PROGRAMS: Annual Meeting and Public Lecture

Mt. Lebanon Nature Conservancy held our annual meeting on Nov. 3, with a public lecture by Clara Kitongo, Tree Pittsburgh's Tree Equity Manager. Clara and her team work with Pittsburgh's under-resourced communities to incorporate trees as a means of enhancing urban environments. She helped us understand the policies and practices that have long perpetuated urban forest disparities across Pittsburgh’s neighborhoods and how better policies and more urban trees can transform the city into a healthier metropolis that benefits everyone. 

In the business meeting, MLNC Board President Angie Phares, who served for four years, passed the torch to Sarada Sangameswaran. In addition, a bevy of Girl Scouts stopped by to help make sure no snacks were wasted!

View a brief presentation prepared for the Pennsylvania Native Plant Society that explains this project.

More photos and project information HERE

PROJECTS: Trish’s Woodland Garden ends 2024 park projects schedule

Volunteers wrapped up our park improvements schedule for 2024 with a project called Trish’s Woodland Garden in Bird Park. This lies at the elbow curve in the “Soccer Field Sprinter” main trail from the parking lot to the soccer field.

In September, our volunteers cleared the area of invasive shrubs and other plants. In October, another crew arrived to plant.

We installed:

• 49 native trees and shrubs

• 350 native perennials

• 34 tree cages to protect the plants from browsing deer

• Spread 5 yards of wood chips!

• Pulled and bagged invasive English ivy!

We call the area “Trish’s Woodland Garden,” in memory of Conservancy Board Member Trish Beckjord, and donations in her honor funded much of the project.

PROGRAMS: Six Great ‘Green Reads’

Mt. Lebanon Nature Conservancy and Mt. Lebanon Public Library collaborated in 2024 with readers throughout our community on a book group called “Green Reads.”

Participants gathered on alternate months to discuss books with a theme of nature or ecology. The books were: “World of Wonders,” “Braiding Sweetgrass” “All We Can Save,” “A Walk in the Woods,” “There’s Something in the Water,” and “The Nature Fix.”

Stay tuned for the 2025 schedule!

PROJECTS: New Bird Park sign

Read all about Hannah Jones’s art and the new interpretive sign.

Mt. Lebanon Magazine’s coverage.

This beautiful illustration by local artist Hannah Jones is the centerpiece image on the new interpretive sign along a main trail in the riparian zone at Bird Park - between the soccer field and Youngwood Drive. Learn more about the riparian project here.

BIG SALE, BIG THANKS!

Thank you to our wonderful customers and volunteers for participating in our annual Native Plant sale!

We sold about 2,500 plants that are finding new homes in the gardens of our neighbors, adding to the biodiversity of our local community, supporting native wildlife, and adding beauty.

Special thanks to UU Church of the South Hills (Sunnyhill) for being such wonderful hosts.

The plant sale is the conservancy’s biggest fund-raiser, and a labor of love for Mt. Lebanon, native insects and animals, and residents who want beautiful, native gardens.

As you install and tend your plants, find resource information on the plant sale information page.

Thank you!

~ HOW YOU CAN HELP MT. LEBANON NATURE CONSERVANCY ~

• Click on the “donate” button to make a contribution online. Sustaining donations (posted monthly to your credit card) help us the most because they even out the cash flow of our small non-profit organization.

• Send a check donation, made out to “Mt. Lebanon Nature Conservancy,” to: P.O. Box 14901, Pittsburgh, PA 15243. Checks minimize the fees we pay for online processing.

• We also highly value the time that volunteers give through the year. Hundreds of people join in to help weed, clip, haul or plant. We welcome other volunteer help, such as working with us to develop new programs; staffing booths at events like Mt. Lebanon’s Earth Day; doing some printing or photocopying; or contributing photographs that we can post to social media or our website.