Mt. Lebanon Nature Conservancy

06/23/2026

Thanks to Lebo Beat for the great write up about our ongoing restoration work at Twin Hills Park!

Upcoming;
🫶June 27th, Gen-Z & Millennial Meet-n-Weed https://www.facebook.com/share/1NL6qqcACc/
📚Sept 1st, Green Reads Book Group - Raising Hare https://www.facebook.com/share/19HifLaGqS/

🌿We are an all-volunteer, member-funded, grassroots organization!
🤝Like what we do? Become a member!
🤜To join the effort - reach out!

Mt. Lebanon Nature Conservancy receives grant funding to remove invasive species and reintroduce native plants to protected parkland

06/20/2026

Read all about it! ☀️ Our Summer Solstice Newsletter is out and is jam packed with updates from spring and plans for summer!! Link in comments!

Upcoming;
🙌June 20th, Park Improvement Project - Bird Park https://www.facebook.com/share/1Cx5bLPci3/
🫶June 27th, Gen-Z & Millennial Meet-n-Weed https://www.facebook.com/share/1NL6qqcACc/
📚Sept 1st, Green Reads Book Group - Raising Hare https://www.facebook.com/share/19HifLaGqS/

🌿We are an all-volunteer, member-funded, grassroots organization!
🤝Like what we do? Become a member!
🤜To join the effort - reach out!

06/19/2026

🌳🐦We spotted so many birds on our recent Bird Walk! Board member and Ornithologist Jim, led 17 bird enthusiasts on an early morning hike to learn about the breeding birds of Bird Park. This is one of many programs and projects we offer that work to make our Bird Town Audubon Pennsylvania recognized community more bird friendly!

🦅The highlight of the walk was spotting an Acadian Flycatcher along the creek, a special treat for any birder! And for the earliest arrivals, they got to see a murder of crows harassing a Sharp shinned Hawk overhead! The drama!

💚Birders spotted/heard many species (list in the comments), this tells us we are doing something right! It's a great indicator for the health of Bird Park!

🫶This was a free community program. Membership and donations allow us to offer high-quality programs for free. If you are able to, please join us as a member and help us continue our work in the community.

🙌June 20th, Park Improvement Project - Bird Park https://www.facebook.com/share/1Cx5bLPci3/
🫶June 27th, Gen-Z & Millennial Meet-n-Weed https://www.facebook.com/share/1NL6qqcACc/
📚Sept 1st, Green Reads Book Group - Raising Hare https://www.facebook.com/share/19HifLaGqS/

🌿We are an all-volunteer, member-funded, grassroots organization!
🤝Like what we do? Become a member!
🤜To join the effort - reach out!

06/12/2026

Seasonal reminder ⚠️

This unwelcome stowaway was found during a post-hike tick-check. 🧐 Ticks are prevalent in our area, but we can still enjoy the great outdoors with some simple strategies to reduce our risk of contracting tick-borne diseases:

👖Wear long sleeves & pants in pale colors (so ticks are easier to see)
🛑Use repellent containing DEET or Permethrin
🚶Remain on trails while hiking
🧐Perform tick checks after hiking
🚿Shower once home, to wash away unattached ticks
🫧Wash and dry (high heat) hiking clothes once home
🐾Make sure your pets are up to date on preventatives
👩‍⚕️Contact your medical provider with concerns related to tick-bites
🧪Send ticks for free testing at PA Tick Research Lab www.ticklab.org

🌿We are an all-volunteer, member-funded, grassroots organization!
🤝Like what we do? Become a member!
🤜To join the effort - reach out!

06/09/2026

We recently had the pleasure of returning to work alongside the incredible students at Mt. Lebanon School District high school ABA/Life skills classroom to continue to plant their native plant garden!

🌱 So far these students have completed 2 years of winter sowing followed by spring planting, and one fall tree planting, with support from Pennsylvania Master Naturalist Laura and their teacher Mrs Nass - transforming a once mainly-mulch bed into a growing native perennial garden, helping to make habitat for pollinators and wildlife, all while creating a beautiful community garden!

🎓 Hats off to three of the students in particular - Aidan, Caitlyn & Elliot - founding members of this project who graduated last week. Among their many contributions during their years in the Mt. Lebanon School District, this garden stands as a living legacy to their efforts. We are so proud of them and wish them success as they step into their next chapter 🙌

🫶A big thank you to MTLSD SESS, Mrs. Nass, the staff, and most of all the students! We look forward to seeing their garden flourish, and to continue to work with these awesome young environmental stewards.

🌿We are an all-volunteer, member-funded, grassroots organization!
🤝Like what we do? Become a member!
🤜To join the effort - reach out!

06/02/2026

🦃 Learn more about our avian neighbors by joining us for our upcoming Bird Walk in Bird Park! 🦉

https://www.facebook.com/share/1Bd3g8fqFT/?mibextid=wwXIfr

Have you heard? Mt. Lebanon is officially a Bird Town! Learn what that means in a new feature, linked below. 🪽

05/28/2026

School in the Park was a wonderful success!! 💚 In this partnership with Mt. Lebanon School District, we are proud to provide a half-day of outdoor learning to every 3rd grade student in the school district!

🤗This May we hosted 428 students in Bird Park to participate in interactive activities that support the school district’s third grade science curriculum. Students explored five dynamic stations, each focusing on a different aspect of the natural sciences: 🦉 Bird Station, 🕷️ Invertebrate Station, 🌳 Forest Walk, 🦎 Stream Station, and 🏃‍♀️ Field Station.

🌟 Shoutout to our incredible board members, Sarah & Lex, whose work and dedication ensure this program's continued success! 🙌

✨ Volunteers are the heart of everything we do - this program thrives due to the dedication of our incredible team of volunteers. The year's program was delivered by 15 volunteer instructors supported by 70 high school volunteers. We also had 100 parent chaperones and teachers accompanying the kids to ensure their comfort and safety! A huge thank you to each one of you!!

🫶This was a free community program. Membership and donations allow us to offer high quality programs for free. If you are able to, please join us as a member and help us continue our work in the community.

🌿We are an all-volunteer, member-funded, grassroots organization!
🤝Like what we do? Become a member!
🤜To join the effort - reach out!

05/21/2026

We are looking forward to joining the students this week to plant more native plants into their garden! Watch this space!

Laura Flannery saw an opportunity for the Mt. Lebanon Nature Conservancy to bring a winter sowing workshop directly to kids in the school district's special education program. So far, students have planted more than 30 native plants of 10 species!

Learn more about the program, and how to get your own kids started in gardening, in Mt. Lebanon Magazine. Link in comments. 🌱

05/19/2026

☀️ Last Sunday, a small but mighty crew of volunteers, including several first‑timers, joined board members Ron, Elaine, and Ada to plant more than 200 native perennials in Twin Hills Park❣️

💚 The group worked across five planting pods, small temporary fenced enclosures that protect young native trees and plants from deer browse and other stressors. These pods give new plantings time to grow strong root systems and establish themselves - once they’re thriving, the fencing will be removed and repurposed.

🌸 Volunteers planted blue mist flower, blue wood aster, purple coneflower, black‑eyed Susan, and Carolina lupine, along with a few redbud seedlings rehomed from a board member’s garden. These new plantings help boost biodiversity in the woodland, by adding more native species that support pollinators, strengthen local ecosystems, and provide food and habitat for native wildlife. New plantings were given a deep drink of stream water to make sure they settle into the new home! Job well done!

🙌THANK YOU to our AWESOME volunteers for always showing up and pitching in! Feeling FOMO? Join us next time!

Up Next for us:
🐦June 6th, Bird Walk - Bird Park https://www.facebook.com/share/18pojcB3mT/
🙌June 20th, Park Improvement Project - Bird Park https://www.facebook.com/share/1Cx5bLPci3/
🫶June 27th, Gen-Z & Millennial Meet-n-Weed https://www.facebook.com/share/1NL6qqcACc/

🌿We are an all-volunteer, member-funded, grassroots organization!
🤝Like what we do? Become a member!
🤜To join the effort - reach out!

05/17/2026

We are so grateful for your incredible support! This year's Native Plant Sale was a HUGE success. Mother Nature cooperated, giving us a blue-sky sunny morning perfect for plant shopping, then followed up with some rain later in the day to water those new native plants into your gardens!

💚It is beyond rewarding to know that thousands of native plants made their way out into the community this weekend - to grow, support pollinators, reinforce pollinator pathways, bolster local biodiversity - all while adding to the beauty of your gardens.

🫶Our heartfelt thanks to UU Church of the South Hills (Sunnyhill) for generously sharing their beautiful space with us, and to John for always making us feel welcome and ensuring we had everything we needed!

🙌None of this would have been possible without our amazing volunteers - they cut plant strips, assembled pre-orders & showed up and pitched in to help during the sale. And, as always, thank you to our wonderful community for continually supporting our work!!

⭐Funds from this sale will be funneled towards next year’s sale, our free community events & programs, as well as our rehabilitation work in our community woodlands, removing invasive species and planting more native trees, shrubs, and perennials.

🌿We are an all-volunteer, member-funded, grassroots organization!
🤝Like what we do? Become a member!
🤜To join the effort - reach out!