The Western Pennsylvania Conservancy (WPC), headquartered in Pittsburgh, has been around for more than 75 years (1932–2009) and exists to protect the water, land and life of western Pennsylvania. Half of all the land that has been protected by land trusts in Pennsylvania has been conserved by the Western Pennsylvania Conservancy. The organization also facilitates community floral gardens in 19 counties. This nonprofit organization has been entrusted with preserving Fallingwater, the masterpiece home built by Frank Lloyd Wright in Mill Run, Pa. that members of the American Institute of Architects recently voted the most important building of the 20th century.
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Since 1932, WPC has protected 225,000 acres (910 km2). Most of that land is now publicly owned and makes up some of Pennsylvania's premier parks, forests, gamelands, and natural areas - visited by millions of residents and tourists. WPC's work enables protection of important natural resources and creates economic benefits - from tourism in the Laurel Highlands, recreation in the Clarion River and Loyalhanna Gorge, to forestry in the Allegheny National Forest and Forbes State Forest in Westmoreland County.
WPC plants more than 150 community gardens each spring in 19 western Pennsylvania counties.
Restoration projects included the Frank Lloyd Wright designed Fallingwater house, perched over the Bear Run waterfalls at Mill Run, is an internationally renowned architectural landmark. Public tours are offered.[1]
Bear Run flows within the Bear Run Nature Reserve, protected and administrated by the Western Pennsylvania Conservancy. Hiking trails in the nature reserve give access to enjoy Bear Run and the pristine Laurel Highlands in this region of the Allegheny Mountains.
WPC acquired land for the creation of these state parks:
WPC's Community Garden Program and its more than 5,000 volunteers planted a quarter of a million flowers this past spring.