Colcom Foundation’s 2006 Grant Built a Conservation Blueprint

Some grants pay for a single project. The $2 million award the Colcom Foundation made to Western Pennsylvania Conservancy in 2006 did something different: it created a tool that would guide conservation decisions for years afterward.

That tool is the Conservation Blueprint, a science-based map drawing on 25 years of data from the Pennsylvania Natural Heritage Program. The Blueprint identifies high-biodiversity forests, streams, and wetlands across four western Pennsylvania ecoregions, giving the Conservancy and its partners a way to rank which places most need protection or repair.

Measurable Returns

The results since 2006 are concrete. The Blueprint has catalyzed more than 10 high-impact projects. It has leveraged over $4.2 million in additional funding. It has also helped protect more than 4,000 acres of forestland.

One of those projects took place along Little Mahoning Creek. Conservancy staff worked with local farmers to install streambank stabilization structures, riparian buffers, and livestock fencing. Crews also removed barriers that blocked fish from moving upstream. The finished work cut sediment and pollutant loads reaching the creek and supported continued research into hellbender and brook trout populations.

Why Data Comes First

The Colcom Foundation places weight on peer-reviewed science and evidence-based conservation, and the Blueprint fits that approach. Rather than reacting to whichever parcel comes up for sale, the Conservancy can point to decades of field records showing where rare species and intact habitats actually exist.

That grounding matters because restoration dollars are limited. A map built on long-term records helps steer them toward the sites where recovery will do the most good for native plants and wildlife.

The 2006 grant also marked the start of one of the Foundation’s longest-running partnerships. Colcom Foundation support for Western Pennsylvania Conservancy has since extended to land protection in the Upper Allegheny and French Creek watersheds and to acid mine drainage remediation on the Clarion River. Nearly two decades later, the Blueprint remains a reference point for where the region’s conservation work should go next. Read this article for additional information.

Learn more about Colcom on https://www.colcomfdn.org/

Some grants pay for a single project. The $2 million award the Colcom Foundation made to Western Pennsylvania Conservancy in 2006 did something different: it created a tool that would guide conservation decisions for years afterward. That tool is the Conservation Blueprint, a science-based map drawing on 25 years of data from the Pennsylvania Natural…