Big plans are in the works for the Lebanon Valley Conservancy’s 25th anniversary celebration in 2025.
LebTown recently interviewed conservancy staff, board members and volunteers about the organization’s legacy, its anniversary plans and vision for the future.
Emeritus board member Chuck Wertz said the Lebanon Valley Conservancy was founded in 2000 by a group of like-minded individuals who wished to enhance conservation efforts in Lebanon County. The conservancy is a nonprofit dedicated to protecting the natural, cultural and historical resources of the Lebanon Valley.
“We had representation in state politics in Senator (David ‘Chip’) Brightbill who thought we should have our own land trust conservancy,” said Wertz. “We were kind of a hole in the donut. And certainly my working at the conservation district at the time and being exposed to other counties that had conservancies and land trusts meant I understood that void.”
Wertz said many individuals were integral to getting the organization running when it was founded at the end of the 20th century.
“And there were other conservation-minded people, the Walmers, Tisha Walmer and her husband Steve, who were among the first people to, or maybe the second people, I don’t know, to preserve or donate a conservation easement in the county,” said Wertz. “And just other conservation-minded people like John Wengert.”
Wengert was the first president of the organization and a life-long conservation-minded advocate whose legacy is being honored when John E. Wengert Memorial Park officially opens this spring.
Read More: Lebanon city park honoring dairyman, philanthropist slated to open next spring
Wertz noted that the conservancy has faithfully maintained its mission during the past quarter-century.
“The main mission, really, which we really haven’t strayed from, we may have expanded a little bit more educationally and whatnot, but the main mission has been about land conservation,” said Wertz. “So through time, we have over 12 easements, I think, at this time totaling in excess of a thousand acres.”
That number is expected to rise in 2025.
“We’re negotiating with four more people in the first quarter of the year and we might have another 513 acres under conservation easement,” added Wertz. “(Getting) conservation easements goes in spurts. You can kind of have a drought for a while as some families rightfully need to really take their time on a serious decision like that.”
Land conservation is similar to farmland preservation since landowners are compensated when selling their easement, or development, rights to keep the land undeveloped for perpetuity.
“In a conservation easement you are essentially giving up your development rights, which have value,” said Wertz. “Families are coming to us pretty much, but we try to get the good word out about the good work that we’re doing and how this marries nicely with the county’s farm preservation program.”
He noted that families that chose to sell their development rights do so voluntarily.
“There is a highest and best value for a property which would be for residential or commercial development and then it (the land) has a conservation value where it’s kept as open space or in agriculture or forestry and that’s going to have a lesser value,” said Wertz.
He added that a special appraisal is done and the difference between the highest value and the conservation value determines the land’s easement value. If funding is unavailable to pay the conservation value to landowners, they can take a federal tax credit for the easement sale.
One legacy project that Wertz said deserves being honored involved fellow board member Ned Gibble’s “hard work” with the Quittapahilla Watershed Association to improve the quality of that waterway.
“He handled administratively a lot of the conservation work that was done in that creek to get the water quality (up), implement the watershed protection plan that was drawn up for the Quittapahilla Creek and for putting in things that narrow the creek, add oxygen and provide places for aquatic life to shelter. And to allow fly fishing to take place there,” said Wertz.
Another legacy project that is still active today is the conservancy’s work with military personnel at Fort Indiantown Gap and the government’s Army Compatible Use Buffer program. This initiative conserves land around military installations to provide a buffer zone. In the case of the Gap, military personnel need airspace to perform aviation training, and the buffer program prevents those spaces from being developed.
Read More: Lebanon Valley Conservancy preserves Shuey, Nye farms
Board president Jon Schach, who joined the organization in 2018, said Wertz and the other founding members deserve credit for keeping their vision mission-focused through the years.
“It’s really great for the county that folks like Chuck got our organization started,” said Schach, “and it’s a testament that we’ve been able to keep our focus for 25 years, and really build some momentum into the future.”
Schach said another legacy for the organization is its work in conservation education, an important component of its mission.
“Our work in conservation and education is just another way to bring people into our mission and recruit volunteers and to just publicize the things that are going around the places where we live,” he said, emphasizing the importance of the local conservation portion of their work.
Executive director Abigail Harvey echoed Schach’s sentiment about the organization’s focus to conserve land in rural areas and urban centers like Lebanon city.
“That’s something that I like to think of in conservation, but especially with having a land trust, and specifically to John’s point about having that local community focus,” said Harvey. “We have the opportunity to connect people with their land around them, and I think with technology and the way the world is, it’s harder for people to have that connection.”
Harvey emphasized that’s why projects like Wengert and Liberty parks, both in Lebanon city, provide what she calls equitable access for everyone to experience the outdoors.
Read More: Lebanon City Council briefed on upcoming recreational projects
“I think that education and outreach really plays into creating that connection,” she said. “I also think that’s something that land trusts, specifically, have this really unique opportunity to do in their communities.”
Connections, she added, create opportunities for conservation.
“It’s really cool to see the different programs that – whether it’s with these parks, planting trees or doing these water projects – that each and every single thing that we do creates an opportunity to connect with the community and connect them back to the land that they live on,” said Harvey.
Schach said the national environmental movement shifted focus to environmental education about the same time the local conservancy was founded.
“When you think about the founding of the conservancy, it was sort of around that time when the environmental movement went to more of a local focus, this sort of sense of place and really caring about the place where we live,” said Schach. “Not that we don’t care about the rainforests and Yellowstone National Park, but to really focus and emphasize that local connection.”
The conservancy’s contributions to the Lebanon Valley include:
- $2,500 scholarship provided annually to local students wishing to pursue a degree in environmental studies via the Richard H. and Karen R. Light Scholarship program.
- Over 5,000 trees planted.
- Nearly 20 easements purchased totaling around 1,100 acres.
They group also helps sponsor the Tour de Lebanon Valley, hosts its annual fundraiser golf tournament at the Audubon-certified Lebanon Country Club, and conducts speaker series programs concerning environmental issues.
Partnerships are also integral to the conservancy’s success.
The local group partners with the Lebanon Valley Rail Trail Association on projects, including the recent construction of the John E. Wengert Memorial Park and with the Chesapeake Bay Foundation’s Keystone 10 Million Trees program, among others.
“The Keystone 10 Million Trees initiative’s goal was to plant 10 million trees in a five-year period in the Chesapeake Bay watershed since they determined that was the number of trees … that would be needed to clean up the bay from the perspective of sedimentation and erosion issues,” said Schach. “We do a planting in the spring and the fall and today we’ve planted in excess of 5,000 trees on a number of properties throughout the county, mostly on private lands.”
Concerning the organization’s silver anniversary year, several events are in the planning stage, according to Harvey.
“We’ll have a kickoff party in February and that will be at the Bluebird Inn,” she said. “That’s going to be a silent auction and a benefit dinner to invite people to celebrate with us but also to, of course, reintroduce ourselves in this 25th year. We’ll share what we’ve been working on and what we have planned for the future and raise a little bit of money towards those efforts.”
In April, probably on or close to Earth Day on April 22, there will be a dedication ceremony of Wengert Memorial Park, which is on Chestnut Street in front of the former Lebanon Catholic High School.
A free community celebration of the organization’s anniversary most likely will occur in late May or June, according to Harvey. (Stay tuned to LebTown or visit the organization’s website to keep updated on the exact dates of these events.)
“That’ll be a completely free event for the community with our community partners to showcase the history of The Lebanon Valley Conservancy, our community partners and the projects that we’ve done,” she said. “We’ll have live music, fun events, competitions and things like that and, of course, some educational aspects to that event as well.”
As far as the organization’s future, conservancy officials plan to focus on its growth.
“Well, just broadly, I think that we’re all getting really excited for the opportunity for growth in the new year and the celebration and really connecting with the community and our members and making our community bigger in that sense with having more people involved, whether it’s volunteering or members or supporting us in some way,” said Harvey.
And, of course, adding to the nearly 1,100 acres already conserved in Lebanon County through The Lebanon Valley Conservancy.
“More land, more conservation easements, too,” added Wertz to a question about future plans. “I’d just say, if we’re doing our job, our profile will be raised in this community, and you’re gonna have to really pretty much have your head in the sand to not realize that we’re an integral player in land use in Lebanon County.”
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