Chester County Chamber of Business and Industry

Join the CCCBI’s Women Influencing Business committee for an evening of wine, networking, and collaboration.

The event is sponsored by MacElree Harvey and will be held on Thursday, Oct. 19 from 4:30-6:30 PM at Pietro’s Prime in West Chester. The price for Chamber members is $20, while the price for non-members is $25.

For more information on how to register, please contact Meridith Freese at Meridith@cccbi.org or 610-725-9100 or click here.

Chester Valley Trail West Project

The Chester County Planning Commission has launched a public opinion survey about a plan to extend the popular Chester Valley Trail westward across the county.

The goal is to extend the Chester Valley Trail west of Downingtown and ultimately connect with the future 29-mile, multi-use Enola Low Grade Trail located just outside of Atglen in Lancaster County. The Chester Valley Trail West project includes eight municipalities: Caln, Downingtown, Coatesville, Valley, Parkesburg, Sadsbury, West Sadsbury, and Atglen.

The public survey will aid the planning team in understanding each community’s unique transportation and recreation needs, assets, and concerns. Click here to participate in the survey.

In addition to the public survey, the Planning Commission will conduct the first public meeting about the project on Oct. 17 from 7-9 PM at Coatesville Area Senior High School. At the meeting, the Planning Commission staff will acquaint people with the project and solicit preliminary feedback about potential trail alignments.

Force of Nature Program

Natural Lands is accepting applications for the 2018 Force of Nature volunteer training program. Force of Nature volunteers learn about natural resource management from Natural Lands’ nationally recognized land stewardship experts. Over the course of five Saturday afternoon sessions, volunteers will study land management, habitat restoration, native plant gardening, event support, and community outreach. Training features workshops and service-learning projects.

Training sessions for the 2018 class will begin on Saturday, Feb. 10, 2018 and continue through April 7, 2018. The registration deadline is Nov. 1, 2017. Program information and applications are available here.

Longwood Gardens

Longwood Gardens, one of the great gardens of the world and the most visited public garden in America, announced record attendance of 1,530,237 visitors for fiscal year 2017 (Oct. 1, 2016-Sept. 20, 2017), representing a 15.7 percent increase over the previous year.

“We are thrilled to achieve this record attendance,” said Paul B. Redman, Longwood Gardens President and CEO, “yet we are ever mindful of the role we play in our community and in our world beyond the numbers – providing a place of beauty, a place of learning, and a place of legacy and stewardship.

“Our investment in the preservation of our historic Main Fountain Garden and our free virtual field trips offered to schools across the nation are just two examples of the diverse work we do to fulfill our mission.”

Schuylkill Water Stewards

Applications are being accepted for the Fall 2017 Schuylkill Water Stewards program. The class focuses on the exceptional value of French Creek and Pickering Creek, both vital tributaries to the Schuylkill River.

Schuylkill Water Steward volunteers will participate in four weekend training sessions on the science of healthy watersheds, threats to local streams, water sampling techniques, and more. An emphasis is placed on hands-on, streamside training.

Classes begin on Saturday, Oct. 28, and continue through Saturday, Nov. 18. Following training, SWS volunteers will be part of a network that conducts water quality sampling and collects information on aquatic wildlife and their habitats. The deadline to register is Oct. 20. Click here to learn more.