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water, land, life
WPC's Monthly eNewsletter |
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Now Nature Needs You More Than Ever: Support WPC This Giving Season
If you made a donation to the Conservancy on Giving Tuesday, thank you! If you haven’t had a chance to give to protect the places you love, there is still time before year-end.
Perhaps you connect with nature in Western Pennsylvania by enjoying trees and gardens in cities and towns, hiking through forests, canoeing or fishing in local streams or watching wildlife. In whatever way you enjoy nature, we hope it has helped you find respite and peace during this difficult year.
Throughout 2020 our staff members have continued their important work of planting trees and gardens, protecting and studying wildlife, plants and streams, caring for Fallingwater, conserving land and maintaining trails for everyone to use.
Now, nature needs you more than ever. We need your help in protecting our natural areas and preserving Fallingwater. Please consider making a one-time or monthly donation, or renew your membership. A gift membership is a great gift for a loved one who appreciates nature. Please, make your gift before Dec. 31 to protect the places you love.
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Conserve Magazine Highlights Watershed Conservation
You know the Conservancy works to restore and conserve local rivers and streams, but are you aware of the many ways that work is carried out? The most recent issue of Conserve magazine features articles about current projects, including eDNA testing to detect hellbenders in streams, restoring streams from abandoned mine drainage, large wood stream restoration and more. Read how WPC staff, volunteers, partners and donors are restoring and protecting watersheds for generations to come.
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Enjoy Winter on Our Properties
Our properties are wonderful places to get outdoors during winter by hiking, bird and wildlife watching or cross-country skiing. Explore our properties to discover trails and other outdoor activities. When hiking at Toms Run Nature Reserve or Wolf Creek Narrows Natural Area, you’ll notice trail blazes painted on the trees that follow a standard protocol for marking hiking trails in North America. Here’s a quick guide to those blazes.
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Riparian Plantings Continues to Protect Watersheds in 2020
Despite a dry summer and fall, and the need to remain socially distanced, WPC’s watershed conservation staff and volunteers planted 4,018 riparian trees and shrubs on more than 17 acres in 2020 to improve water quality in local rivers and streams. Check out this drone video that shows our riparian planting on Henricks Creek near New Florence, Westmoreland County.
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Community Forestry Plants More Than 1,000 Trees and Grasses
Social distancing requirements due to COVID-19 made planting trees in 2020 more challenging. But our community forestry staff and our partner the City of Pittsburgh got it done! We're still planting, but by year's end we will have planted 447 landscape trees in Pittsburgh and surrounding neighborhoods through TreeVitalize, and 354 landscape trees, 675 restoration trees and 175 perennials and grasses in Pittsburgh through WPC’s Pittsburgh Redbud Project. We look forward to volunteers helping next year! |
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Garden Stewards Needed
Our community flower gardens offer sustenance all year long for birds and small animals, even during winter, when perennial plants and trees provide seeds and shelter. We need volunteer garden stewards at several of our gardens to remove debris and prune in winter, and plant, water and weed in the spring. This is a great opportunity to get outdoors and stay active!
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Enjoy Fallingwater with Exterior Tours, Winter Walks and Webinars
Looking for a safe outdoor family activity for the holidays? Guided exterior tours at Fallingwater are available Saturdays in December. Or, discover the beauty of Fallingwater and its landscape at your own pace on a Winter Walk, daily except Wednesdays through early March. Can’t make it to Fallingwater? Enjoy the house through our livestream webinar series, “A Closer Look.” |
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Maximize Your Charitable Giving Through the CARES Act
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Fallingwater Gift Sets
Experience comfort and joy of the gift-giving season with a Fallingwater Gift Set. Our team hand-selected some of our favorite items and combined them into perfectly prepared gifts for everyone on your list. Gift sets are available through December 31 while supplies last. To assist with your holiday packages arriving by December 25, we recommend a ship date of no later than December 15 on all domestic deliveries.
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December Desktop Background
Fallingwater’s living room hearth was a favorite place for the Kaufmanns and their guests to gather on chilly afternoons and evenings. The chimney and surrounding walls are constructed from the same Pottsville sandstone that was quarried by hand just a few hundred yards from the house. The great cast iron kettle, which hangs from an arm and can swing into the fire that blazes in a six-foot tall opening, was designed for mulling wine on cold winter days. Bring a little Fallingwater warmth to your living space and download our desktop calendar, featuring this image by Christopher Little, from the options below, then right click on the image to set it as your desktop background.
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