Friends of Pinchot and Park Staff
Betsy Leppo is an Invertebrate Zoologist with the Pennsylvania Natural Heritage program and the Western Pennsylvania Conservancy.
Growing up, Pinchot State Park was her back yard. Some of Betsy’s first memories of the park were going into the surrounding woods with her brother to play. She loves photographing wildlife, hiking, and all the stuff you can do to get into nature – but says she doesn’t have the patience for fishing, though.
Other than its location and natural beauty, Betsy says Pinchot State Park is special because the “wildflowers in the spring are fabulous”, there’s big boulders that are fun for kids to explore and climb on, and lots of accessible trails for visitors of all types.
A Pennsylvania native, she has been a Board member of the Friends of Pinchot State Park since its inception in 2009. I asked Betsy to share her experience volunteering in the park.
How did you get involved with the Friends of Pinchot?
“My parents; they were both involved in volunteerism in the park. When the friends group started in 2009 they were looking for membership on the board – I wanted to contribute where I could, and felt like I had something to offer.”
What’s your ‘thing’ you like to do with the Friends Group?
“The environmental committee. It overlaps with my professional experience and [is also] my passion. Our vernal pool wetland monitoring is [the committees’] biggest project, and something that we do in partnership with the York County Master Watershed Stewards. We also lead wildflower walks, educate visitors about invasive species and build wildlife habitat in the park like turtle platforms and fish cribs.”
Projects like habitat building are often a collaborative effort between partners. For the last two years, the Friends of Pinchot partnered with Bureau of State Parks, the Pennsylvania Outdoor Corps, and The Pennsylvania Fish and Boat Commission, to build and launch 50 turtle platforms in the lake.
What keeps you coming back to the Friends Group?
“It’s just really rewarding to do stuff with people who share a love of doing things for the park, and the other events we host like our annual Native Plant Sale in the spring. I was lucky to grow up with a public place like [Pinchot] nearby. Even though I grew up surrounded by woods, there was limited recreation opportunity outside of public land. If we didn’t have the park, residents would be clinging to the side of the road that’s not designed for walkers and trying not to get hit.”
What is your favorite thing that the group has done, or is doing now?
“Definitely the wetland restoration work that the environmental committee is doing… It’s something fairly long-lasting that you can see. There was a spot here in the park that maybe used to be a wetland but wasn’t working anymore – we figured out a way to restore it and now it is full of life.”
Betsy Leppo doing wetland restoration work at Pinchot State Park.
Betsy says it’s super rewarding to watch all of the wildlife they capture on game cameras set up by the pools. Some of the recordings were posted on the Pennsylvania National Heritage YouTube channel for the public to see.
“I’m also excited about the work of our Trail Committee. The trails are often the first thing that visitors experience in the park, and during the spring they can be a rough experience. We are making some great progress in rehabilitating some chronically wet and muddy sections of trail with stone and invite volunteers to come out for a trail care session on the second Tuesday of the month from 5-7 PM. We have two more this year (2026) on September 8th and October 13th.”
What words of wisdom or lessons learned might you share with other groups?
“It can be frustrating when you have things that you want to get done and there can be a lot of things that get in the way. I try to remind people that we are all doing this because we love the park, and to try not to take things too seriously. Encourage people to find that thing you’re really passionate about because it will carry them along.”
What is the group currently focused on and how can people help?
“We couldn’t do anything in the park without the support of Friends members and volunteers, all our committees (Wood Sales, Fundraising and Outreach, Trail Care, Environmental) and the work of the FOP Board Members. The best way to help is to consider becoming a member, volunteering, join the board or one of our committees.”
Betsy says the Friends of Pinchot State Park are always looking for extra hands to help with vernal pool cleaning & monitoring, trail care, habitat structure building, and removal of invasive plants. If you can’t make it to the park, you can always make a donation to support the friends.
Links to connect with the Friends of Pinchot State Park:
Links to connect with other Friends Chapters in Pennsylvania: