On April 16, 2020, Northcentral Pennsylvania Conservancy (NPC) celebrated a milestone – the organization turned 30 years old.
It was on this date in 1990 that NPC was officially incorporated. A lot went on behind the scenes building up to this founding, including a chance encounter between two founding members on a paddling trip gone awry down Pine Creek; a public informational meeting about the startup that sparked interest throughout the community and attracted many of NPC’s charter members (pre-social media, mind you!); and broad-minded support from partners like the Williamsport-Lycoming Chamber of Commerce and the First Community Foundation Partnership (then Williamsport-Lycoming Foundation).
By 1991, NPC had grown enough to hire its first, full-time staff member and, in 1993, NPC completed its first conservation easement – the Johnson Easement. Today, NPC currently holds 43 conservation easements and 1 facade easement on over 4,735 acres. Another 6,300 acres are protected through ownership with the Bureau of Forestry, Pennsylvania Game Commission, local government, or other conservation organizations.
As we navigate through these uncertain times, having a special place you can go to in nature to connect and ground yourself is perhaps more valuable than ever. Given today’s circumstances, we’re especially grateful for NPC’s founders and membership for their foresight and commitment towards the conservation of these special places. Moving forward, NPC remains steadfast in their goals to provide new and improved public access opportunities for communities to recreate, learn, and engage with nature. NPC also remains committed toward the responsible stewardship of their conservation easements and the ongoing improvement of local water quality as part of the Northcentral Stream Partnership. Thank you to everyone who played a role in NPC’s conservation successes over the past 30 years. We look forward to many more to come!
Contributor to this article: Holly Byers, Office and Communications Coordinator – Northcentral Pennsylvania Conservancy
