Our Loyal Evergreens
The Evergreen Circle honors the Western Pennsylvania Conservancy’s loyal supporters who have made annual gifts for at least 15 of the last 20 years. Thank you! You are making an incredible impact in Western Pennsylvania.
A Lifetime of Stewardship: Bill and Nancy Sayles
Evergreen Circle members Bill and Nancy Sayles aren’t sure what their lives would have been like without the Conservancy in it. They have been WPC members for nearly 50 years! They also helped establish the land stewardship program, as they were among the inaugural group of volunteers who helped monitor and care for Conservancy properties.
Bill and Nancy taught at Shady Side Academy, a K-12 independent school in Allegheny County. Bill taught a variety of science courses for 40 years, and Nancy taught first grade for 24 years. They credit their time and connections at the school for learning about the Western Pennsylvania Conservancy and becoming conservationminded. They’ve said their students were actually their teachers, inspiring them to learn new things about the natural world and our region’s green spaces. As a result of this interest in conservation, Bill created an outdoor physical education program and an earth and space science class at the school.
They credit WPC staff member Joseph B.C. White for introducing them to the Conservancy and inviting them to join the original land steward volunteer group. At the time, WPC offered a short stewardship course on how to navigate using a compass and what to look out for on the properties. They were then assigned to monitor specific WPC-owned preserves or privately-owned properties with conservation easements. The Sayles were responsible for Lake Pleasant in Erie County, island preserves in the Allegheny River and a 40-acre conservation easement in Butler County. They also participated in other WPC projects such as an aquatic plant study in the glacial lakes of northwest Pennsylvania with conservation science staff.
One of these expeditions involved a wildlife survey with WPC staff on an adventurous canoe trip down the Youghiogheny River. Emboldened by this experience, they decided to try the river on their own. They recalled the details through laughter as, after a series of missteps, Bill and Nancy almost went over a waterfall and overturned their canoe. Bill swam to shore as Nancy was towed to the side of the river by a kayaker.
While they credit much of their love of the outdoors to their time at Shady Side Academy, both spent a great deal of their early youth outdoors. Bill grew up in Minnesota and moved to Greenville, Pa.
as a teenager. His dad was a biology professor who often took Bill with him on field trips and taught him about the natural world, the importance of agriculture and waterfowl migration.
Nancy grew up in Jamestown, Pa., where she spent a lot of time on Pymatuning Lake. She and Bill met while he was lifeguarding at the lake the summer before he left for college. He returned each summer to work and court Nancy. After accepting jobs at Shady Side Academy, they lived on the middle and senior school campus for a number of years, before ultimately settling in O’Hara Township with their four children. Life has come full circle and they are once again living in Greenville and enjoying kayaking on Pymatuning Lake as often as they are able. They have also reconnected with our land stewardship team and hope to help monitor the Conservancy’s Tryon-Weber Woods Preserve, a 108acre forested area in Crawford County.
Bill and Nancy shared that they have continued to support the Conservancy over the years due in large part to their volunteer work with us. They believe that volunteering is a meaningful way to build relationships between people and missionoriented work, and they hope other members will support the Conservancy through both membership and their time. As much as they have given us, the message they want to convey is that the Conservancy’s positive impact on their lives is immeasurable, and through the many experiences they have had volunteering with us, WPC has enriched their lives.
There are plenty of opportunities to volunteer with WPC in land stewardship, at Fallingwater and planting and caring for gardens and trees throughout the region. Visit WaterLandLife.org/volunteer for more information.
Bill and Nancy (seated) at a training session at the former Lake Pleasant field office in 2001.
Conservation Easement Connects Protected Land in the PA Wilds
In March, the Conservancy closed on the largest conservation easement in our history, consisting of more than 19,800 acres of forestland along the Clarion River in Elk County and Kinzua Creek in McKean County. This project, known as the Clarion Junction Conservation Easement, protects the forest while allowing public access for wildlife viewing and other outdoor recreation. The property is an important connection in the PA Wilds region between state forest, game lands and the Allegheny National Forest. The landscape includes sweeping ridges and forest along the Clarion River, the East and West branches of the Clarion and many high-quality tributaries that support wild trout. The hardwood forest contains black cherry, red and sugar maple, red oak, eastern hemlock and yellow and black birch.
The easement ensures the property’s conservation value in perpetuity, protecting it from development while contributing to the local economy and quality of life by allowing for sustainable forestry operations.
French Creek Hemlocks Natural Area
It’s always exciting to share news of a new preserve!
The Conservancy recently purchased a 250-acre property along Deer Creek Road in French Creek, Venango County that had once been a farm. The parcel includes tall, mature trees, vernal pools and valuable wetlands, and one mile of frontage along the creek. French Creek Hemlocks Natural Area, WPC’s newest preserve, will be managed for public enjoyment and to protect the watershed, plants and wildlife and will include one of the few public fishing accesses on the creek within the county. The parcel was purchased with funds from a U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service grant and donations from Conservancy members, including a gift in memory of Bradford Barnes.
A different French Creek connection resulted in a generous gift for the stewardship of this preserve. Although she now lives on the West Coast, Conservancy member Gretchen Augustyn has many childhood memories from her family’s property along French Creek in Mercer County, which she still owns with her sister. Gretchen made a generous gift to help transform the newly acquired property to a nature preserve in honor of her father, Richard J. Freni, who fished French Creek for more than 60 years.
“It was my Dad’s favorite fishing spot. I am delighted that the Conservancy was able to purchase the property and happy that the public will be able to enjoy the area just as my family did for many years.”
Through Gretchen’s generosity, the Conservancy will make improvements to the preserve to make it welcoming to visitors. Initial plans include removing invasive plants and adding a small parking area, walking trail and informational signage.
This parcel adds to the 6,000 acres WPC has protected in the French Creek watershed since 1969 and is now one of 16 preserves that WPC owns and stewards in the watershed. French Creek and its tributaries have the highest aquatic biodiversity of any stream of its size in Pennsylvania and all states to the northeast of Pennsylvania, and for that reason is one of the Conservancy’s priority conservation areas.
French Creek Hemlocks Natural Area
This easement protects the headwaters of Johnson Run in Elk County, which eventually flow into the East Branch of the Clarion River.
A forest scene from the Elk County section of the protected property
Honoring the Evergreen Circle Class of 2009
Evergreen Circle Members have given an annual gift to the Conservancy for at least 15 of the previous 20 years. We are very fortunate to have a group of more than 3,000 Evergreen households, and are humbled by their loyalty and generosity.
The newest class of Evergreen Circle Members made their first gift in 2009. That year WPC conserved more than 3,300 acres of land and protected or restored 182 miles of our region’s rivers and streams. Here are a few highlights from WPC’s work that year.
WPC announced that it will add sustainable, low-maintenance greenery to all 66 Pittsburgh Public Schools over the following four years. Projects included gardens and greenspaces with seating for students and teachers, raised beds for schoolinitiated planting projects and interactive features. In 2009, WPC improved 26 school grounds with help from school staff and more than 200 students.
Conservancy scientists discovered a plant in Erie County that had not been previously recorded in the state. Dwarf scouring rush was discovered on the campus of Mercyhurst College West, in Girard. Also that year, WPC staff completed an inventory of wildlife species in Warren County and finished
a multi-year French Creek biodiversity study. They surveyed aquatic life and provided management recommendations for the creek and its tributaries. Separately, a partnership among WPC, The Nature Conservancy and the French Creek Valley Conservancy known as the French Creek Joint Venture protected nearly two miles along French Creek.
Another major land conservation project in 2009 protected 2,400 forested acres and streams in Clearfield County at the headwaters of Bennett Branch, a tributary to Sinnemahoning Creek. The purchase included six parcels adjacent to Moshannon State Forest and state game lands within the Pennsylvania Wilds region.
Also in 2009, Fallingwater became available to purchase…as a LEGO set. The miniature version may be just as difficult to assemble as the real-life one and kept architects of all ages busy for hours.
A special thanks to the following Evergreen Circle members who joined WPC in 2009:
Jeffrey Bickmore
Susan Bonello
Jack Ciciarelli
Philip Clay and John Buckingham
Alan Daum
J. Christopher and Ann Donahue
Sandra Dunlevy
Shaun Fenlon
Christine and James Ford
Mark Frankland
Barbara Fritsch
Gertrud Gerlach
Andrew and Susan Gero
Brad Goldblatt
Gail and Perry Habecker
Jennye Hansen
John and Nancy Holmes
Alex Juhasz
Colin and Nancy Kelley
William and Carolyn Keslar
Eugene and Barbara Kravits
Jeffrey Lake
David Love
Charlotte Marlis
Henry and Ann Mattie
Robert and Cathleen Matuzak
David and Jeannette McDevitt
Kathy and Bill Mitchell
Susan and Thomas Patton
James Patton
Janet Pfeiffer
David and Harriet Rigg
Dallas Sommers
William and Sandra Soule
Peter and Lisa Strick
Lora Stumpf
Matthew Wagle
Norman and Kathleen Wukitch
Students from Pittsburgh Obama 6-12 school helped plant their garden in 2013, a program initiated in 2009.
Mark your calendar for the Fall Members’ Hike
Sunday, October 13, 2024
Meadow Run Trail in Ohiopyle State Park
Ohiopyle is well-known for its scenery and recreational opportunities, including the Great Allegheny Passage Trail. Join WPC naturalists on the beautiful Meadow Run Trail, featuring waterfalls and large rock formations. Look for more information, including how to register, in September.
Create a legacy that will have an impact on Western Pennsylvania for years to come by including the Conservancy in your will or trust.
For the past several decades, WPC has been honored to receive planned gifts to advance its work. These legacy gifts have supported land acquisition and the ongoing care of these protected landscapes, endowed beloved community gardens, enhanced WPC’s efforts to engage and educate our youth, and preserved Fallingwater and its collections and much more.
Your will or trust can be a reflection of your values and the causes that are important to you during your lifetime. For more information about including the Conservancy — or one of its programs, such as Fallingwater — in your will, contact Julie Holmes, senior director of development, at 412-586-2312 or jholmes@paconserve.org
The Helen B. Katz Natural Area features wetlands and floodplain along Cussewago Creek in Crawford County. It was named in memory of Ms. Katz, whose bequest so far has helped to protect more than 4,300 acres.