique natural areas. Since those early days, conservation science has come a long way in identifying what needs to be protected, and the threats to unique and globally rare ecosystems have greatly increased. We’re now working statewide to address those threats.” Kunze added that “it’s very difficult for any one organization alone – state government, local conservancy, or The Nature Conservancy – to successfully protect our last great places. The Nature Conservancy is achieving lasting results by finding common ground with communities, government agencies, and other partners all working together to protect our natural resources.”

Worldwide, the Conservancy has more than 3,500 employees, including 700 scientists. It works in all 50 states and in more than 30 countries. The Pennsylvania Chapter draws upon scientists and other staff from around the world to address specific conservation issues in the Commonwealth.

“This half-century has seen tremendous changes in the natural landscape of the Commonwealth, and not surprisingly, an evolution in the way the Conservancy approaches wild land conservation,” stated naturalist Scott Weidensaul, author of more than two dozen books on natural history, including the Pulitzer Prize-nominated Living on the Wind, and Return to Wild America.

“For much of that time,” Weidensaul explained to a crowd of more than 80 state dignitaries and delegates from local conservancies during the chapter’s dedication reception on Sept. 26, “the organization focused primarily on the eastern third of the state, but in recent years it has taken a far more comprehensive, statewide approach. The emphasis on collaboration recognizes the fact that, even for an organization with the Conservancy's international reach, it's impossible to do everything alone, or simply through the acquisition of important parcels of land. Saving critical habitat is only part of the story; by working with state and federal agencies, as well as other conservation organizations, it's possible to affect the management of immense areas of the region that provide the matrix for the irreplaceable sites the Nature Conservancy has always tried to protect.”

According to Kunze, the Pennsylvania Chapter is positioning itself to address public conservation practices and private land stewardship to help protect Penn’s Woods and ecoregions that cross borders, such as the Chesapeake Bay watershed, as well as national issues like climate change and renewable energy.

“In order to sustain the special places we care about, we need to think both locally and globally,” he said. “We work in every state and in more than 30 countries around the world, and in each of these places we are intensely local, because we are focused on saving the diversity of life in each place.”

The Pennsylvania Chapter’s new office is located at 2101 North Front Street, Harrisburg. It also has offices in Conshohocken, Pittsburgh, Meadville, Williamsport and the Poconos. It has 35,000 members and has protected more than 40,000 acres in Pennsylvania. For more information on The Nature Conservancy, visit nature.org/Pennsylvania.

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The Nature Conservancy is a leading international, nonprofit organization that preserves plants, animals and natural communities representing the diversity of life on Earth by protecting the lands and waters they need to survive. To date, the Conservancy and its nearly one million members have been responsible for the protection of more than 15 million acres in the United States—including more than 40,000 acres in Pennsylvania —and have helped preserve more than 102 million acres in Latin America, the Caribbean, Asia and the Pacific. For more information, visit nature.org/Pennsylvania.