Latest / Clean Water Conversations / Clean Water, Community Impact, and Lancaster’s Future: High Foundation

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Clean Water, Community Impact, and Lancaster’s Future: High Foundation · Clean Water Conversations

• 0:00
  SPEAKER_03: Clean Water Conversations is sponsored by Chesapeake Conservancy, working to conserve and restore the natural and cultural resources of the Chesapeake Bay watershed for the enjoyment and inspiration of this and future generations.
• 0:14
  SPEAKER_03: Thank you, Chesapeake Conservancy, and now on to our show.
• 0:29
  SPEAKER_03: Hello everyone, and welcome to Clean Water Conversations, the podcast where we have casual discussions about creating clean and clear water right here in Leicester County.
• 0:38
  SPEAKER_03: I'm Ken.
• 0:38
  SPEAKER_00: Hi, everybody.
• 0:39
  SPEAKER_00: I'm Allison.
• 0:40
  SPEAKER_03: Allison, we are in the middle.
• 0:42
  SPEAKER_03: We are in the throes of a very, very busy season.
• 0:46
  SPEAKER_00: Spring seems to do that.
• 0:47
  SPEAKER_00: There's been a lot going on.
• 0:49
  SPEAKER_00: It's wonderful to have to pick and choose, be like, but I don't know which one sometimes.
• 0:53
  SPEAKER_00: Because like this past week, there were, I don't know, four different Earth Week events on the single day.
• 0:59
  SPEAKER_00: And it would be wonderful to be bouncing all over the county to hit them all.
• 1:03
  SPEAKER_00: But it's also really cool that so many partners are hosting things.
• 1:06
  SPEAKER_03: Yeah.
• 1:06
  SPEAKER_03: And and like the week prior to that was the Alliance hosted the tree lay.
• 1:10
  SPEAKER_03: Right.
• 1:11
  SPEAKER_03: The 24 hours of planting trees.
• 1:12
  SPEAKER_03: That's all.
• 1:13
  SPEAKER_03: That's intense.
• 1:14
  SPEAKER_03: Yeah.
• 1:14
  SPEAKER_03: And again, required a lot of volunteers.
• 1:17
  SPEAKER_03: And so, hey, shout out to all the volunteers out there that are putting in the boots on the ground work.
• 1:24
  unknown: Awesome.
• 1:24
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, and congrats to the Alliance for organizing such a popular event again.
• 1:28
  SPEAKER_03: Yeah.
• 1:29
  SPEAKER_03: Yeah.
• 1:29
  SPEAKER_03: So in the middle of all this busyness, what project or projects are you most looking forward to?
• 1:35
  SPEAKER_03: Now they could be work projects or they could be personal projects, whatever, whatever you'd like to answer.
• 1:40
  SPEAKER_00: Well, like you said, it's kind of a busy season.
• 1:43
  SPEAKER_00: So I'll give my uh personal one.
• 1:46
  SPEAKER_00: And I'm giggling because my project doesn't require a whole lot of work.
• 1:52
  SPEAKER_00: My meadow in the front yard is springing, which looks awesome.
• 1:57
  SPEAKER_00: And I'm really excited because it is a project that we have as a family committed to on our property.
• 2:03
  SPEAKER_00: And there's really beautiful yellow flowers right now.
• 2:06
  SPEAKER_00: And I don't have to do a thing.
• 2:08
  SPEAKER_00: No mowing, no weeding.
• 2:09
  SPEAKER_00: It's great.
• 2:10
  SPEAKER_00: Just a native meadow.
• 2:11
  SPEAKER_03: That might be something we should talk about on an upcoming podcast is putting a meadow on your own property.
• 2:17
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, yeah, for sure.
• 2:18
  SPEAKER_00: And you love a good meadow, Ken.
• 2:19
  SPEAKER_03: I do love a good meadow.
• 2:21
  SPEAKER_00: How about you?
• 2:22
  SPEAKER_00: What projects do you have in the works or already going?
• 2:25
  SPEAKER_03: Well, if you remember, last year I created some planter boxes.
• 2:29
  SPEAKER_03: Um and we had a great year.
• 2:32
  SPEAKER_03: We had a pretty much a bumper crop.
• 2:35
  SPEAKER_03: It was a lot.
• 2:37
  SPEAKER_03: And so successful.
• 2:38
  SPEAKER_03: I'm looking forward to doing that again this year.
• 2:41
  SPEAKER_03: Good.
• 2:41
  SPEAKER_03: And uh so last year we did tomatoes and and uh some bell peppers, I believe it was.
• 2:46
  SPEAKER_03: Okay.
• 2:46
  SPEAKER_03: Um and this year I think we're going to add some jalapenos.
• 2:50
  SPEAKER_03: A little spice.
• 2:50
  SPEAKER_03: Spicing up my uh garden.
• 2:53
  SPEAKER_03: My little garden boxes there.
• 2:56
  SPEAKER_03: So yeah, I'm looking forward to that.
• 2:58
  SPEAKER_03: I'm looking forward to to summer coming and some good times, good times.
• 3:02
  SPEAKER_03: Some awesome times.
• 3:03
  SPEAKER_00: Oh, what is on your list of awesomeness right now, Ken?
• 3:06
  SPEAKER_03: My the top of my list of awesome that I am looking forward to is Water Week is coming.
• 3:12
  SPEAKER_03: Lancaster Water Week is coming up June 6th through the 14th.
• 3:15
  SPEAKER_03: There are, I think, close to 70 different activities.
• 3:19
  SPEAKER_03: Wow.
• 3:20
  SPEAKER_03: And I know last year, last year was my first Lancaster Water Week.
• 3:24
  SPEAKER_03: I had a blast going to going to all these activities and stuff, and I learned so darn much.
• 3:29
  SPEAKER_03: So uh that that is mark it on your calendars and and be looking for social media posts.
• 3:35
  SPEAKER_03: Yeah, and sign up because they there are a couple of activities that have sold out already.
• 3:39
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
• 3:40
  SPEAKER_00: So word spreads fast.
• 3:42
  SPEAKER_03: Yes.
• 3:42
  SPEAKER_03: Well, and how about you?
• 3:43
  SPEAKER_03: What's on your list of awesomeness?
• 3:44
  SPEAKER_00: Oh, my list of awesomeness is that we have the full partners meeting.
• 3:49
  SPEAKER_00: And so being together with a hundred of my closest friends and family, it'll be yeah, exciting to have breakfast together and share some of that common agenda work.
• 3:57
  SPEAKER_03: So that's really cool stuff.
• 4:00
  SPEAKER_03: And speaking of good work being done, our guest today has been in some great leadership roles and has really made a difference.
• 4:08
  SPEAKER_03: Definitely.
• 4:09
  SPEAKER_03: Certainly in in Lancaster City.
• 4:11
  SPEAKER_03: Uh, she is currently the director of High Impact for the High Foundation and executive director of the Partners for Environmental Stewardship.
• 4:20
  SPEAKER_03: She is Diana Martin.
• 4:21
  SPEAKER_00: Here we go.
• 4:24
  SPEAKER_00: So, what are your some of your favorite podcast experiences?
• 4:27
  SPEAKER_00: Because as you said, you used to do them.
• 4:29
  SPEAKER_01: I we hosted a podcast at Hourglass.
• 4:32
  SPEAKER_01: I also, when I was the director of communications and marketing at Rodale, I went on quite a number of podcasts.
• 4:38
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
• 4:39
  SPEAKER_01: And some of them were very niche podcasts that would reach out to us, which were kind of the the funny, interesting ones.
• 4:45
  SPEAKER_01: I think I think I was on a podcast one time for uh just about agrohoods, which is kind of the idea of instead of building a neighborhood around like a golf course or something, building a neighborhood around a farm.
• 4:58
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
• 4:58
  SPEAKER_01: So it's a really specific type of kind of neighborhood and development.
• 5:02
  SPEAKER_01: And there was, you know, it was a podcaster who just talked about that and and had me on the podcast.
• 5:06
  SPEAKER_00: The whole podcast was that, not just one episode.
• 5:08
  SPEAKER_01: That, yeah, that's what they're there's a lot of niche podcasts out there, and people, you know, people are looking for that content.
• 5:15
  SPEAKER_03: So it's uh So let's get to know you just a little bit better with a an icebreaker.
• 5:23
  SPEAKER_03: Your icebreaker question is have you ever completed anything on your bucket list?
• 5:28
  SPEAKER_03: And if not, what would you like to be the first one?
• 5:31
  SPEAKER_01: I have compete completed a few things on my bucket list.
• 5:34
  SPEAKER_01: I feel like yeah, I feel like my whole bucket list is places I want to travel to and just kind of adventurous activities I want to try.
• 5:42
  SPEAKER_01: So I have been uh bungee jumping where in South Africa.
• 5:47
  SPEAKER_01: Wow.
• 5:48
  SPEAKER_01: What?
• 5:49
  SPEAKER_01: Been bungee jumping in South Africa.
• 5:51
  SPEAKER_01: I think it's the third highest one in the world.
• 5:53
  SPEAKER_01: It's the highest one off of a suspension bridge.
• 5:55
  SPEAKER_01: So they walk you out, yeah.
• 5:58
  SPEAKER_01: Like it was pretty scary.
• 5:59
  SPEAKER_01: I'm not gonna lie.
• 6:00
  SPEAKER_01: It was pretty scary.
• 6:01
  SPEAKER_01: They walk you out.
• 6:02
  SPEAKER_01: Um, actually, the walk out is almost just as scary.
• 6:06
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
• 6:06
  SPEAKER_01: They walk you out about halfway through uh in the middle of this suspension bridge.
• 6:12
  SPEAKER_01: And then, you know, they they sit you on the ledge and you're kind of put your arms out, your feet are together, and they count you down one, two, three, and you just jump off headfirst.
• 6:23
  SPEAKER_01: Uh, and everything in your body is telling you not to do it.
• 6:25
  SPEAKER_01: Don't do it, yeah.
• 6:26
  SPEAKER_01: Don't do it.
• 6:28
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
• 6:28
  SPEAKER_01: But it's definitely a huge adrenal adrenaline rush.
• 6:31
  SPEAKER_01: So how long are you actually?
• 6:33
  SPEAKER_01: I also went uh diving with great white sharks in South Africa.
• 6:36
  SPEAKER_02: So I was like I was doing like the you know, getting getting it all in on one trip.
• 6:41
  SPEAKER_02: So it's not exactly like whoopee pies and buggy rise on your tourist adventure.
• 6:46
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah, exactly.
• 6:47
  SPEAKER_01: Um, so a bungee jump that fall that far, the free fall is like over three seconds where you're just falling.
• 6:55
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah.
• 6:56
  SPEAKER_02: It's enough to be cog like very cognizant of it.
• 6:59
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah.
• 7:01
  SPEAKER_03: Oh my gosh.
• 7:03
  SPEAKER_02: I can't imagine what else is on your bucket list.
• 7:05
  SPEAKER_02: I still need to go skydiving, so that's still on there.
• 7:07
  SPEAKER_02: Okay.
• 7:08
  SPEAKER_03: That's free fall for a little bit longer than three seconds.
• 7:10
  SPEAKER_03: You know that.
• 7:11
  SPEAKER_03: Exactly.
• 7:14
  SPEAKER_03: Holy smokes.
• 7:15
  SPEAKER_03: So traveling for sure, but where did you grow up?
• 7:19
  SPEAKER_01: I grew up here in Lancaster.
• 7:20
  SPEAKER_01: I always say I'm I'm one of those Martins.
• 7:23
  SPEAKER_01: Um 10th generation of my family to live here in Lancaster County on my dad's side.
• 7:29
  SPEAKER_01: So my dad's side of the family, Mennonite, 10th generation.
• 7:33
  SPEAKER_01: And um, yeah, a lot has changed in those generations.
• 7:38
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
• 7:38
  SPEAKER_01: Since the 1690s, um, even my my grandparents, you know, my grandpa was one of 18 kids, went to school to sixth grade.
• 7:47
  SPEAKER_01: Wow.
• 7:47
  SPEAKER_01: So just think about how much has changed in those two generations.
• 7:50
  SPEAKER_01: But I have so much love for Lancaster because it's just in my DNA.
• 7:55
  SPEAKER_03: Now, did you grow up in the city?
• 7:57
  SPEAKER_01: I went to Manham Township.
• 7:58
  SPEAKER_03: Uh-huh.
• 7:58
  SPEAKER_01: So grew up out in the suburbs and have been living in Lancaster City for the last 15 years or so.
• 8:04
  SPEAKER_01: So it definitely feels like home for me.
• 8:06
  SPEAKER_03: Oh, wow.
• 8:06
  SPEAKER_01: That's so great.
• 8:07
  SPEAKER_03: But you did leave because you earned your bachelor's degree uh from Syracuse University.
• 8:13
  SPEAKER_03: What did you study there?
• 8:14
  SPEAKER_01: I did not apply to any colleges in Pennsylvania.
• 8:17
  SPEAKER_01: So I definitely get out.
• 8:18
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, I knew that I wanted to um head up at uh at least out of the state, and I was really interested in Syracuse for two reasons.
• 8:27
  SPEAKER_01: One, because I studied journalism there and has one of the top journalism schools in the country.
• 8:31
  SPEAKER_04: Right.
• 8:32
  SPEAKER_01: And two, it snows a lot there.
• 8:34
  SPEAKER_01: Which is a reason why a lot of people probably don't want to go there.
• 8:37
  SPEAKER_01: Um, but I was on the ski team at Syracuse.
• 8:39
  SPEAKER_01: So I got a little bit of the best of both worlds of got to do a lot of ski racing and was in a really great journalism program.
• 8:47
  SPEAKER_03: Oh wow.
• 8:47
  SPEAKER_03: Now did you do that?
• 8:50
  unknown: Yeah, right.
• 8:52
  SPEAKER_03: Did you do competitive skiing?
• 8:54
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
• 8:55
  SPEAKER_03: Competing at with other with other universities?
• 8:57
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
• 8:57
  SPEAKER_01: So I uh did GS and slalom were my two events.
• 9:02
  SPEAKER_03: And I am going to let that uh acronym go.
• 9:05
  SPEAKER_03: Is it GS?
• 9:06
  SPEAKER_01: GS is giant slalom.
• 9:08
  SPEAKER_03: Okay.
• 9:08
  SPEAKER_01: It's just another ski racing event.
• 9:10
  SPEAKER_03: Because I have no idea what it stands for.
• 9:12
  SPEAKER_03: So I'm I'm gonna let that one slide.
• 9:15
  unknown: Yeah.
• 9:16
  SPEAKER_01: And I actually had an opportunity when I was studying at Syracuse, I spent one I did two semesters abroad.
• 9:23
  SPEAKER_01: And for one semester I interned at the Winter Olympics when they were up in Vancouver.
• 9:27
  SPEAKER_01: So got to live in Whistler and um hover skiing with MBC.
• 9:32
  SPEAKER_01: It was great.
• 9:32
  SPEAKER_01: Got to bring those passions together.
• 9:34
  SPEAKER_01: So really cool experience.
• 9:36
  SPEAKER_03: Wow.
• 9:37
  SPEAKER_03: I feel like a boring homebody by comparison.
• 9:40
  SPEAKER_03: I really do.
• 9:40
  SPEAKER_00: I think I took a picture at one of those places, but I none of that.
• 9:44
  SPEAKER_00: Oh wow.
• 9:46
  SPEAKER_03: So you started your career at Lancaster County Community Foundation.
• 9:50
  SPEAKER_03: First communications specialist, communications manager.
• 9:53
  SPEAKER_03: What did your what did the day in in the life look like at the time?
• 9:57
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, I feel really lucky to kind of have landed right out of college at one of the best organizations, I think, in our community.
• 10:05
  SPEAKER_01: I have so much love for the community foundation.
• 10:07
  SPEAKER_01: I'm community foundation alumni for life.
• 10:10
  SPEAKER_01: I feel like I grew up there and I get to visit them every year at Extra Give and all the amazing events that they do in the community.
• 10:17
  SPEAKER_01: And I actually landed at the community foundation at kind of an interesting time because they just had their hundredth anniversary.
• 10:24
  SPEAKER_01: Right.
• 10:24
  SPEAKER_01: And I feel like when I was there, we were 90 years old, but we were a 90-year-old startup.
• 10:30
  SPEAKER_01: And uh we were still in kind of our old location.
• 10:33
  SPEAKER_01: We had the quilt logo, we weren't really known in the community.
• 10:37
  SPEAKER_01: So a lot of what I worked on at the community foundation was to kind of bring us out into the mainstream and the public and find ways to get the community involved.
• 10:46
  SPEAKER_01: So we were doing uh we moved locations, we did our new logo, new website.
• 10:50
  SPEAKER_01: We started a newsletter, we were doing video, um, and we started events like the extraordinary give.
• 10:56
  SPEAKER_01: So I helped start that.
• 10:57
  SPEAKER_01: I ran it for its couple of first couple of years and um so many things that I think it was just a really transformational time to be there because you can be around for 90 years and still need to introduce yourself to the community that you're working in.
• 11:10
  SPEAKER_01: And I felt like that was kind of the time period period that I was there, and we were just um undergoing this really transformational change and going from being sort of a stodgy, uptight, uh like everybody wore suits and you would kind of slip your grant application under the door and you're not really sure.
• 11:27
  SPEAKER_01: Um, and to a place that now is like there's so much vibrancy at the community foundation, and it really reflects kind of like the heart of Lancaster County.
• 11:35
  SPEAKER_01: And I feel like got to be part of that transformation.
• 11:38
  SPEAKER_03: That's amazing.
• 11:40
  SPEAKER_03: So if you want to learn more about the community foundation and certainly the extra give, uh go back and see our one of our previous, I'll let you guys find it.
• 11:49
  SPEAKER_03: There you go.
• 11:49
  SPEAKER_03: That's your that's your homework assignment.
• 11:51
  SPEAKER_00: That's your category.
• 11:51
  SPEAKER_03: Yep.
• 11:52
  SPEAKER_03: And so we talked about extra give.
• 11:54
  SPEAKER_00: So the community foundation is one of the things that brought you back to Lancaster from Syracuse.
• 12:00
  SPEAKER_00: And what was next?
• 12:02
  SPEAKER_00: What was kind of the transition from the community foundation?
• 12:05
  SPEAKER_01: So the community foundation was my my first role out of college.
• 12:08
  SPEAKER_01: And um, when I, you know, I spent a couple years there and I I love the team there, but I was definitely kind of itching for my next thing.
• 12:16
  SPEAKER_01: So, as you do when you're 25, I uh abruptly quit my job at the community foundation and went on an around the world backpacking trip for about uh six months.
• 12:26
  SPEAKER_01: What?
• 12:27
  SPEAKER_02: Which was really an amazing experience.
• 12:30
  SPEAKER_02: Oh my gosh.
• 12:31
  SPEAKER_03: Wow.
• 12:31
  SPEAKER_02: Following a set of things that now make a little more sense when they're all put together in chronological order.
• 12:36
  SPEAKER_03: Your life is a bucket list.
• 12:38
  SPEAKER_03: Holy cow.
• 12:39
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
• 12:40
  SPEAKER_01: I bought an around the world plane ticket, which is a thing that you can do.
• 12:44
  SPEAKER_01: Uh, you have to use it in a year and you have to travel in the same direction.
• 12:48
  SPEAKER_01: Those are kind of like the big parameters.
• 12:50
  SPEAKER_01: But um, so yeah, I took off with my backpack and traveled all kind of through Australia, New Zealand.
• 12:58
  SPEAKER_01: I went uh into Indonesia, I went to Myanmar, India, Dubai, kind of all over the place.
• 13:04
  SPEAKER_01: And when I came back, I was figuring out my next steps and I ended up wolfing, which is an acronym.
• 13:13
  SPEAKER_01: World, I think it's called Worldwide Opportunities on Organic Farms, is what the acronym stands for, um, which is basically an opportunity I did it on a farm in Vermont where if you provide them some free labor, they will give you a place to stay.
• 13:28
  SPEAKER_01: So you can live on a farm and learn about organic agriculture and kind of do an exchange of labor and experience.
• 13:36
  SPEAKER_01: Um so I did that when I got back when I was kind of figuring out my next steps, and I realized that I really love sustainable agriculture.
• 13:45
  SPEAKER_01: I've done a lot in my um career really in that space since this opportunity.
• 13:50
  SPEAKER_01: I I love sustainable ag.
• 13:52
  SPEAKER_01: I feel like it, if food systems connect to the environment, to your health, there's opportunity to kind of bridge that urban rural divide.
• 14:00
  SPEAKER_01: There's so much we can do in that space.
• 14:02
  SPEAKER_01: But it was also a great reality check that I did not want to be a farmer.
• 14:06
  SPEAKER_01: Like uh firmed.
• 14:08
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
• 14:08
  SPEAKER_01: I if you if you uh pull enough uh weeds and carry enough water and wake up to go to the farmer's market at four o'clock in the morning enough times, that was a reality check for me that I needed that I was not gonna be a farmer.
• 14:21
  SPEAKER_01: Um but I I used that experience um in as I went to my next role, which was at Rodale Institute.
• 14:29
  SPEAKER_01: So I became the director of communications and marketing at Rodale, which a lot of people in Lancaster actually don't know about Rodale.
• 14:35
  SPEAKER_01: It's uh just headquartered over in Burks County.
• 14:38
  SPEAKER_01: So it's in headquartered in Cootztown.
• 14:40
  SPEAKER_01: It really is known nationally and globally.
• 14:43
  SPEAKER_01: Like I would go to far farming conferences in California and be like a rock star coming from Rodale.
• 14:50
  SPEAKER_01: And it's really just the next county over.
• 14:51
  SPEAKER_01: And a lot of people don't know about the Rodale Institute, but the Rodale Institute is the birthplace of the organic movement.
• 14:57
  SPEAKER_01: First place to use the word organic back in the 1940s, help write and set the organic farming standards.
• 15:05
  SPEAKER_01: First place to use the word regenerative around agriculture back in the 1980s and just had an amazing experience at Rodale.
• 15:12
  SPEAKER_01: I think you'll see a theme of the kind of workplaces that I like to work at, where we were, again, we had been around since the 1940s and we were also kind of in that startup mode.
• 15:22
  SPEAKER_01: When I started there, it was just like kind of homespun the operation.
• 15:26
  SPEAKER_01: We had this amazing research farm in Kutztown, but we really needed to work to get our story out there.
• 15:33
  SPEAKER_01: In the time I was there, we doubled our staff, we doubled our annual operating budget.
• 15:38
  SPEAKER_01: We opened new locations in California, Iowa, Georgia.
• 15:43
  SPEAKER_01: We started a policy arm.
• 15:45
  SPEAKER_01: We were taking farmers to DC to advocate for organic agriculture.
• 15:49
  SPEAKER_01: I helped write the regenerative organic certification, which is a standard that goes kind of above and beyond organic and brings in other aspects like animal welfare, farm worker fairness.
• 16:01
  SPEAKER_01: So I had a really amazing experience there, just helping to kind of grow the vision and impact of Rodale Institute, but it's only about an hour away from Lancaster.
• 16:11
  SPEAKER_01: And you can visit, there's a visitor center, there's some really awesome tours you can do.
• 16:15
  SPEAKER_01: So it's really a model of kind of both research and advocacy around regenerative and organic agriculture.
• 16:23
  SPEAKER_00: It's so impressive.
• 16:24
  SPEAKER_00: There's so many pieces there.
• 16:25
  SPEAKER_00: And I feel like it's one level removed.
• 16:28
  SPEAKER_00: Have you heard about it very much?
• 16:31
  SPEAKER_03: I have heard about it.
• 16:32
  SPEAKER_03: I we follow them on social media.
• 16:34
  SPEAKER_03: So I definitely see a lot of their posts, and it is always an impressive organization.
• 16:38
  SPEAKER_03: So yeah.
• 16:39
  SPEAKER_00: Very impressive.
• 16:40
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
• 16:40
  SPEAKER_00: That was my team as well.
• 16:41
  SPEAKER_01: I was gonna say, we uh I think we grow grew our Instagram followers while I was there to over 60,000.
• 16:46
  SPEAKER_01: So that was a fun activity.
• 16:48
  SPEAKER_01: Wow.
• 16:49
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
• 16:49
  SPEAKER_00: Wow.
• 16:50
  SPEAKER_00: And your grant work too.
• 16:52
  SPEAKER_00: I remember hearing about, like you said, you doubled your operating budget as an organization, but your work within finance within the team as well.
• 16:59
  SPEAKER_00: I mean, it were so many components that you had in there.
• 17:02
  SPEAKER_01: There was a lot that we did and was just really passionate about a lot of the programs that we did there.
• 17:07
  SPEAKER_01: We have we had a veterans program at Rodale where we would retrain returning military veterans for careers in organic.
• 17:14
  SPEAKER_01: Um, we launched a BIPOC grant program.
• 17:19
  SPEAKER_01: Sorry.
• 17:20
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, thank you.
• 17:21
  SPEAKER_01: That's a great call call in.
• 17:23
  SPEAKER_01: Um yeah, black indigenous people of color.
• 17:26
  SPEAKER_01: So just recognizing that um the majority, over 95% of farmland in the US is uh white-owned and just need to create more pathways for uh BIPOC farmers uh to get the resources they need to get started.
• 17:41
  SPEAKER_01: So just a lot of really cool programs we were able to launch while I was there.
• 17:45
  SPEAKER_03: So your next stop that was back in Lancaster at Hourglass.
• 17:50
  SPEAKER_01: Yes.
• 17:50
  SPEAKER_01: So I was, you know, working full time at Rhode Ale, just loved the mission, commuting to Cootstown over an hour, started grad school at this time.
• 17:59
  SPEAKER_01: This was kind of the thing that I decided I think this might push me over the edge that I might need to lose the commuting.
• 18:06
  SPEAKER_01: Um so yeah, at that time I I started a program at Prescott College, uh, which I'm actually about to walk in my graduation here in May.
• 18:15
  SPEAKER_01: So um, very exciting.
• 18:17
  SPEAKER_01: Uh, three and a half year program, got an MBA with a focus on sustainability and masters in sustainable food systems.
• 18:24
  SPEAKER_01: So still double.
• 18:26
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, double masters.
• 18:27
  SPEAKER_01: Double masters.
• 18:28
  SPEAKER_01: Um and just such an area I'm so passionate about.
• 18:32
  SPEAKER_01: And at that time, uh took a new role as executive director at Hourglass, um, which again is an organization maybe people might not be familiar with.
• 18:40
  SPEAKER_01: It's a small nonprofit here in Lancaster.
• 18:43
  SPEAKER_01: It's been around over 25 years that focuses on quality of life issues for Lancaster County.
• 18:49
  SPEAKER_01: So that's kind of like how's the city thriving?
• 18:51
  SPEAKER_01: How are our schools?
• 18:53
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, how are we using our land and resources and growing?
• 18:56
  SPEAKER_01: How are we thinking about our environmental assets?
• 18:59
  SPEAKER_01: So we focused on a lot of those issues.
• 19:01
  SPEAKER_03: And those first Friday presentations are amazing.
• 19:05
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
• 19:05
  SPEAKER_01: Check if you can become a member of Hourglass, uh, every month they do a different uh speaker series.
• 19:10
  SPEAKER_01: You guys have been in Clean Water Partners, uh, which was a highlight and just a fun way to kind of deeper dive on some of the issues that are really all kind of interconnected and making Lancaster a good place to live and work and play.
• 19:25
  SPEAKER_00: Tell us how you would describe Hourglass as a connector or kind of what is their unique niche role within the community.
• 19:34
  SPEAKER_01: A lot of people describe Hourglass as a think tank.
• 19:37
  SPEAKER_01: I think Hourglass is really looking for trends in the community.
• 19:40
  SPEAKER_01: Either what are some things that are happening that we should pay attention to that we need to connect the dots and keep investing in?
• 19:46
  SPEAKER_02: Okay.
• 19:46
  SPEAKER_01: Or what are some trends that are happening that might be a little bit of a red red flag that we need to raise to the community and bring people in to deeper dive on this issue?
• 19:55
  SPEAKER_01: So I think Hourglass is at its best when there's a lot of folks there from local government, from business, from nonprofit.
• 20:02
  SPEAKER_01: And we're bringing people together around topics that um otherwise could maybe be siloed and we're missing some of those connections that around solutions.
• 20:10
  SPEAKER_00: Okay.
• 20:11
  unknown: Okay.
• 20:12
  SPEAKER_00: So most recently, I feel like many of your worlds are blending and melding for this perfect opportunity that has come up for you and for Lancaster County.
• 20:21
  SPEAKER_00: So glad that it worked out.
• 20:23
  SPEAKER_00: In the fall, you became the director of High Impact.
• 20:26
  SPEAKER_00: Give us the scoop.
• 20:28
  SPEAKER_00: What is that?
• 20:29
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
• 20:29
  SPEAKER_01: So I just started a new role this far this fall at the High Foundation.
• 20:33
  SPEAKER_01: And, you know, many people know the High Foundation as really a grantmaker and funder, been around since 1980, but has undergone a pretty significant shift just in the last couple of years.
• 20:44
  SPEAKER_01: And that really came from our benefactor, Dale High, uh, making a historic, generous gift to actually gifting the high companies.
• 20:53
  SPEAKER_01: So uh high companies makes bridges and has hotels and um construction and concrete and all these amazing things, actually gifted those companies to the foundation.
• 21:04
  SPEAKER_01: So that means that profits every year that don't need to be invested in the company go directly to the High Foundation.
• 21:10
  SPEAKER_01: Kind of like if you heard about what they did at Patagonia.
• 21:12
  SPEAKER_01: Maybe people in the space might know about that model.
• 21:15
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
• 21:15
  SPEAKER_01: It's really unique and revolutionary.
• 21:17
  SPEAKER_01: And because of that generous gift, the High Foundation was able to grow pretty quickly over the last couple of years, and we will continue to grow under that model.
• 21:26
  SPEAKER_01: So with that, we we did kind of a strategy pivot that, you know, we want to continue to uh support not other nonprofits, community benefit organizations in our community.
• 21:37
  SPEAKER_01: Just finished our most recent grant cycle, supported over a hundred nonprofit organizations.
• 21:42
  SPEAKER_01: But the thought was with these new resources that we also want to have a few focus areas where we're doing an even deeper investment.
• 21:50
  SPEAKER_01: And those areas we're calling our high impact areas are affordable housing and the environment.
• 21:55
  SPEAKER_01: Those are the areas where we're gonna put significant funding towards them, but also.
• 22:00
  SPEAKER_01: Also, kind of use all the tools in our tool belt of our kind of influence, advocacy, community partnerships to advance solutions around those kind of particular pressing issues for Lancaster County.
• 22:11
  SPEAKER_01: And I get to serve as the first director of high impact and oversee kind of that strategy and what those investments look like.
• 22:18
  SPEAKER_01: And we have like some really cool projects in the docket that we're working on.
• 22:22
  SPEAKER_00: I think this still fits the adrenaline rush that you like to go for.
• 22:25
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
• 22:26
  SPEAKER_01: I like to build a lot of things for it's a, you know, there's an entrepreneurial mindset there.
• 22:32
  SPEAKER_01: Absolutely.
• 22:33
  SPEAKER_01: You have to be really comfortable with being very uncomfortable.
• 22:38
  SPEAKER_00: Why do you think that the High Foundation has decided, or what are some of the ways that they factored into the decision making?
• 22:45
  SPEAKER_00: That those are two of Lancaster County's pressing issues.
• 22:49
  SPEAKER_01: I think starting on the affordable housing side, one is the data.
• 22:52
  SPEAKER_01: You know, Lancaster has one of the tightest housing markets in the country.
• 22:56
  SPEAKER_01: Wow.
• 22:57
  SPEAKER_01: We were, you know, pointed out in the Washington Post, for example, as like we had one of the largest rent increases in the last few years.
• 23:05
  SPEAKER_01: And we have uh less than 5% vacancy rate, which is basically just housing that is not already occupied by someone.
• 23:13
  SPEAKER_01: So we have a really tight housing market.
• 23:15
  SPEAKER_01: Of course, housing, um, not only is there a really pressing need there, a lot of urgency, it's a nice tie-in with the high companies um being builders and developers, already having kind of a lot of expertise in that space.
• 23:29
  SPEAKER_01: Uh, on the environmental side, I think one, it's kind of a passion for Dale.
• 23:34
  SPEAKER_01: And we saw a big opportunity uh around environmental issues in in Lancaster County, particularly around the Conestoga River.
• 23:42
  SPEAKER_01: I think the the foundation was part of authoring uh a paper a couple of years ago.
• 23:47
  SPEAKER_01: There were some other funders involved, Steinman, uh, Lancaster County Community Foundation, that really saw the Conestoga River as an under-utilized asset in our community.
• 23:57
  SPEAKER_01: Uh the report was actually called Hidden in Plain Sight, which is kind of like a beautiful representation of that idea that we have, you know, in other parts of the country, the waterfront is the, you know, prime real estate and is invested in.
• 24:10
  SPEAKER_01: It's used as an economic development opportunity, a recreation opportunity.
• 24:14
  SPEAKER_01: And over the last few decades, we've sort of turned our back on the Conestoga River and have, you know, been treating it as a sewage site and like in a lot of ways as kind of a point of shame for our community.
• 24:27
  SPEAKER_01: So I think with that with that kind of unique opportunity, seeing that we have this prime asset that just really needs investment and that this can be something remarkable for the community.
• 24:38
  SPEAKER_01: So that kind of spurred that environmental piece.
• 24:40
  SPEAKER_00: It's amazing.
• 24:41
  SPEAKER_00: I mean, it's just inspiring every time to hear the story, the commitment, the unique role that Dale and the entire High Associates have had, but it's incredible.
• 24:51
  SPEAKER_00: The commitment.
• 24:53
  SPEAKER_00: So, so grateful that they're in Lancaster and loving it the same way.
• 24:57
  SPEAKER_00: And I think your love of Lancaster fits in there so well.
• 25:00
  SPEAKER_00: It's a wonderful pairing.
• 25:01
  SPEAKER_01: So yeah, absolutely.
• 25:03
  SPEAKER_03: And I want to talk about up uh other upcoming things.
• 25:06
  SPEAKER_03: You are the executive director for the Partners for Environmental Stewardship, a big project that is happening on the Sunnyside Peninsula.
• 25:15
  SPEAKER_03: First off, how'd you get started with that?
• 25:17
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, so this I have my title of Director of High Impact at the High Foundation, and I also serve as the first executive director of Partners for Environmental Stewardship, which in a lot of ways is a new nonprofit that the High Foundation has kind of visioned into existence.
• 25:34
  SPEAKER_01: This is the organization that is going to be leading, designing, building, eventually operating a new environmental center on Sunnyside Peninsula in the city of Lancaster, alongside so many other amazing partners to make that project happen.
• 25:51
  SPEAKER_01: We do have a visionary funding commitment from the High Foundation,$10 million towards that project.
• 25:56
  SPEAKER_01: So those roles are really interrelated as we're bringing this kind of amazing new project to the community.
• 26:03
  SPEAKER_03: Can you tell me a little bit more about the Environmental Center?
• 26:05
  SPEAKER_03: Like what is its impact?
• 26:08
  SPEAKER_03: What uh what does it look like in a practical sense?
• 26:13
  SPEAKER_01: So this is a project that in some ways has been years in the making, but it feels like it's at this really pivotal moment right now.
• 26:20
  SPEAKER_01: Um, so we've been working with the city of Lancaster.
• 26:23
  SPEAKER_01: We have about 70 acres on Sunnyside Peninsula.
• 26:26
  SPEAKER_01: We're talking like a mile from downtown.
• 26:28
  SPEAKER_01: A lot of people don't even know this site exists.
• 26:31
  SPEAKER_01: Um, the youth intervention center is on this site, just to give people a little context that they haven't been out to Sunnyside.
• 26:37
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
• 26:37
  SPEAKER_01: So there's this amazing parcel of 70 acres that has woodland.
• 26:42
  SPEAKER_01: It has a 10-acre um quarry lake.
• 26:45
  SPEAKER_01: It's wrapped on three sides by the Conestoga River.
• 26:48
  SPEAKER_01: There's all this biodiversity on site.
• 26:51
  SPEAKER_01: There's 89 unique bird species that have been identified.
• 26:55
  SPEAKER_01: I was out there last week.
• 26:56
  SPEAKER_01: I saw a beautiful fox.
• 26:58
  SPEAKER_01: Like we're talking about in the city of Lancaster, this kind of like hidden gem of a really important piece of wildlife habitat that has never been protected.
• 27:07
  SPEAKER_01: There's been a lot of ideas over the years about how to develop it.
• 27:10
  SPEAKER_01: And most recently, the city did a new comprehensive plan, the first comprehensive plan in over 20 years.
• 27:17
  SPEAKER_01: And they finally said this should be an asset for the community.
• 27:22
  SPEAKER_01: This should be our first urban nature preserve, and we should do an environmental center on this site.
• 27:26
  SPEAKER_01: And that was kind of part of the genesis that has brought us to where we are today is this public-private partnership with the city of Lancaster.
• 27:34
  SPEAKER_01: And this environmental center, one of the things that's, I think, really incredible about the opportunity and potential here is there will be a number of environmental nonprofit leading organizations be headquartered or have a presence here at the center, including the Lancaster Clean Water Partners.
• 27:51
  SPEAKER_01: So maybe I buried the lead there.
• 27:58
  unknown: Yeah.
• 27:59
  SPEAKER_03: We're all excited.
• 28:00
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
• 28:00
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
• 28:01
  SPEAKER_01: It's it is really exciting.
• 28:02
  SPEAKER_01: There'll be teams there from Clean Water Partners, from Lancaster Conservancy, from Regional, uh Chesapeake Bay Foundation, Alliance for the Chesapeake Bay, some folks from the Water Science Institute, Stroud.
• 28:14
  SPEAKER_01: So all of these partners really coming together under one roof to have synergies with one another, right?
• 28:20
  SPEAKER_01: That we can continue to innovate.
• 28:22
  SPEAKER_01: We can connect climate, water, land protection in a holistic way, and to really serve as like a hub for the environmental movement for Lancaster County.
• 28:32
  SPEAKER_01: There's so many really amazing ways that this environmental center is going to have impact when we think about the kind of conservation opportunities on the nature preserve, the recreation opportunities, the programming we'll do there with students, um, the ways that we'll kind of bring more people into the environmental movement and access to kind of thinking about green jobs, but also just really excited to kind of have all these organizations under one roof.
• 28:57
  SPEAKER_03: Trails on the property?
• 28:58
  SPEAKER_03: Is that in the plans too?
• 28:59
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
• 29:00
  SPEAKER_00: Nice.
• 29:01
  SPEAKER_00: So tell us about some of the realities of this.
• 29:04
  SPEAKER_00: I mean, it all sounds great, but the reality of getting all these partners to work together, the land will remain owned by the city of Lancaster, to your point of it being in the comprehensive plan and owned, quote unquote, as a valuable resource for the community.
• 29:19
  SPEAKER_00: Tell us a little bit more about the reality of what this process is because it's not all easy.
• 29:23
  SPEAKER_00: It's not all picture perfect.
• 29:25
  SPEAKER_01: There are a lot of moving parts to this project.
• 29:28
  SPEAKER_01: Uh, we've spent the greater part of the last year just working out the legal agreements with the city of Lancaster, for example, to kind of better understand how will the environmental center work with the nature preserve.
• 29:39
  SPEAKER_01: We're kicking off right now a master site planning process for the nature preserve itself.
• 29:44
  SPEAKER_01: So over the next year, we're gonna be designing those.
• 29:48
  SPEAKER_01: Where are we gonna have the trails?
• 29:49
  SPEAKER_01: And there's pockets of wetland, where are we gonna put in boardwalk and where are we gonna have boat launches?
• 29:54
  SPEAKER_01: And how will we have the facilities for kind of both the public and the programming that we want to do there?
• 30:00
  SPEAKER_01: There'll be a lot of community engagement opportunities with that.
• 30:03
  SPEAKER_01: We're designing a whole community engagement plan.
• 30:05
  SPEAKER_01: So there's ways for people to plug in.
• 30:07
  SPEAKER_01: We're building all the kind of communications around this, the fundraising piece.
• 30:12
  SPEAKER_01: And we're also doing, you know, the exciting pieces of designing the building why this is all happening.
• 30:18
  SPEAKER_01: We're looking at really how we can do the highest green building standard.
• 30:23
  SPEAKER_01: So, how can we design a building that produces more energy than it uses, that captures all the rainwater, that uses locally sourced materials?
• 30:31
  SPEAKER_01: So we have this kind of amazing team, all these bright minds around the table, kind of helping us design and engineer this.
• 30:39
  SPEAKER_01: And then we're thinking way out to the future when we open doors of what kind of programs are we going to run there and what's the impact we want to have on the community.
• 30:46
  SPEAKER_01: So we're doing strategic planning through that.
• 30:48
  SPEAKER_01: We're doing a programming.
• 30:49
  SPEAKER_01: So there's definitely a lot of moving parts to bring a project like this together.
• 30:53
  SPEAKER_00: Sure.
• 30:54
  SPEAKER_00: And you're using the word we.
• 30:55
  SPEAKER_00: So this is led by the Partners for Environmental Stewardship.
• 30:58
  SPEAKER_00: You mentioned the people that will ultimately be in the building.
• 31:01
  SPEAKER_00: Can you give us a snapshot or maybe a preview of what that community engagement will look like?
• 31:06
  SPEAKER_00: Like you just mentioned so many opportunities for that to happen.
• 31:09
  SPEAKER_00: I'm thinking of our listeners, Ken, and people being like, What?
• 31:12
  SPEAKER_00: That's gonna be like it sounds great, but how do voices actually come into this?
• 31:18
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, and I should mention Allison is on our board at Partners for Environmental Stewardship.
• 31:23
  SPEAKER_01: So shout out to Allison for that.
• 31:24
  SPEAKER_02: Hey, Allison.
• 31:25
  SPEAKER_00: I am humbled by many of the board members on that team and you, Diana, for the leadership.
• 31:31
  SPEAKER_00: And I know that many of that group in particular keeps asking, they they really want to understand, they want it to be real about the engagement with the community and making sure that voices are reflected in the process and in the product.
• 31:44
  SPEAKER_00: So hence my question.
• 31:46
  SPEAKER_01: But yeah, that's a great question.
• 31:48
  SPEAKER_01: I know I'm using the the broad we because there are so many stakeholders of this project between, you know, our visionary funders at the foundation, our partners at the city, all the anchor organizations I mentioned, our board of directors.
• 32:02
  SPEAKER_01: We have a pretty impressive consulting team who's helping us with their areas of expertise.
• 32:08
  SPEAKER_01: And then we have all of these um potential partners and the public and ways that we involve them.
• 32:13
  SPEAKER_01: So, you know, we're involving education institutions right now in this, you know, the school district of Lancaster and higher ed in ways that they want to be involved in programming on site.
• 32:24
  SPEAKER_01: We're looking at other, you know, we're involving the Connoissorga River Club and the Lancaster County Bird Club.
• 32:29
  SPEAKER_01: Like we want this to be a hub for all of this kind of programming and environmental movement, not just those organizations.
• 32:35
  SPEAKER_01: So there's a lot of folks that kind of need to be at the table as we're going through this planning process.
• 32:39
  SPEAKER_01: So yeah, we will have an official community engagement plan where we're kind of working on getting our website up right now.
• 32:46
  SPEAKER_01: As Allison knows, we have a new logo.
• 32:48
  SPEAKER_01: So we're celebrating every little milestone along the way.
• 32:51
  SPEAKER_03: But yeah, whatever that logo is done, I'll put it on the episode notes so you can see it.
• 32:56
  SPEAKER_03: It won't be there right away, obviously.
• 32:58
  SPEAKER_03: But yeah.
• 32:58
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, she's got it.
• 32:59
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, we're good on it.
• 33:00
  SPEAKER_01: We can share it.
• 33:01
  SPEAKER_01: It's really exciting.
• 33:02
  SPEAKER_01: There's all these kind of little special nods in there to the Sunnyside Peninsula.
• 33:06
  SPEAKER_01: The hidden Easter eggs in the logo.
• 33:07
  SPEAKER_00: You'll love it, Kat.
• 33:08
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, it's really great.
• 33:10
  SPEAKER_03: Right up my alley.
• 33:11
  SPEAKER_01: But yeah, we're working, we actually have a consulting partner partner we're working with just on the community engagement plan and strategy called Connect the Dots.
• 33:19
  SPEAKER_01: They've worked quite a bit in the city of Lancaster, so they're bringing a lot of expertise.
• 33:23
  SPEAKER_01: And the key with the engagement for this project is finding different ways for people to plug in.
• 33:28
  SPEAKER_01: So there'll be the survey for the survey people, there'll be the focus groups, there'll be stakeholder interviews, there'll be charrettes, there'll be open houses, there'll be opportunities for the community to actually just come walk the site and um take a guided hike and learn more about the project and give feedback.
• 33:44
  SPEAKER_01: So I think our goal is really to find a lot of different ways for people to plug in.
• 33:48
  SPEAKER_03: There was a hike up there last year at Sunnyside.
• 33:51
  SPEAKER_03: Is there another hike this year for Water Week?
• 33:53
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, there's actually apparently the hike on Sunnyside last year sold out within minutes of it terminating.
• 34:00
  SPEAKER_01: It's instantly.
• 34:01
  SPEAKER_01: So people are obviously eager to get out there and check out the site.
• 34:04
  SPEAKER_01: Um, so this year they we've expanded it.
• 34:06
  SPEAKER_01: There's two water week opportunities on Sunnyside, uh, a guided hike, and one is specifically a guided birding hike.
• 34:14
  SPEAKER_01: So for folks who are into that, there you go.
• 34:16
  SPEAKER_01: Then got hooked on birding from Mike Hudson.
• 34:19
  SPEAKER_01: So birding is gonna be one of the really amazing recreational opportunities at this site.
• 34:24
  SPEAKER_01: I mentioned there's 89 unique bird species.
• 34:27
  SPEAKER_01: Got that number from Dr.
• 34:28
  SPEAKER_01: Dan Ardia, who's an ornithologist at FM College.
• 34:32
  SPEAKER_01: He is doing research on Sunnyside and a number of preserves all around the county.
• 34:38
  SPEAKER_01: And one of the things that really impressed me, he's doing research at over 50 preserves, many of them owned by Lancaster Conservancy.
• 34:45
  SPEAKER_01: And Sunnyside was number one for the greatest diversity of bird species.
• 34:50
  SPEAKER_01: 89 unique bird species.
• 34:52
  SPEAKER_01: Compare that to maybe 20 some at a climber's run or something to give you some perspective.
• 34:57
  SPEAKER_01: Wow.
• 34:57
  SPEAKER_01: So this is it's something you wouldn't necessarily think of right in the city of Lancaster, but there are there's a lot of biodiversity on this site, and it's a really important piece of wildlife habitat.
• 35:07
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
• 35:07
  SPEAKER_00: Adds to the robust nature of this unique property.
• 35:11
  SPEAKER_00: Yes.
• 35:11
  SPEAKER_00: And I need to give you an extra shout out, and I want you to share your like I mean, take a couple steps back in our chronological order here, but your master's degree, your project was so impressive of the research you did on other environmental centers and urban nature preserves.
• 35:28
  SPEAKER_00: So can you give us a sneak peek into there?
• 35:30
  SPEAKER_00: Because you are bringing the expertise here, my friends.
• 35:33
  SPEAKER_00: I've uh clearly I've been trying to get my foot in the door at this project for quite some time.
• 35:38
  SPEAKER_01: Um, so I did for my capstone project of my graduate degree, I actually focused on what programming could look like at this very environmental center.
• 35:47
  SPEAKER_01: It was like as soon as I heard about this project, I wanted to get involved.
• 35:51
  SPEAKER_01: And uh, one of the things that I focused on in my research are what makes an urban nature preserve unique.
• 35:57
  SPEAKER_01: This is a really unique project for Lancaster County to have an urban nature preserve.
• 36:02
  SPEAKER_01: One is just the opportunity, and then there's the all the other kind of considerations around an urban nature preserve.
• 36:09
  SPEAKER_01: The opportunity is we need to get the most number of people at the table if we want to solve our environmental challenges.
• 36:16
  SPEAKER_01: So to be in this population center where um potential donors are located, media are located, the folks who vote and who make purchasing decisions every day that impact the environment.
• 36:26
  SPEAKER_01: So there's a huge opportunity to just really broaden what our environmental movement looks like in Lancaster County by being in this urban hub.
• 36:34
  SPEAKER_01: The other, there's a lot of realities that come with an urban nature preserve.
• 36:38
  SPEAKER_01: One being you you get a much more diverse population that use the preserve who often have much less experience with wilder forms of nature.
• 36:47
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
• 36:47
  unknown: Yeah.
• 36:48
  SPEAKER_01: And we're gonna have to think about in that our programming plan.
• 36:50
  SPEAKER_01: And a lot of uh the the research says you really need stepping stones.
• 36:54
  SPEAKER_01: So, how are we gonna that might look like um there's folks who just won't be comfortable going out on the preserve on their own?
• 37:00
  SPEAKER_01: So, how do we have guided opportunities?
• 37:02
  SPEAKER_01: How do we have uh video tours on our website so people can see what it looks like before they go there or know what kind of um bugs or species that they might encounter?
• 37:11
  SPEAKER_01: Um, how do you think about issues related to um even, you know, vandalism or um light pollution, noise pollution, all these kind of really unique things that an urban nature preserves.
• 37:22
  SPEAKER_01: So there's amazing potential.
• 37:25
  SPEAKER_01: There's also a lot of um kind of uniqueness as we think about the programming so that we can make nature and outdoors more accessible to the community.
• 37:33
  SPEAKER_03: I did want to make a point.
• 37:34
  SPEAKER_03: One of the really cool things about it is the schools in the area, the elementary schools, particularly, they now they have this tool.
• 37:42
  SPEAKER_03: You talk about people who are unaccustomed to being in that kind of environment.
• 37:46
  SPEAKER_03: This can acclimate them into that environment from a very early age, and it's gonna make more people love the outdoors.
• 37:51
  SPEAKER_00: Right.
• 37:52
  SPEAKER_00: Another shout out to former episode guests with our friends at the intermediate unit and the new SEAL standards.
• 37:59
  SPEAKER_00: It was used in that one.
• 38:00
  SPEAKER_00: You can't buzz me.
• 38:02
  SPEAKER_03: I I can, because every every one of them is uh but but I'll tell you what, there's another homework assignment, folks.
• 38:08
  SPEAKER_03: Go uh go find out what that uh acronym stands for.
• 38:11
  SPEAKER_01: Well yeah, cheerful.
• 38:12
  SPEAKER_01: Oh, sorry, cheer points connections.
• 38:15
  SPEAKER_01: Like thinking about, for example, we might have an outdoor gear library at the environmental center.
• 38:20
  SPEAKER_01: So people can come and check out binoculars or fishing pole because it might not be something that they have at home or have experience with.
• 38:27
  SPEAKER_01: And maybe one day we'll have kayak training in Spanish so that um new, you know, residents of the city can get outdoors in new ways that they haven't been able to in the past.
• 38:36
  SPEAKER_01: So I think there's a lot of opportunity there for the center that I'm really excited about.
• 38:40
  SPEAKER_03: That is so cool.
• 38:43
  SPEAKER_00: I think you just described what your list of awesomeness is.
• 38:46
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
• 38:46
  SPEAKER_00: We love to be able to celebrate and talk about what is awesome in your world.
• 38:50
  SPEAKER_00: It sounds like quite a few things in your world.
• 38:54
  SPEAKER_00: Anything that you would add to your list of awesomeness for today or maybe this month?
• 38:58
  SPEAKER_00: I don't know.
• 38:59
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, there's so many amazing things coming up with this project.
• 39:02
  SPEAKER_01: I think one of the things I'm looking forward to is we're doing a bio blitz on the quarry lake.
• 39:07
  SPEAKER_01: So one of I mentioned there's a really distinctive feature on Sunnyside.
• 39:10
  SPEAKER_01: It's this 10-acre, um, it had been a quarry.
• 39:13
  SPEAKER_01: It was called Grunner's Quarry.
• 39:15
  SPEAKER_01: Now it's filled in, it's a lake.
• 39:17
  SPEAKER_01: And um, it's a little mysterious right now.
• 39:19
  SPEAKER_01: It's like, what does it look like?
• 39:21
  SPEAKER_01: How deep is it?
• 39:22
  SPEAKER_01: What's living in there?
• 39:23
  SPEAKER_01: What's the water quality like?
• 39:24
  SPEAKER_01: Um, so we're gonna bring some scientists from a number of our uh researchers from a number of our local universities, some of our partner organizations to really like start unpacking some of those mysteries.
• 39:36
  SPEAKER_01: And that's something I'm really excited about because just want to start thinking about, you know, in the future, will we have opper recreation opportunities?
• 39:44
  SPEAKER_01: Will we be kayaking out there, paddle boarding, tubing?
• 39:47
  SPEAKER_01: Will we be using that for environmental education?
• 39:49
  SPEAKER_01: How will we use this quarry lake for research?
• 39:52
  SPEAKER_01: And um, so that's one of the the there's so many things we're gonna learn in this process, and that's one of the next mysteries that I'm excited to tackle.
• 40:00
  SPEAKER_03: Wow.
• 40:01
  SPEAKER_03: That's great.
• 40:01
  SPEAKER_01: That's great.
• 40:03
  SPEAKER_03: All right, so we uh have come to my favorite part of the show, and that is trivia time.
• 40:07
  SPEAKER_00: Here we go.
• 40:09
  SPEAKER_03: Now you have shown a great passion for the city.
• 40:11
  SPEAKER_03: You grew up around the city, you advocate for the city.
• 40:15
  SPEAKER_03: Obviously, you're working in the city to help with with both of your projects right now.
• 40:19
  SPEAKER_03: Um, so I put together a mixed bag of trivia about the city.
• 40:22
  SPEAKER_01: Oh, wow.
• 40:23
  SPEAKER_03: It's history and some fun.
• 40:25
  SPEAKER_03: So I'm we're gonna start off with a uh slow, underhanded softball pitch, but some people need to know.
• 40:32
  SPEAKER_03: She knows what's coming up.
• 40:33
  SPEAKER_01: How do we pronounce the name of our city here in PA?
• 40:37
  SPEAKER_01: That's a great question.
• 40:38
  SPEAKER_01: Lancaster.
• 40:39
  SPEAKER_01: You gotta put the kiss in Lancaster.
• 40:42
  SPEAKER_03: That's a marketing mind right there.
• 40:44
  SPEAKER_03: I tell you what.
• 40:46
  SPEAKER_03: Uh Lancaster is home to the oldest continually operating what in the United States.
• 40:52
  SPEAKER_01: Farmers market, central market.
• 40:54
  SPEAKER_03: It is a farmer's market.
• 40:55
  SPEAKER_03: I told you you're gonna get all these probably.
• 40:58
  SPEAKER_03: The Lancaster Caram Caramel Company, or Caramel, depending on which way you want to say it.
• 41:02
  SPEAKER_03: Uh founded in 1866 in Lancaster City, led the way to What Candy Giant in 1900.
• 41:09
  SPEAKER_01: That's Hershey.
• 41:10
  SPEAKER_01: It was Milton Hershey.
• 41:11
  SPEAKER_03: That is Milton Hershey owned both of those.
• 41:13
  SPEAKER_03: Well, owned the Lancaster Caramel Company and then sold it to found Hershey's chocolate.
• 41:18
  SPEAKER_03: I heard there's a movie coming out.
• 41:19
  SPEAKER_01: Amazing.
• 41:20
  SPEAKER_01: I hope we get a mention in that.
• 41:22
  SPEAKER_01: Good point.
• 41:22
  SPEAKER_01: Yes.
• 41:23
  SPEAKER_01: Start with the origin in Lancaster City.
• 41:25
  SPEAKER_01: There you go.
• 41:26
  SPEAKER_03: There you go.
• 41:26
  SPEAKER_03: Uh, the 15th president of the United States called Lancaster County or called Lancaster City his home.
• 41:32
  SPEAKER_03: What was his name?
• 41:33
  SPEAKER_01: James Buchanan.
• 41:34
  SPEAKER_03: That is correct.
• 41:35
  SPEAKER_03: He's both born and buried here.
• 41:37
  SPEAKER_03: There you go.
• 41:38
  SPEAKER_01: There are a popular president, right?
• 41:40
  SPEAKER_01: That's true.
• 41:41
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, that's true.
• 41:42
  SPEAKER_03: More research for you, folks.
• 41:44
  SPEAKER_03: Go look that up.
• 41:45
  SPEAKER_03: Uh there is some debate as to whether this confectionery treat was invented in Lancaster County or Maine.
• 41:50
  SPEAKER_03: What is that treat?
• 41:51
  SPEAKER_01: That is a whoopee pie, and I'm standing by Lancaster.
• 41:54
  SPEAKER_03: Yes.
• 41:54
  SPEAKER_03: Well, you know what?
• 41:55
  SPEAKER_03: I'm gonna give you a ding for that one as well.
• 41:58
  SPEAKER_03: Because you are correct.
• 42:00
  SPEAKER_03: Lancaster is a great place for growing crops, including hops and barley, because of its excellent brewing ingredients.
• 42:06
  SPEAKER_03: Prior to Prohibition, Lancaster was known as the what of the West.
• 42:11
  SPEAKER_01: Oh.
• 42:13
  SPEAKER_01: This is a nod to all of our breweries.
• 42:16
  SPEAKER_03: It is.
• 42:16
  SPEAKER_03: Where else in the world has been known for its breweries?
• 42:19
  SPEAKER_01: Oh, Germany?
• 42:22
  SPEAKER_03: You know what?
• 42:22
  SPEAKER_03: I'm gonna give that one to you.
• 42:25
  SPEAKER_01: Isn't that where they have Oktoberfest?
• 42:26
  SPEAKER_03: It's yeah, it's the Bavaria of the West.
• 42:29
  SPEAKER_03: Okay, thank you.
• 42:30
  SPEAKER_03: I needed a little help with that.
• 42:31
  SPEAKER_03: Because of pro Prohibition, what crop became the cash crop that created a product named after the Conestoga Valley?
• 42:40
  SPEAKER_01: Tobacco?
• 42:41
  SPEAKER_01: Is that about the stog?
• 42:42
  SPEAKER_01: Absolutely.
• 42:43
  SPEAKER_01: Yes, it is.
• 42:43
  SPEAKER_01: It is the Stogie.
• 42:45
  SPEAKER_03: Cigar tobacco, the Stogie is short for Conestoga.
• 42:48
  SPEAKER_03: And then there's somebody at home going, What?
• 42:52
  SPEAKER_03: Lancaster is one of the oldest inland towns in the United States.
• 42:56
  SPEAKER_03: In what year was it founded?
• 42:57
  SPEAKER_03: I'm gonna give you a lot of leeway with this one, so yeah.
• 43:00
  SPEAKER_01: Wow, I'm gonna take 1730s.
• 43:05
  SPEAKER_03: Close enough.
• 43:06
  SPEAKER_03: It's 1729.
• 43:08
  SPEAKER_03: Okay, well that was that was impressive.
• 43:10
  SPEAKER_03: Yeah.
• 43:11
  SPEAKER_03: Very nice.
• 43:11
  SPEAKER_03: Very nice.
• 43:12
  SPEAKER_03: Finally, there are several celebrities from Lancaster City and the surrounding areas, which is the only one to have won several Tony Awards, including his work in Hamilton and Merrily We Roll Along.
• 43:24
  SPEAKER_01: That's Jonathan Groff.
• 43:25
  SPEAKER_03: It is Jonathan Groff.
• 43:27
  SPEAKER_01: Lancaster's Native Sun.
• 43:28
  SPEAKER_03: There you go.
• 43:29
  SPEAKER_03: There you go.
• 43:30
  SPEAKER_03: Well, that's our trivia.
• 43:32
  SPEAKER_03: That's our show.
• 43:33
  SPEAKER_03: Diana, thank you so much for coming and telling us about the exciting work that you're doing, the adrenaline rushes that you have had throughout your life, the exciting work coming up at that with the Sunnyside Peninsula.
• 43:45
  SPEAKER_03: Wow.
• 43:46
  SPEAKER_03: Amazing, exciting stuff.
• 43:48
  SPEAKER_00: It is, but if we end up with bungee jumping in the quarry on Sunnyside, I'm not going to be surprised.
• 43:53
  SPEAKER_01: I toured an environmental center yesterday and uh the Discovery Center in Philadelphia, and they had a few rock climbing walls, and that was pretty envious of.
• 44:03
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
• 44:03
  SPEAKER_01: Um, I appreciate you so much having me on.
• 44:06
  SPEAKER_01: And um, this is an unfolding project, so I'll have to come back sometime and give an update because there'll be a lot of exciting things happening over the next couple years as we work to open doors.
• 44:15
  SPEAKER_03: Something to look forward to.
• 44:16
  unknown: Yeah.
• 44:16
  SPEAKER_03: Awesome.
• 44:17
  SPEAKER_03: Hey, and speaking of things to look forward to, that is our show, but we will be back in just a couple of weeks.
• 44:22
  SPEAKER_03: Until then, take care, folks.
• 44:24
  SPEAKER_00: Thanks everybody.
• 44:28
  SPEAKER_03: This episode of Clean Water Conversations is sponsored by Chesapeake Conservancy.
• 44:32
  SPEAKER_03: Conserve, restore, and empower with data.
• 44:36
  SPEAKER_03: And produced by Lancaster Clean Water Partners, striving for clean and clear waterways by 2040.
• 44:42
  SPEAKER_03: If you have comments or suggestions for show topics or are interested in becoming a sponsor, please contact us at info at Lancaster Cleanwater Partners dot com.
• 44:51
  SPEAKER_03: Thanks for listening.