Community Conservation Partnerships Program

Growing Greener
Grant Opportunities

DCNR will use Growing Greener funds to augment the already successful and highly requested Community Conservation Partnership grant programs. Over five years, DCNR will allocate Growing Greener funding over several existing grant programs to help more communities and organizations meet their conservation and recreation goals: Community Grants are awarded for local recreation, park and conservation projects. These include the rehabilitation and development of parks and recreation facilities; acquisition of land for park and conservation purposes; and technical assistance for feasibility studies, trails studies, and site development planning. Grants require a 50 percent match except for some technical assistance grants and projects eligible as small community projects. Rivers Grants are available to municipalities, counties, municipal and intermunicipal authorities, and other groups to conserve and enhance river resources. Planning grants are available to identify significant natural and cultural resources, threats, concerns and special opportunities and to develop river conservation plans. Implementation grants are available to carry out projects or activities defined in an approved river conservation plan. Grants require a 50 percent match. The small community development projects provide a municipal applicant with a population of 5000 or less with an alternate method of funding for rehabilitation and development of minor indoor and basic outdoor park, recreation and conservation areas and facilities. The initial $20,000 or less in grant funding provided must be used to purchase materials only and approved professional design fees. Additional grant funds of up to $20,000 may be provided matching the municipal applicant’s local cash or non-cash contribution to the project. The additional $20,000 may be used to cover all other eligible costs and other costs such as labor and/or equipment. The maximum grant under this project type is $40,000. Rail-to-Trails Grants provide 50 percent funding for the planning, acquisition or development of rail-trail corridors. Land Trust Grants provide 50 percent funding for acquisition and planning of open space and natural areas which face imminent loss. Lands must be open to public use and priority is given to habitat for threatened species. Eligible applicants are nonprofit land trusts and conservancies. Heritage Parks Grants promote public-private partnerships to preserve and enhance natural, cultural, historic and recreation resources to stimulate economic development through heritage tourism. Grants are awarded for a variety of purposes including feasibility studies; development of management action plans for heritage park areas; specialized studies; implementation projects; and hiring of state heritage park managers. Grants require a 25-50 percent local match. Applying for Funding DCNR will begin accepting applications for the next round of grants later this summer. Interested parties can request information now by contacting any of the following DCNR regional offices:

Southeast Field Office (Philadelphia) Bucks, Chester, Delaware, Montgomery, Philadelphia counties Fran Rubert Suite 207, State Office Building 1400 Spring Garden Street Philadelphia, PA 19130 E-mail: frubert@state.pa.us Phone: (215) 560-1183 Fax: (215) 560-6722 Northeast Field Office (Scranton) Berks, Bradford, Carbon, Lackawanna, Lehigh, Luzerne, Monroe, Northampton, Pike, Schuylkill, Sullivan, Susquehanna, Wayne, Wyoming counties Dennis DeMara 409 Lackawanna Avenue 3rd Floor, Oppenheim Building Scranton, PA 18503-2025 E-mail: ddemara@state.pa.us Phone: (570) 963-4973 Fax: (570) 963-3439 Southcentral Field Office (Harrisburg) Adams, Bedford, Blair, Cambria, Cumberland, Dauphin, Franklin, Fulton, Huntingdon, Juniata, Lancaster, Lebanon, Mifflin, Perry, Somerset, York counties Cindy Dunlap Southcentral Regional Office P.O. Box 1554 Harrisburg, PA 17105-1554 E-mail: cydunlap@state.pa.us Phone: (717) 772-4362 Fax: (717) 705-2943 Northcentral Field Office (Harrisburg) Cameron, Centre, Clinton, Columbia, Lycoming, Montour, Northumberland, Potter, Snyder, Tiioga, Union counties Wes Fahringer Northcentral Regional Office 330 Pine Street Williamsport, PA 17701 E-mail: mfahringer@state.pa.us Phone: (570) 326-3521 Fax: (570) 322-2914 Southwest Field Office (Pittsburgh) Allegheny, Armstrong, Beaver, Butler, Fayette, Greene, Indiana, Washington, Westmoreland counties Kathy Frankel and Tracy Robinson 1405 State Office Building 300 Liberty Avenue Pittsburgh, PA 15222 E-mail: kfrankel@state.pa.us or trrobinson@state.pa.us Phone: (412) 880-0486 Fax: (412) 565-2635 Northwest Field Office (Erie) Clarion, Clearfield, Crawford, Elk, Erie, Forest, Jefferson, Lawrence, Mercer, McKean, Venango, Warren counties Mark Kulich and Kim McCullough Tom Ridge Environmental Center Suite #7, 301 Peninsula Drive Erie, PA 16505 E-mail: mkulich@state.pa.us or kmcculloug@state.pa.us Phone: (814) 871-4190 or (814) 217-9009 Fax: (814) 833-0266

Central Office Grants Center
Department of Conservation and Natural Resources
Bureau of Recreation and Conservation,
6th Floor Rachel Carson State Office Building
P.O. Box 8475
Harrisburg, PA 17105-8475
Phone: (717) 783-2656

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