Green Region is an annual grant program funded by PECO. Municipalities in each of the five southeastern Pennsylvania counties are eligible for awards up to $10,000 for projects that protect or improve public “green” spaces. The program’s objectives are to keep our communities beautiful and livable, and keep our region’s natural resources – and residents’ enjoyment of them – sustainable. Projects preserve natural resources, permanently protect and care for native habitats, and create opportunities for residents to experience their natural world by creating and/or improving open spaces.
PECO, an electrical and natural gas utility subsidiary of Exelon Corporation, established the Green Region Open Space matching grant program in 2005 to support municipalities in southeastern Pennsylvania with their ongoing efforts to protect or improve public spaces. PECO designed Green Region to assist local communities in those efforts by providing funding for expenses not otherwise covered by state or county funding programs. Underlying the program parameters is PECO’s endorsement of deliberate planning by municipalities for open space protection as a means to encourage the wisest use of scarce resources.
To date, PECO has made 62 grants totaling over $453,000 to 60 different municipalities in Bucks, Chester, Delaware, Montgomery and Philadelphia counties. Green Region grants may be used for:
• Developing or updating open space plans. Expenses may include consultant fees, costs associated with obtaining public input (hall rental, advertising, etc.), and publication costs;
• Improving municipally owned open spaces, including planning costs. Funds may be used for habitat improvements such as installing or improving meadows, woodlands, and riparian buffers. The plans may be used for the installation of capital improvements for passive recreation, such as trails, boardwalks, kiosks, and observation platforms. Such expenses may include consultant fees for landscape architects, park designers, botanists, engineers, etc.;
• Acquisition (by purchase or donation) or parcels of land or of conservation easements on lands to be used for open space. Expenses may include legal or consultant fees, surveys, environmental assessments, appraisals, etc.
Green Region was designed in recognition of two critical realities of open space preservation. First, PECO focuses its giving on municipalities, one of the most significant owners and stewards of open space. While there are many public agencies and some private foundations supporting open space infrastructure at the municipal level in our region, there are few, if any, other corporations making sustained investments in these kinds of local efforts. Second, Green Region grants can be used to cover expenses that are frequently excluded from public agency and foundation grants. When a gap in a project’s budget exists, the project is often delayed, sometimes for several years. In the meantime, either available funds that were earmarked for that project may be then diverted somewhere else (thus leaving a larger gap), or monies that were allocated to another project are used to fill the gap in the current project, still leaving one project without sufficient financing. That PECO is willing to support the costs left out of other grant programs speaks to their understanding of communities’ needs and the company’s commitment to help meet those needs.
We at Natural Lands Trust have experienced first-hand the challenges of finding financial support for such things as closing costs, consultant fees, and other incidental expenses incurred in our work. This can be the hardest funding to raise for anyone involved in conservation. PECO’s emphasis on underwriting these costs demonstrates a wonderfully pragmatic and effective approach to supporting a broader vision for a Green Region.
According to the Delaware Valley Regional Planning Commission (DVRPC), residents of southeastern Pennsylvania believe 1) the region’s primary challenge in the coming years is preserving open space and curtailing sprawl; and 2) the most important environmental issue to the region’s future is open space and farmland preservation. DVRPC’s “vision” for our region’s environment is “[a[ clean and sustainable environment for existing and future residents of…the region, where key natural resource areas and scenic landscapes are protected; recreation and open space facilities are provided in an integrated regional network; [and] environmental protection objectives are incorporated into planning activities and growth strategies….”
Through Green Region, PECO has assisted 60 municipalities with conservation projects that meet DVRPC’s “vision” at all stages: development and updates of comprehensive, recreation, park, and open space plans; park and trail feasibility studies, planning, construction, and restoration; butterfly gardens, interpretive signage, benches, walking paths for parks and trails; streambank and natural habitat restoration; acquisition of land, both fee and easement.
At the end of the day, it is the municipality that is the key to our region’s sustainability. Our natural resources are not confined by local political boundaries; instead their survival requires continued, coordinated, and cooperative action by all our towns and boroughs. PECO pro-actively assists these communities with their shared goal to limit the impact of suburban sprawl; their efforts to maintain the health and beauty of rural areas in our region; their strategies to protect habitats that are home to many species of birds, mammals, reptiles, and amphibians; their plans for creating riparian buffers to maintain water quality of our rivers, streams, creeks, and other tributaries; their creation of trails and other opportunities for residents to enjoy scenic views of pastures or woodlands; their initiation of environmental education opportunities for current and future generations. Now that’s sustainability.
