Connecting communities through conservation with the South Mountain Partnership

When you stand on the ridgeline of South Mountain and look out across the valleys, you see more than just trees and farmland. You see orchards stretching toward the horizon, you see trails that have carried travelers for centuries and you see small, thriving towns that grew out of rocky soil.

This beautiful ridgeline is the northern terminus of the Blue Ridge Mountains, a billion-year old mountain range that stretches 550 miles across eight states. 

South Mountain isn’t just a line on a map—it’s the beating heart of south-central Pennsylvania. But here’s the thing: landscapes like this don’t stay special on their own. They face pressures from development, from climate change, from people loving them a little too much—or sometimes not enough.

That’s where the South Mountain Partnership comes in. The organization serves as a public-private partnership between the Pennsylvania Department of Conservation and Natural Resources and the Appalachian Trail Conservancy.  Over time, it’s grown into an alliance of citizens, businesses, non-profits, academic institutions, and local, state and federal government agencies and officials collaborating to envision and secure a sustainable future for the South Mountain landscape.

This unique coalition is working together to protect not just the forests and farms, but the culture, the history and the very sense of place that makes South Mountain what it is. Because when you talk about protecting a landscape, you’re really talking about protecting people’s lives, their heritage and their future.

And in South Mountain, all those things are tightly bound together.

On this episode, I speak with Katie Hess and Julia Chain. Katie is the director and Julia is the program manager at the South Mountain Partnership.

Be sure to support our 2025 sponsors:
Keystone Trails Association
Purple Lizard Maps
Pennsylvania Parks and Forests Foundation
Sisters' Sunflowers

Support the show

Visit our website to learn more about the podcast, to purchase merch and to find out about our incredible sponsors. Follow us on Instagram and Meta to stay connected. 

Hosting, production and editing: Christian Alexandersen
Music: Jon Sauer
Graphics: Matt Davis