Local Conservation Group Looking for Volunteers

At a Tuesday night meeting at the Andora Library, president Dave Cellini said that while his organization is pleased with the headway they've made in recent years, they could use some help.

The conservation-minded group—which endeavors, in the face of near-constant development, to preserve the fragile ecosystems and historic landmarks in the area—has projects in varying stages of development at the Ottinger Tract, Roxborough Reservoir, and Schuylkill Wildlife Rehab and is looking for volunteers to help with the later project—either directly with the animals, or with landscaping and grounds maintenance.

"We're very interested right now in adding new volunteers, people who are interested in enhancing the area around the reservoir," said Cellini.

Cellini added that his group will also need a hand removing invasive plants from the Ottinger Tract site when that project begins in the next year, and, in the near term, someone tech-savvy to help maintain the association's not terribly well-maintained website.

Volunteers would be coming aboard in what Cellini and other group members agree is a sort of halcyon time for the organization.

"The city has been great to us recently, especially councilman Curtis Jones," said the president, who added that the Water Department had also become a reliable partner, citing their proactive approach to dealing with storm water pollution on the neighborhood's steep hills.

"We didn't pressure the city [to take these steps]," admitted active group member Jamie Wyper. "We just kept a conversation going for five to ten years. And then everything fell into place when we elected Nutter."

The group has also been successful lately getting local land owners to enter into conservation easements—legally binding pacts between the owner and the municipality that restrict development on that land.

Wyper says that the association's long term goals are ambitious, but attainable.

"The ultimate goal is to get a final disposition on the land here so that it can never get developed," said Wyper. "And we're knocking it off bit by bit."

Any parties interested in volunteering can reach the group at dave@cellini.org.