When city neighborhoods undergo change, the words revitalization, innovation, and gentrification are often parts of important conversation about how development affects neighborhood residents.
Less discussed but equally important for the quality of all life is conservation. A project that was highlighted in an article from NEXTPittsburgh this month shows an exciting marriage of community development and conservation in one of our neighboring communities – Garfield.
Community leaders in Garfield, a neighborhood in Pittsburgh’s rapidly growing east end, are discussing plans to connect vacant lots and transform them into a contiguous, community-owned greenspace.
The project, organized by the Bloomfield Garfield Corporation, would protect urban land from future development.
At Carnegie Museum of Natural History, we view local conservation as paramount to the success of Pittsburgh.
“People hear me quite frequently wax lyrical about the importance of having an experience of nature in our day-to-day lives. It’s nice to see the wealth of local initiatives that allow that to happen,” Carnegie Museum of Natural History Director Eric Dorfman wrote on his blog.
Our museum’s efforts include Birdsafe Pittsburgh, a program established by the museum and seven other local conservation organizations that researches and reduces the incidents of bird injury and death caused by birds colliding with glass windows and facades. Birdsafe’s mission is to educate the community to “make Pittsburgh and beyond a better, safer world for bids.”