NEWS RELEASE

COMMONWEALTH OF PENNSYLVANIA
Department of Conservation
and Natural Resources
Commonwealth News Bureau
Room 308, Main Capitol
Harrisburg, PA 17120

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

CONTACT: Terry Brady
Deputy Press Secretary
(717) 772-9101

VOLUNTEERS RALLY AROUND STATE PARK PROJECT IN SOMERSET COUNTY

HARRISBURG (November 10, 1999) -- A group of 100 employees from a company based in Washington, Washington County, today broke from a three-day business conference and headed for Laurel Hill State Park in Somerset County, where they spent the entire day working as Conservation Volunteers.

The Audia Group, which was meeting Tuesday through Thursday at nearby Seven Springs Mountain, spent the entire day erecting a new picnic shelter and assembling 80 new picnic tables.

"This group brought to the park the exact spirit, commitment and 'can-do attitude' that we were hoping for when Gov. Tom Ridge launched the Conservation Volunteer Program in 1997," said Department of Conservation and Natural Resources (DCNR) Executive Deputy Secretary for Parks and Forestry John Plonski.

"Laurel Hill State Park and all its visitors profit from this group setting aside a day in their conference and tackling

this worthy project."

The group also donated $10,075 for materials and brought along all tools needed to build the 24-foot-by-44-foot shelter and assemble the tables, said Robert J. Hufman, manager of the 3,935-acre park outside Somerset, Somerset County.

"This project is great for us," Hufman said, "because there's always a greater demand for shelters than we have available. So many of the activities at these shelters are family oriented, and this work will enable us to offer more."

Nancy Moore, spokesperson for Audia Group, a holding company for four plastic companies across the country, said the park project was an outgrowth of a corporate annual goal to "do something good for the community."

"We sat down, talked about what would be a good project, and decided on the park," said Moore. "It was great because we can get it all done in one day.

"Actually, we would like to do something like this every year."

The Audia Group project is the latest in a series of recent public commitments to the Conservation Volunteer Program, launched in 1997 by Gov. Ridge to help DCNR address needed improvements and maintenance backlogs.

A DCNR goal by December 2000 is the contribution of 500,000 volunteer hours for the year. Already in 1999, a total of 440,000 hours has been logged across the state.

The largest amount of hours, 401,000, was compiled by volunteers working with DCNR's Bureau of State Parks. The Bureau of Forestry reported 38,000 hours, and the Bureau of Topographic and Geologic Survey, 450 hours.

Recent major volunteer commitments across the state include:

- A decision by the Association of Independent Pennsylvania Colleges and Universities to support the Conservation Volunteer Program. As many as 79 members could provide volunteers from their student and faculty bodies;

- Announcement by the Good Sam Club, the world's largest organization of recreational vehicle owners, that it will participate in an "Adopt-A-Park" effort across the state; and

- Participation of the Cumberland-Perry Vo-Tech School in a variety of carpentry and renovation projects in at least four state parks in the Carlisle, Cumberland County, area.

Anyone interested in becoming a Conservation Volunteer can contact any state park or forest district office; visit DCNR's web site through the Pennsylvania home page at www.state.pa.us or directly at www.dcnr.state.pa.us; or call 1-888-PA-PARKS.

# # #

1999