Senate Resolution
Conservation Heritage Senate Resolution Article By:
Wayne W. Kober, Chair PAEP Conservation Heritage Committee
“PAEP’s Conservation Heritage Initiative Gets a Boost”
On the evening of November 15, 2004 on the floor of the Pennsylvania State Senate, Senator Jane M. Earll and 25 Senators successfully introduced Senate Resolution 324 encouraging the Pennsylvania Historical and Museum Commission (PHMC) to “work with other public and private organizations to help promote local and regional elements of the conservation heritage of the Commonwealth.”
The PAEP Conservation Heritage Committee was instrumental in drafting the resolution in cooperation with the PHMC.
As a follow up to the Senate’s adoption of the resolution, members of the Conservation Heritage Committee along with PHMC staff met with Senator Earll on February 2, 2005 to personally express appreciation for her strong support of the resolution and its successful introduction and to discuss next steps in advancing conservation heritage initiatives. During the meeting, Wayne Kober, Chair of the Conservation Heritage Committee, and Dave Hess, former DEP Secretary, answered the Senator’s questions about PAEP and the genesis of the idea of capturing and promoting conservation heritage education. Also, Marilyn Levin, PHMC Legislative Liaison, and Beth Hager, PHMC Director of Development, reviewed existing PHMC programs which promote conservation heritage education and ideas for new initiatives.
Senate Earll encouraged the group to continue to work together and keep her posted on the progress on promoting the Commonwealth’s conservation heritage.
As a next step, the Conservation Heritage Committee plans to meet with Barbara Franco, Executive Director of PHMC, and her key staff to develop a plan for strategically approaching joint PAEP/PHMC efforts to pursue new conservation heritage initiatives and to vitalize existing PHMC programs.
The members of the PAEP Conservation Heritage Committee are: Robert Hosking, Senior Environmental Scientist, McTish, Kunkel and Associates; Dave Hess, Director of Policy and Communications, Holston and Crisci; Jim Wilson, Resources Services Division, DCNR; and Wayne Kober, President, Wayne W. Kober, Inc., Transportation and Environmental Management Consulting.
Any PAEP members who are interested in serving on the Conservation Heritage Committee should contact Wayne Kober at: ten.knilhtraenull@apkww.