Balancing nature and commerce

(Bob Veilleux is a community and economic development educator for the Penn State Cooperative Extension Service.)

The key to success of the Pennsylvania Wilds is collaboration.

Community leaders from across the region spent three days last November learning from national and local experts on community and economic development. This workshop was more successful than anyone could have imagined. The teams who participated left the workshop motivated, inspired, and hopeful.

Business owners, public land managers, community volunteers, elected officials, county planners, tourism promotion officials, non-profit organizations and economic development agencies from 12 counties were on hand for "Balancing Nature and Commerce for Sustainable Community Development."

Among the participants were Sylvan Heritage Council of Cameron County; Food Matrix of Potter, McKean and Tioga counties; Greater Renovo Vision to Action Team (Clinton County); McKean County Route 6 Development Team and Upper Clarion River Recreation & Revitalization Team of Elk County.

Participants came away with tools they can use to take advantage of our region's assets in a way that best benefits their community. This can only be done when a community identifies what it wants to be and how it is going to get there.

Over the course of the three days, participants spent time with experts who discussed community leadership skills, tourism and recreation trends, entrepreneurial development, place-based education, preserving community character, developing sustainable tourism, and understanding our regional economy.

A couple of the participants' comments made us realize how successful the seminar was:

--"We could have spent months together and never reached this level and consensus. We can move forward towards achieving a greater 'community' in the Pennsylvania Wilds."

--"The most beneficial part was recognizing and recording my county's assets and creating a plan to capitalize on them."

There is no doubt that the teams will be successful moving forward. We will be working to offer similar programming in the future.

Thank you to everyone who helped with this workshop and best of luck to the community teams as they move forward.