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FOR TWENTY YEARS
Our Mission: Inspire Stewardship of Pennsylvania's State Parks and Forests

Yellow Creek Lake
Photo by Brian Kavalukas

You'll notice Fridays is going to be a little truncated over the next several weeks. PPFF staff is working reduced hours to conserve our resources. We are determined to continue to provide positive messages and keep everyone as up-to-date as we can in spite of it all! The good people at Network for Good, a fundraising website, shared this logo this week. It's a sentiment we definitely share. There is good news and are good folks out there. Let's celebrate them!

Stay tuned to our social media and click to the News page on our website where we've set up a COVID-19 page to assemble the latest of what we know.

The masthead comes to us from PPFF Board member Brian Kavalukas of Pittsburgh who took the family out to Yellow Creek State Park last weekend for some fresh air. The Damsite Loop trail gets you to the lake and, on this day for sure, a lovely view. I can hear the water lapping the shore, can't you?

Pam Metzger
Membership Coordinator
Pennsylvania Parks & Forests Foundation

News of Note

And realistically we have come to know that there are some NOT so great folks out there, too. I won't be sharing photographs of the trash and other misbehavior we've heard about. Suffice to say, not everyone knows how to act like a responsible grown up person. And our parks and forests are going to need us when this is over.

We continue to monitor all of these types of issues that could have a negative impact on our state parks and forests and, to that end, joined with our friends at the Pennsylvania Recreation & Park Society to author a position statement (sent to the media and the General Assembly) "Our Parks and Greenspaces Matter More Than Ever." Read it on our COVID-19 page and, we hope, in your local media!

Graphics & Design of State College and The Latino Connection of Harrisburg combined to get us this #PracticeSafeRec infographic for sharing on social media. Remind your SM friends what's expected with a click and download to either version - or both!

If you're in the Harrisburg area you might have seen our digital billboard along a local roadway:

Thanks to Lamar Advertising for donating its design and placement

We got past the deadline for Bonfire shirts but sales are still going strong so we've extended it. This beautiful hoodie could be yours!

Please place your order at https://www.bonfire.com/our-trees-need-you/ and help fund the purchase of trees for our state parks and forests. We need $600,000 and every seed could become a sapling - and beyond!

As Earth Day transforms into a virtual, online celebration, the Earth Day Network kicked off Earth Month with a series of in-home, citizen science projects we can each take part in. Get the app and instructions on the Earth Day website.

Here in Pennsylvania, we are working on a moderated panel series featuring the Conservation Heritage documentaries. We're working on that. Stay tuned!

Pictures of the Week

One of PPFF Sarah's Facebook posts this week has definitely done the job of Pictures of the Week. She posted some doozies suggesting they'd make the perfect backdrop for your next ZOOM conference call. And even if you've seen them before in our posts and messages, it's worth taking a look again.

The locator map is one of the more time-consuming pieces of this weekly email so in the interests of conservation of resources, I'll forego it for this little while.

Take Five for Trivia

The simple answer to last week's question is that, yes. Apparently baby birds DO babble and learn, like human babies, to talk ...er... sing as they reach adulthood. I have to say that's awfully cute.

Congratulations to the March trivia winner, Mt. Gretna Judy, who'll get something from the prize closet when PPFF Jenna is next in the office.

Let's kick off April not with showers but with flowers. One of my personal favorite annual touchstones of the season is Dutchman's breeches. If that isn't a descriptive enough name, can you tell me another nickname it boasts?

Send your answer to me and I'll enter you into the month's random drawing for a goodie from the prize closet if you answer correctly. Enter each week for more chances to win.

In Closing

Thanks to former PPFF Board member Darla Cravotta for this one.

SUPPORT PPFF

Pennsylvania Parks & Forests Foundation (PPFF) is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization - contributions to which are tax deductible to the fullest extent permitted by law. The official registration and financial information of PPFF may be obtained from the Pennsylvania Department of State by calling, toll-free within Pennsylvania, to 800.732.0999. Registration does not imply endorsement.

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