The Pittsburgh Parks Conservancy, a nonprofit organization, was founded in December 1996 by a group of citizens concerned with the deteriorating conditions of Pittsburgh’s historic city parks.
With the mission to improve the quality of life for the people of Pittsburgh by restoring the park system to excellence in partnership with government and the community, the Parks Conservancy works closely with the City of Pittsburgh under an official public-private partnership agreement to restore the city’s four regional parks: Frick, Highland, Riverview, and Schenley.
To date, the Parks Conservancy has raised over $84 million toward park improvements. In addition to completing 14 Capital Projects, stewarding over 1,700 acres, and working with thousands of volunteers annually, the Parks Conservancy has expanded into community and neighborhood parks throughout Pittsburgh.
Pittsburgh Parks Conservancy Blog 
Hi Marijke,
I just read your inspiring article in Community Works Journal. I was particularly drawn to your comments about the power of reflection after doing great environmental work. Would you be willing to share some of your prompts for that?
Over the past 2 years my students have been identifying and documenting native and invasive plants (using the Vital Signs protocols) in a state park here in Maine. We then cleared out bittersweet in one small location, and have now researched and planted (! last week!) 50 native plants in the area. Its awesome – we’re all pumped and proud of ourselves :).
We’ve done some reflection all along the way, but I totally agree with you that meaningful reflection is KEY to this project having a long term impact on them as people and as stewards.
I’d love to see what you came up with to inspire thoughtful reflection .
THANKS!
Jamien
Science Teacher at Friends School of Portland, Falmouth Maine
jamien@friendsschoolofportland.org
Hi Jamien,
I will send you a list of prompts to the email you provided in your comment.
You are doing great work with your students and we love seeing others acknowledge the power of reflection in the learning process.
Keep up the amazing work!
Best,
Marijke
WOW WOW WOW!
I just knew you would make a difference in this world, Marijke!
I was looking for your mother’s address to send her my book to get her thoughts and I found your name.
Bless you woman.
Best wishes for your future endeavors.
Bill Monihan
maybe you guys can help me out here. I am looking for large stands of white birch trees in Pennsylvania. I need to collect a sample of chaga mushroom as a task for a local mushroom club.
Hi Vince!
Thanks for contacting us. We can’t point you to any real stand of white birches in Pittsburgh’s parks. We recommend that you contact your region’s PA DCNR Service Forester to point you in the right direction. They’re supremely knowledgeable and should be able to give you helpful state park information!
Hi there,
I enjoyed seeing the old photos of the Pittsburgh parks from back in the day. Where did you get them?
Thank you
Debbie Damon
Hi Debbie,
Glad you like the photos! We’ve found a number of historic photos through Historic Pittsburgh Image Collections: http://digital.library.pitt.edu/images/pittsburgh. Thanks for getting in touch!