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South Mountain Partnership awards $56,000 to 10 regional projects

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The South Mountain Partnership awarded $56,000 to 10 organizations for conservation, trail, watershed, historic-preservation and environmental-education projects across southcentral Pennsylvania. The recipients were recognized Oct. 2 at the partnership’s 16th annual Power of the Partnership event, which also marked the organization’s 20th anniversary.

One of the awards went to the Adams County Conservation District, which received $1,000 for a water-conservation education project involving high school art students and rain barrels.

Five organizations received grants through the partnership’s Community Impact Program, funded through Pennsylvania’s Environmental Stewardship Fund and administered by the Appalachian Trail Conservancy:

  • Big Spring Watershed Association: $5,000 to replace invasive plants with native species along Big Spring Creek in Newville.
  • Friends of Barnitz Mill: $8,500 to document and preserve the mill’s history through interpretive signs, educational videos, oral histories and artifacts.
  • Friends of Shippensburg Community Parks: $15,000 to extend the Dykeman Walking Trail, connecting it with downtown Shippensburg, the Middle Spring Greenway and the Cumberland Valley Rail Trail.
  • Keystone Trail Association: $11,500 to build a year-round, waterless public toilet at Scott Farm in Carlisle for visitors and nearby trail users.
  • Middle Spring Watershed Association: $10,000 for water-quality monitoring, geographic information system analysis and other work to update its watershed improvement plan.

The partnership’s Flex Grant program, funded by private donations, awarded five additional grants:

  • Adams County Conservation District: $1,000 for a project in which high school art students will decorate rain barrels while learning about water conservation.
  • Coalition to Protect Franklin County: $1,000 to distribute books about local farming, conservation and stewardship at Farm Fun Fest.
  • Coalition to Save Big Spring: $1,000 for water monitoring to establish baseline petroleum levels and detect possible pollution in Big Spring Creek.
  • Dillsburg Arts & Revitalization Council: $1,000 to preserve stained-glass windows installed in 1888 at the historic Monaghan Church.
  • West Shore Wildlife Center: $2,000 for paid wildlife-rehabilitation training positions for students and recent graduates.

The Community Impact Program has distributed more than $832,000 since it began in 2009, supporting 107 grantees, according to the partnership. The release said the program’s grant investments have been matched by $2.50 for each grant dollar. Across its grant programs, the partnership has invested more than $850,000 in the region.

South Mountain Partnership began in 2006 as a collaboration between the Appalachian Trail Conservancy and the Pennsylvania Department of Conservation and Natural Resources. Its work covers Adams, Cumberland, Franklin and York counties. This year, the partnership’s State of the Region report card and related implementation projects also received a 2026 Governor’s Award for Environmental Excellence from the Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection.

Sources

South Mountain Partnership press release, emailed to Gettysburg Connection on Oct. 8, 2026. Pennsylvania DCNR: South Mountain Conservation Landscape · Pennsylvania DEP: 2026 Governor’s Awards for Environmental Excellence

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