Coal built much of Pennsylvania’s industrial economy, and the state is still paying for it in its streams. Colcom Foundation‘s Pennsylvania grantmaking responds directly to that history, according to the Foundation’s environmental protection overview.
The overview identifies acid mine drainage as one of the most severe water quality problems facing the state. This legacy of coal mining has contaminated hundreds of miles of streams, and cleaning it up requires hundreds of millions of dollars in remediation spending. The Foundation places this problem at the root of its Pennsylvania grantmaking, which addresses environmental damage tied to the state’s history of fossil fuel extraction and heavy industry.
A Key Partner
Colcom Foundation works on the problem partly through the Foundation for Pennsylvania Watersheds, a grantee that leads statewide acid mine drainage remediation. Colcom Foundation goal is to restore aquatic ecosystems to a condition capable of supporting aquatic life once again.
This emphasis on water fits a broader pattern in the Foundation’s regional work. Its grantmaking in western Pennsylvania prioritizes restoring aquatic ecosystems degraded by historical industrial activity, along with creating large, contiguous tracts of protected land.
Why Private Money Matters Here
Remediation on this scale draws on many funders. The Pennsylvania Department of Conservation and Natural Resources, the William Penn Foundation, the Heinz Endowments, the R.K. Mellon Foundation, and numerous community foundations all appear in the state’s conservation funding picture, alongside individual donors and earned revenue from land trusts.
Private foundations, according to Colcom Foundation, play a particular role in supporting work that falls outside regulatory programs, such as habitat restoration, land acquisition, and nonprofit capacity building. Stream recovery often depends on that kind of sustained support.
Other activities funded across the region include stream restoration, riparian buffer planting, invasive species removal, and native tree planting. Each can help damaged watersheds recover over time. The Foundation also supports land conservation and community green space, giving restored waterways a chance to stay healthy once remediation work is complete. Visit this page for more information.
More about Colcom Foundation on https://wvutoday.wvu.edu/stories/2024/03/12/wvu-led-three-rivers-quest-expands-environmental-research-and-education-efforts-with-colcom-foundation-support