The friends group that I’m going to discuss in this report is the Friends of Harrison Hills Park. They are a non-profit and help Harrison Hills Park, which is a 500-acre county park in Allegheny County. It is a part of the county's 12,000 acre network of nine distinct county parks. It is located 24 miles northeast of Pittsburgh in Harrison Township. The park features an overlook of the Allegheny River and offers walking, hiking, and environmental education programs. It currently has eighty active members with a variety of backgrounds and a spectrum of expertise. Their mission is to make only improvements needed to enhance the Park's usability, to promote educational and recreational outdoor activities for all ages, and to keep Harrison Hills Park as a 'Nature Park' as it was originally envisioned. …show more content…
During its early stages this friends group helped develop fourteen miles of blazed trails with trailheads and maps, for hiking, biking, birding, and horseback riding. In 2008, the group helped open the Environmental Learning Center in the park. This facility used to be a farmhouse, and home to the park manager back in the day. Then in 2010, the outdoor classroom was added onto the property. The Outdoor Classroom is a special natural hands on space beside the center, with research-based landscaping and structures designed to provide kids with opportunities to reconnect with nature. There are dedicated stations facilitating Music and Movement, Building, Climbing and Running, and other such great activities kids can do outside. These facilities are opened on the weekends in the summertime and the county rangers help assist with