| abstract | - State Department of Conservation and Natural Resources Secretary Michael DiBerardinis has resigned, saying he will head back to his hometown of Philadelphia to become the commissioner of Parks and Recreation and senior adviser to Mayor Michael Nutter. During Mr. DiBerardinis' six years as DCNR secretary the department protected more than 130,000 acres of natural areas, more than was conserved over the past 30 years, and spent more than $415 million in rehabilitation and improvements to Pennsylvania's state parks and forests. He also helped establish large, regional landscape efforts such as the Pennsylvania Wilds -- an initiative that is designed to promote tourism, economic development, community revitalization and conservation in the state's northern tier counties. Mr. DiBerardinis launched the iConserve Pennsylvania outreach effort to encourage people to practice conservation in their everyday lives and helped expand TreeVitalize, the statewide metropolitan tree planting initiative with a goal of planting 1 million trees across the commonwealth. Mr. DiBerardinis' resignation takes effect April 3, 2009.
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