How Can You Help?
Thanks for visiting this page to learn more about how you, your family, and your community can make a positive impact and support the goals of protecting our environment and keeping our communities healthy. By working together, we can make sure that everyone, including future generations, has a healthy place to live and play.
These will be updated often so please check back again soon! We’ll also be sharing big ideas and plans with elected officials and community leaders in the coming months. Stay tuned for an update on that too!
Keep up the good work!
Even though the region is doing well in certain areas, it is important to keep that work going to ensure we maintain this progress!
- Support and celebrate your county’s farmland preservation program and the land trusts working in our area.
- Here are links to some of our partners that are helping to preserve farmland in the region:
- Consider preserving your property, volunteering your time, or donating money to programs and groups that preserve land.
- This link is for Landowners and provides information on Farmland Preservation and how to preserve your land if you are interested:
- Here are some partner organizations that frequently need volunteers!:
- Chesapeake Bay Foundation
- Conodoguinet Creek Watershed Association
- Cumberland County Historical Society
- DCNR Trail Clearing
- Friends of the State Parks
- Keystone Trails Association
- Land Conservancy of Adams County
- Strawberry Hill Nature Preserve
- Watershed Alliance of Adams County
- Watershed Alliance of York County
- Talk to local leaders in your area and ask them to support preserving more land and constructing new trails.
- Find and contact your local officials at this link:
- You can put in your street address, and they will tell you the name of your representatives on the Federal, State, and Local level!
- There will also be a phone number and website available for your representatives.
- Coming soon: a template to provide you with a basis for communicating with your local officials.
- Find and contact your local officials at this link:
Needs More Attention!
- Volunteer with a historical society, a park friends group, or a watershed group.
- Here are some of our partners working on these issues:
- Adams Co. Conservation District
- Allison-Antrim Museum
- Antietam Watershed Association
- Appalachian Trail Museum
- Center for Land Use and Sustainability
- Creek Cleanup Project
- Cumberland County Conservation District
- Conodoguinet Creek Watershed Association
- Cumberland County Historical Society
- Lincoln Highway Heritage Corridor
- Pennsylvania Forestry Association
- Pennsylvania Historical and Museum Commission
- Watershed Alliance of Adams County
- By supporting these organizations, you are also helping with the issue of farmland and wetland preservation!
- Keep an eye out for upcoming events related to these causes.
- Volunteer with some of our partner organizations!
- Here are some of our partners working on these issues:
- Buy products from local farms and farmers.
- As you are able, try to spend at least ⅓ of your weekly grocery budget on products from local farms, farmers, and businesses.
- Check out these Farmer’s Markets! They are a great way to find fresh and locally sourced products, while also making community connections:
- Adams County Farmers Market, Gettysburg
- Adams-Ricci Farmers Market, Enola
- Central Market House, York
- Dillsburg Farmers Market
- Farmers on the Square, Carlisle
- Farmers Market on the Lawn, Newville
- Jim’s Farm Market, Chambersburg
- North Square Farmers Market, Chambersburg
- Help your community to find funding for farmland, open space preservation, or recreation facilities.
- Ask around your community and see if a group like this exists and if you can join; if not, now is the time to create one!
- Partner with a local library for assistance.
- Talk to the leaders in your community, and ask them to support groups and actions that preserve, protect, and promote these resources.
- There is a good chance your leaders will want to help support these initiatives- what is best for the community is usually best for them!
- See if they want to be involved in these different groups, they can provide valuable insight from a different perspective.
- This link provides a means for finding your local representatives and how to contact them to advocate for expanding trails in the region:
- You can put in your street address, and they will tell you the name of your representatives on the Federal, State, and County level!
- There will also be a phone number and website available.
- Coming soon: a template to provide you with a basis for communicating with your local officials.
C’mon South Mountain, Let’s Do Better Together!
- Support the creation and development of new parks and trails.
- Get involved with local nonprofits who help support these initiatives – via this link to our partners page
- This link provides a means for finding your local representatives and how to contact them to support the development of trails in the region.
- Coming soon: a template for a letter/email to send to them to advocate for this.
- Plant trees and shrubs that are native to Pennsylvania and reduce how much lawn you have.
- Look out for different organizations that are planting trees and when they may need volunteers to help.
- Learn more about the best types of native plants and trees to plant! You can select by state, see when trees bloom, select ones that best thrive in specific habitats, and more:
- For more information on specific types of trees/plants and planting them, check out the DCNR website.
- We have a goal in Pennsylvania to plant ten million trees by 2025! Help contribute by getting involved with the initiative:
- By reducing your amount of yard by implementing a native plant garden, not only do you save time and energy mowing the lawn, but you are also implementing a base for a healthy ecosystem.
- Keep our streams clean by not dumping pollutants in them.
- Preventing stream pollution can start at home, read here for more suggestions from the Chesapeake Bay Foundation.
- Composting at home is a great way to safely dispose of certain types of waste that can pollute local water sources. This video will get you started on the basics of composting at home.
- These are different materials that can be composted at home:
- Single-use plastics contribute greatly to pollution in waterways and can cause a decline in the quality of our land. Here is a resource on small changes everyone can make to avoid unnecessary pollution, like keeping reusable shopping bags in your car, recycling, and reusing items where composting is not possible: https://www.considerate-consumer.com/single-use-plastic-alternatives
- Get rid of hazardous things like paint, cleaning supplies, or motor oil in a safe way. Ask your County where to do this.
- All of these actions help to keep our land healthy and preserve it for generations!
- Be pesticide and fertilizer smart- consider not using or using fewer pesticides and fertilizers on your property.
- Here are some environmentally friendly alternatives to traditional pesticides and fertilizers.
- Gettysburg College utilizes a Purple Martin Colony to naturally control the population of mosquitos on campus! Learn how to create one yourself and a source on how to get a colony started, either at your home or in your community.
- And more information on pesticide use from Penn State: https://extension.psu.edu/less-harmful-pesticides
- Penn State Extension also has a Master Gardener Program, consisting of a hotline where you can get more information from Master Gardeners based on which county you live in!
- Plant and maintain riparian buffers, don’t mow right up to streams or creeks.
- DCNR has created a resource on riparian buffers, detailing what they are, and how they can look different depending on their location (agricultural, forest, or residential). Consider improving a buffer area on your property or in your community, find the different PDF links on the right-hand side of the webpage to learn more.
- This source provides information on how to landscape native plants, along with lists of native plants depending on the type of environment they are being planted in.
- Minimize stormwater runoff by installing rain barrels and rain gardens on your property or around your community.
- Learn how to install a rain garden in your yard or in your community:
- Learn how to install a rain barrel and save money on your water bill:
- Gettysburg Stormwater Authority has been excited to host rain barrel sessions, where they provide you with the materials to build one and assist in the creation. For more information, contact them at (717) 334-1160. You can also be added to a mailing list for more rain barrel events in Cumberland County here.
- More resources can be found on the Department of Environmental Protection website.
- Join South Mountain Partnership (SMP).
- Become a partner and get involved!
- Sign up for the SMP e-newsletter to receive event invitations and news about the State of the Region project.
- By taking these steps, you will be contributing to a healthier and more sustainable South Mountain Region. If we work together, we can make a positive impact on our environment and protect it for future generations!