For the last 15 years, Berks Nature has been issuing a State of the Environment Report for Berks County.

To some of the over 300 in the audience at the organization’s recent annual breakfast at the DoubleTree by Hilton in Reading, that is a lifetime.

Alexandra Barnes, a 16-year-old senior at Gov. Mifflin High School, attended the breakfast with more than a dozen of her classmates, all of whom were toddlers when the first report was issued.

She listened as Kimberly J. Murphy, president of Berks Nature, reviewed five areas where progress has been made, stalled or retreated: water, energy, air, waste and land.

Barnes picked up on land use as her main concern, particularly the proliferation of warehouses in the county.

“I live in Flying Hills,” she said, “and the planned warehouse (on Route 10 in Cumru Township) is really going to disrupt our community.”

She would like to see a focus on protecting the land and adapting old industrial sites in Reading into parks and open spaces.

“I would love to see that, so people can thrive,” she said.

Garrett Hyneman’s main concern is waste disposal, as Berks receives almost 80% of the waste into its landfills from outside the county and even the state, according to Berks Nature.

The 16-year-old Gov. Mifflin junior would like to see all packaging materials be made not just from recycled materials but materials that are biodegradable.

“And I would like to have zero plastics,” he said.

Sabrina Lolly, a 17-year-old senior at Gov. Mifflin, was surprised to learn how much work needed to be done to improve water and air quality.

“I’m so thankful we have people like Berks Nature that can join together and help our little community out,” she said.

In addition to Gov. Mifflin, students attended the breakfast from Wilson, Brandywine Heights, the Total Experience Learning from Albright College, Alvernia University, Reading Area Community College and Penn State Berks.

Guests at the breakfast also had their say through an interactive program using their cellphones to vote on the order of their concerns.

They were asked what their favorite part of or memory was in nature, and responses listed such activities as hiking, fishing, camping and even climbing trees.

They were also asked what concerns them the most about the environment, and the 326 responses included pollution, climate, water and sustainability.

Murphy’s report wasn’t all gloomy, though.

She emphasized a number of areas that showed a definite improvement, the greatest of which was that 46 out of 70 community water suppliers in Berks covering 99% of the population have water protection plans in place.

“This is a huge improvement from 15 years ago when only six of 63 community water suppliers had protection plans,” she said. “Great job to everyone who worked for this improvement.”

Andrew Fetterman, vice president for land and stewardship at Berks Nature, outlined the achievements of the past year in land protection, watershed restoration and recreation activities.

He noted that five properties totaling 372 acres of open space in Berks and southern Schuylkill County were protected through easements by Berks Nature.

In addition, Berks Nature acquired the 314-acre Dent-Gundry Wildlife Preserve in the Oley Hills of Rockland Township. Named for the late Connie Dent and Anne Gundry, the preserve fulfills a dream of theirs to set aside land for wildlife. The preserve will not have public access, though, except for research.

Fetterman looks forward to next year when Berks Nature through grant funding from the U.S. Department of Agriculture, the Natural Resource Conservation Services and the Pennsylvania Department of Conservation and Natural Resources will protect the 673 acres of the Hawk Mountain Boy Scout Camp in Schuylkill County.

“These 673 acres will help protect the Little Swatara Creek, Chesapeake Bay watershed and the Kittatinny Ridge,” he said.

Fetterman reported that all of the projects will add to the overall total of 11,000 acres of land protected or owned by Berks Nature.

All 15 issues of the Berks Nature State of the Environment reports are available and can be downloaded for free at berksnature.org.