The Needs of Communities

Growing Greener has been hugely successful, directly investing in vital conservation, restoration and community revitalization projects in each of the Commonwealth's counties. However, there is much more to do to ensure Pennsylvania’s treasures are here for our children and grandchildren to enjoy:

• We are losing three times as much forest, wildlife habitat, farmland and other open spaces to development as we are able to conserve;
• Our rivers and streams – and the communities that depend on them - are threatened by flooding and pollution;
• The Commonwealth currently has 16,000 miles of streams that are unfit for swimming or fishing;
• Abandoned mines scar 189,000  acres in 44 counties and are the cause of 5,300 miles of dead streams
• Pennsylvania has made good progress in protecting productive farmland to safeguard our food supply but more than 2,000 families remain on a waiting list to protect their farms;
• 58% of the state’s population lives in older communities that have an urgent need for investment aimed at improving livability and prosperity: rehabilitating parks, establishing trails, planting trees, managing stormwater, renovating waterfronts and redeveloping brownfields.