Pittsburgh Botanic Garden awarded $370,000 grant
The Pittsburgh Botanic Garden has been awarded a $370,000 Growing Greener Grant from the state Department of Environmental Protection.
The grant is one of 114 totaling more than $25 million for protection of Pennsylvania’s water resources.
“This grant will help support the environmental mission of the garden,” Christine Koebley, the organization’s interim president, said. “The Pittsburgh Botanic Garden has a proven track record in deploying innovative water treatment systems to clean and restore acid mine drainage.”
The treatment system at the garden’s lotus pond won the 2014 Pennsylvania Governor’s Award for Environmental Excellence.
The DEP grant will be used to clean acid mine drainage within the headwaters of the Kentucky Hollow area at the garden, which is located in Settlers Cabin Park. Mitigating the discharge is a key component of a master plan to restore Kentucky Hollow’s ecosystem to its original state.
The project is part of a larger plan to rehabilitate 5,000 feet of the stream bank area in Kentucky Hollow.
For more information, visit pittsburghbotanicgarden.org.