The Friends of the State Line Serpentine Barrens, an independent, nonprofit volunteer organization formed and managed by local volunteers, provides one centralized organization to bridge the gap between the many stakeholders involved in management and preservation of the State Line Serpentine Barrens.
Our mission is to encourage community involvement in preserving this globally rare eco-system of our area; provide volunteer support for the maintenance, management, and preservation of the State Line Serpentine Barrens; and provide education outreach to the community and beyond about this rare eco-system.
Currently, we are trying to recruit volunteers to help with the preservation efforts in SLSB sites. Also, we are working with the Oxford Public Library to permanently archive documents related to the SLSB and create an interactive educational exhibit. In fall of 2009, we will have an Environmental Management Studies intern from the University of Maryland University College (UMUC) to work with us.
We recently completed our website using Grassroots.org’s services. Having our website will expand interest in the organization, bring more volunteers, and help us to educate the local community about the Barrens here. More than this, we also hope to work with the town of Oxford, PA, to bring more tourists to the local area. Now that the website is finished, we can organize a public interest meeting. Ironically, having a virtual presence somehow just makes us more real!
I was excited to see how professional the website looked and how easy it was to build; the help site and staff made the process easier, in spite of some initial frustrations! I love the blog feature and hope to use it to share a sense of the richness of the Barrens and personalize our organization locally. The photo albums enable us to feature the many rare and endangered plants and Lepidoptera of the Barrens as well as something about the mining history here. Also, we want to document our preservation efforts in photos. The Grassroots.org Toolbox has a powerful set of tools that are fairly easy to use. With Alice’s help and timely support, this whole experience was a fun and exciting project.
Cindy Whitesel, Chair
Friends of the State Line Serpentine Barrens
Find Us On