PaSEC - Pennsylvania Senior Environment Corps

In April 2010, Nature Abounds entered a grant agreement with the US Environmental Protection Agency’s 319 Non-point Source program. With the EPA’s support, Nature Abounds will work, under the guidance of the Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection Agency, to revitalize and expand the Pennsylvania Senior Environment Corps (PaSEC), a group of volunteers aged 55 and older committed to water quality monitoring and environmental education. 

Before losing their state funding in 2007, the PaSEC volunteers had dedicated approximately 1,917,146 hours to protecting and restoring the state's waterways .The funding will help to obtain needed water quality monitoring supplies and replace outdated equipment. It will also help build a database in which the water quality data will be stored, as well as a Web site to recruit new members. Volunteers will also be refreshed on proper monitoring protocols.

In addition to the $141,200 grant from the EPA, Nature Abounds also received a $10,000 grant for the PaSEC effort from the Community Foundation for the Alleghenies in conjunction with the Foundation for Pennsylvania Watersheds.