Fundraising kicks off for Tom Ridge and Julian Wetlands project

The Wildlife for Everyone Foundation kicked off fundraising for its wildlife center project with a celebration Wednesday at Tom Ridge and Julian Wetlands.

The foundation plans to install a mile-long accessible boardwalk trail, three wildlife observation areas, an accessible fishing area for Bald Eagle Creek and an education pavilion.

“What’s really the big celebration (is) that these trails will be fully accessible, regardless of your physical limitations or abilities, so it’s going to give a chance ... for everyone, in the broadest sense, to connect with nature,” said Jerry Regan, the foundation’s president.

The project has a budget of $1.8 million, Regan said, with $250,000 going toward a maintenance fund.

He said he thinks the project will be “transformational” and a “crown jewel” of conservation in the commonwealth.

Interpretative signs and benches will also be added, he said, to make the area like an outdoor museum.

Regan said the foundation hopes to be shovel ready in a year and open the wildlife center in spring 2019.

“This is an extraordinary place in our state,” he said.

In 2010, WHM Group Inc. donated 135 acres of man-made wetlands and adjacent land to the foundation. WHM constructed the wetlands as mitigation for the environmental damage caused by Interstate 99 construction.

For more information or to make a donation, visit wildlifeforeveryone.org.

This story was originally published September 27, 2017 at 8:19 PM with the headline "Fundraising kicks off for Tom Ridge and Julian Wetlands project."