Local AmeriCorps members help land conservation, education - TribLIVE

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On a brisk Saturday morning, an AmeriCorps member with the Westmoreland Land Trust was overseeing the installation of three interpretative tablets by land trust members in the 58-acre nature reserve in the western section of North Huntingdon, just south of Brush Creek.

The tablets, attached to wooden posts buried 30 inches into the ground at the Otto and Magdalene Ackermann Nature Reserve, inform visitors about Blue Dell Run that runs though the reserve before emptying into Brush Creek; a quarry on the property; and the Brush Creek Valley after the Pennsylvania Railroad laid its mainline tracks though the region, said AmeriCorps member Loree Speedy of Rostraver, who serves the land trust.

The wooden tablets were installed at the end of what was designated as AmeriCorps Week by PennServe, the state’s service commission. AmeriCorps is a national service movement that has been characterized as a domestic version of the Peace Corps. It provides members with service opportunities with government, schools and nonprofit organizations.

Speedy was a member of the land trust’s board of directors for nine years before resigning to become an AmeriCorps member last year.

“I wanted to do stewardship. I wanted to take care of conserved places. I’ve always been a fan of land conservation. This is my way to get into the nitty gritty details,” said Speedy, whose term with AmeriCorps began in August and will end in June.

She is part of the Pennsylvania Mountain Service Corps, which serves a 13-county area that includes Westmoreland, Fayette, Armstrong and Somerset counties.

Speedy, an environmental consultant and botanist by trade, said she felt that serving with AmeriCorps would be one way of remaining involved during the pandemic. Speedy has managed and conducted field surveys for federally and state-listed threatened and endangered plant species on behalf of clients, studying the potential impact on plants.

Speedy is one of three AmeriCorps members serving in Westmoreland County. Two members serving in the Ligonier Valley middle and elementary schools are among the 67 AmeriCorps members at 49 sites in the region, said Jena Shaffer, the regional coordinator of the Mountain Service Corps.

“The AmeriCorps members at Ligonier Valley are helping to improve the students’ math and literacy skills … to increase the students’ (test) scores,” Shaffer said.

Those AmeriCorps members are paid a stipend and have an opportunity to obtain an education award after they complete their service, which gives them the chance to reduce any federal loans students obtained to pay for college expenses, according to AmeriCorps.

The Westmoreland Land Trust has had AmeriCorps members the past four years who have worked on a variety of projects, said Betsy Aiken, executive director of the Westmoreland Land Trust. A previous AmeriCorps member, Stephanie Jellison, created a story map about the Ackermann Preserve.

“They have been a big help,” Aiken said.

Joe Napsha is a Tribune-Review staff writer. You can contact Joe at 724-836-5252, jnapsha@triblive.com or via Twitter .

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