Alison McKechie was appointed this week as the new Director of the Northern Allegheny Project by the Pennsylvania Environmental Council (PEC).

McKechie comes to PEC after serving for four years as the Program Coordinator for the Potomac Watershed Partnership, one of 15 national pilot projects established by the USDA Forest Service in 2000 to facilitate the cooperative engagement of federal, state and nonprofit organizations to improve the ecological and economic integrity of the land, water and wildlife of major watersheds throughout the nation.

The Northern Allegheny Project is focused on the watersheds of Oil Creek, Tionesta Creek, Brokenstraw Creek and Conewango Creek, as well as the main stem of the Allegheny River in northwestern Pennsylvania-in all, an area of 1600 square miles. The Project fosters broad-based public participation and works with other organizations to initiate programs and projects related to education, stream conservation, science and research, water quality, species protection and recreation.

The Pennsylvania Environmental Council also announced the appointment of Mark Gorman as the Director of the French Creek Project. Gorman has served for more than 22 years with the Northwest Region of the Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection in Meadville was co-leader of the Department's pilot regional watershed team effort focused on the French Creek watershed.

The French Creek Project is a nationally recognized model of cooperative watershed protection. Sponsored by the Pennsylvania Environmental Council, the Western Pennsylvania Conservancy, The Nature Conservancy and Allegheny College, the French Creek Project's purpose is to raise public awareness about French Creek and provide citizens with information about how they can protect it. French Creek is the most biologically diverse stream of its size in Pennsylvania.

More Info: A Day in the Life of Oil Creek

Protecting Our Watersheds – French Creek

10/29/2004