Lehigh Valley Greenways

Delaware & Lehigh National Heritage Corridor Formally Announces Lehigh Valley Greenways Mini-Grant Awards

EASTON (June 12, 2015) – On Wednesday, June 10, Delaware & Lehigh National Heritage Corridor (D&L) announced over $95,000 of grants awarded to 10 local recipients at a gathering in Upper Mt. Bethel Township. The grant awards are part of Lehigh Valley Greenways Conservation Landscape program, administered by D&L and funded by a grant from the Pennsylvania Department of Conservation and Natural Resources (DCNR), Bureau of Recreation and Conservation, Environmental Stewardship Fund.

The celebration was held at Upper Mt Bethel Township’s 90-acre community park, the future site of a 2015 mini-grant project. The Township is developing the park in phases over a few years to provide passive and active recreation opportunities including wildlife observation, environmental education, walking trails, and native plant rain gardens.

2015 mini-grant recipients include:

• Lehigh Gap Nature Center, $18,000 to install native plant gardens throughout the Lehigh Valley to promote nature-friendly practices
• Upper Mt Bethel Township, $12,500 to create a walking trail and wetland observation platform at Upper Mt Bethel Township Community Park
• Monocacy Creek Trout Unlimited, $12,500 to conduct ecological habitat restoration along Monocacy Creek
• North Whitehall Township, $12,500 to extend Ironton Rail Trail to North Whitehall Trailhead
• City of Bethlehem, $10,000 to install directional signage for Bethlehem trail system
• Plainfield Township, $10,000 to make improvements to recreation trail
• Bushkill Township, $7,500 to complete streambank restoration along Sober’s Run
• Lehigh Gap Nature Center, $5,000 to coordinate Color of Nature program to connect urban residents to nature and train urban youth to be conservation leaders
• Watershed Coalition of the Lehigh Valley, $5,000 to provide the 2015 Lehigh Valley Watershed Conference
• Lehigh Valley Planning Commission, $2,500 to provide outreach and education for Lehigh Valley Return on Environment report to the public

Lehigh Valley Greenways is one of seven Conservation Landscapes supported by Pennsylvania DCNR and includes more than 20 organizations and municipal partners in Lehigh and Northampton Counties dedicated to the conservation of and connection to our natural resources.

For more information on Lehigh Valley Greenways and the mini-grant program, please contact Claire Wildermuth Sadler at 610-923-3548 ext 226.

The Delaware & Lehigh National Heritage Corridor is a 501(c)3 non-profit organization that preserves historic pathways that carried coal and iron from Wilkes-Barre to Philadelphia. Today, the D&L Trail connects people to nature, culture, communities, recreation and our industrial heritage.