Just this week, the Schuylkill Center for Environmental Education in Philadelphia closed the deal that will save an adjoining 24-acre wooded tract from development. The land years ago was used as a Boy Scouts camp.

The donors who gave $3 million toward the preservation deal have finally been revealed and they have ties to Montgomery County, writes Frank Kummer for The Philadelphia Inquirer.

Under the deal, the Schuylkill Center retains ownership of the tract along Port Royal Avenue in Roxborough, but Natural Lands, a regional nonprofit land trust will hold a conservation easement that protects the land from development permanently.

Last year the center was considering selling the tract, but the neighbors were against it.

Schuylkill Center officials said that the money to protect the land came from “entities affiliated with longtime Schuylkill Center supporters and environmentalists Jessica Berwind and Joanna Berwind.

The two sisters both hold positions at Berwind Corp. which is based in Philadelphia. The family-owned investment firm owns six companies involved in pharmaceuticals, chemicals, medical packaging, automotive, life sciences, energy, general industrial, and natural resources.

Joanna is a co-chair at Berwind and Jessica holds various roles at the company. The two sisters are also directors at Spring Point Partners LLC, which focuses on youth development, animal welfare, and environmental issues.

Joanna earned a master’s degree from Bryn Mawr College and an MBA from Villanova University.

Read more about the land preservation saga at The Philadelphia Inquirer.

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