News & Notes October 2001

Armstrong County Conservation District Secures
Environmental Education Center

The Armstrong County Conservation District, during the last year, has helped to facilitate a formal agreement between the United States Army Corps of Engineers and the Armstrong County Educational Trust that will help to maintain the day-to-day activities of the Crooked Creek Environmental Education Center.

Armstrong District Manger Dave Rupert explained that the education center has been in use for the past 20 years, however, the Army Corps of Engineers recently decided to vacate the building, leaving it available for uses other than environmental education.

The conservation district has relied heavily on the facility in the past, using it to host week-long environmental education camps each year.

When faced with the possibility of losing the center, Armstrong District personnel began to approach area schools and explore options for keeping the center open. “It was too big of a project for the district to take on by itself,” Rupert said. “Fortunately, we were able to bring a large number of partners together.”

The Armstrong County Educational Trust, composed of the Armstrong Conservation District, five Armstrong County school districts, four local universities, the local intermediate unit, the Army Corps of Engineers, Pennsylvania Game Commission and Pennsylvania Fish and Boat Commission, was then selected as the entity most fit to control the lease and daily operations of the center.

Rupert explained that the transfer of the property began in July 2000, and that the deal took roughly a year to facilitate. The Trust took over the lease of the environmental education center on Aug. 23, 2001, and is currently considering expanding classroom facilities and adding a staff person to manage center activities.

The facility will consequently be maintained as an environmental education center throughout the course of the 25-year lease.

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