Registration for the 15th annual Ironmaster’s Challenge (September 22nd) opens on April 14th. Visit Ironmasterschallenge.com to sign up for the 50K, 20 mile, or 15K races!
Central Pennsylvania Conservancy is a nonprofit, member-supported charitable organization with a mission to acquire, preserve, and protect local land and natural resources in South-Central Pennsylvania. The organization serves as the local land trust for a 6-county region (Cumberland, Franklin, Perry, Dauphin, Juniata, and northern York County). View our interactive map!
Over 40 years, CPC has acquired, protected, and preserved over 6,000 acres in the region, expanding and connecting natural areas, while increasing public recreation opportunities. To date, CPC has transferred nearly 3,000 acres to the public, through land transfers to state parks, forests, and game lands.
But, we’re not done!
Our vision is to create a local network of permanently protected and preserved lands, through partnerships and by fostering a community committed to conservation and acquiring key lands and easements. Join us in conserving south central Pennsylvania by volunteering or participating in our public programs.
How did our organization get started?
It’s a good story, and we’re proud to say it reflects our values even today!
CPC started as a grassroots coalition of concerned citizens, sportsmen, and naturalists who mobilized a recycling program to raise money to save Stony Creek Valley. Originally named the Stony Creek Valley Coalition, the group was successful in opposing PPL’s efforts to construct a hydroelectric facility that would flood the valley and destroy important habitat and recreation areas just 10 miles north of Harrisburg. It took several years, but the effort stopped the plans as well as pressed for the designation of Stony Creek as the first protected waterway in the Pennsylvania Wild and Scenic Rivers Act. Stony Creek Valley, also referred to as St. Anthony’s Wilderness, is now managed by the PA Game Commission and consists of 18,000 acres.
After this victory, members of the Stony Creek Valley Coalition remained together and incorporated as the Central Pennsylvania Conservancy in 1982. While focused at first on recycling efforts, CPC became increasingly more aware of its opportunity to serve the region as a trust to protect and preserve natural areas.
Since then, CPC expanded its land protection efforts to permanently protect over 6,000 acres of land, including 29 conservation easements and 4 public preserves. Nearly 3,000 acres have been transferred to the public, through state forests, parks, and game lands. CPC utilizes tools such as fee acquisition of land, conservation easements, and transfer acquisitions, for the purpose of then conveying the land over to the state agency for management and stewardship. CPC continues these efforts today, and is joined by many partner organizations with overlapping missions who help broaden the impact of our mission.
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