Have you heard of Mill Cove Environmental Education Center near Mansfield? How about Charlie Fox? If you know Charlie, you certainly have heard about Mill Cove, and vice versa. The two make quite a story.

Charlie was the human Energizer Bunny. His get-up-and-go outlasted folks forty and fifty years his junior. Charlie’s passion in life was kids. He was a teacher and principal in Troy, where he was a middle school earth science instructor, noted for his caring attitude toward young people. Handed problem students, he relished the chance to lead a kid down a positive path. His friend Bill Bower summed it up like this: “Folks thought Charlie was...frugal. He rode around in a rusty old pickup with rattling fenders about to fall off. But if a kid needed something, Charlie helped. He had sources, but, often as not, he dug into his worn jeans and found some cash. That was Charlie.”

Charlie loved the outdoors and hunting. He was a founding member/president of the Pennsylvania Federation of Sportsmen. He became a deputy game warden, serving for years and leaving only at mandatory retirement age. He taught the Pennsylvania Game Commission’s hunter education course concentrating on safety, game laws, and, obviously, hunting. Charlie was then key to the opening of youth camps sponsored by the Game Commission. Called PGC Outreach, the camps’ subject matter ranged from the environment to archery to becoming a junior warden. But the Game Commission wasn’t done with Charlie. When a board member slot opened on the Game Commission in 2012, Governor Tom Corbett appointed Charlie. He served for ten years.

National Attention and…

In 1999 Charlie organized a local Youth Hunter Education Challenge, and then, during one of his trips to the National Rifle Association’s Whittington Center in New Mexico to help with the National YHEC, he boldly suggested to NRA officials that the event ought to come east. They agreed. Tasked with finding a site for a National YHEC in the Keystone State, he approached the US Army Corps of Engineers at the Tioga-Hammond Dams. Charlie had instructed at the annual Youth Field Day at Ives Run, but that site was unavailable. The USACE director suggested another spot. Water backed up from the dam had pushed its way up Mill Creek, with the result being a site previously used to host a mountain man rendezvous. Charlie had assisted at that event, knew the site, and readily accepted, subsequently naming the site Mill Cove.

Gathering local sportsmen clubs to help with setup, Charlie and Bob Davis, the NRA/National YHEC contact, began preparing the site. An immediate need was small, moveable pavilions. The NRA funded nine, then teamed with largesse from Blossburg’s Ward Manufacturing and Wellsboro’s Packer Foundation to erect the large main pavilion. That structure is fitted with electricity, parking, and seating for 150. Each year Bob sought site improvements, including road upgrades and funds for the NRA-approved shooting range to the northeast of the property.

Over its twenty-five-year history, Mill Cove would host the National YHEC championships eleven times, bringing kids and their families to the area from forty-six states.

…Local Support

Within a year of that first National YHEC gathering in the east, Charlie imagined what would become the Mill Cove Environmental Education Center or, simply, Mill Cove. His dream was a big one. His encouragement to local YHEC helpers probably went something like this: “We could make this a place where kids enjoy the outdoors, where they learn about nature, where they could do stream studies, where they learn to, you know, learn about animals, fish, trees, plants, insects, and...the environment.” He probably then heard, “Charlie, that’s a lot of work. You’d need a bunch of folks to help.” Still excited at the idea, his response was likely, “Okay. Would you help? We’ll get a board together.”

Mary Robinson-Slabey, who had accompanied Charlie to National YHEC in New Mexico, joined the board. Mary taught in the department of education & computer science at what was then Mansfield University. She attended an NRA shooting course to learn how to build a shooting range. She suggested going to the university for help. Mary served Mill Cove until her retirement.

Taking her advice, Charlie went to the biology department chair, Dr. Dave Flesch. Dave liked the idea. He was elected vice-president, serving Mill Cove for years before stepping into the presidency when Charlie died in 2022.

“Without Charlie, Mill Cove wouldn’t have been conceived,” Dave says.

Mill Cove is in Tioga Township, so Charlie recruited one of the supervisors, Hank Leatherman. Hank advised him that Fred LaVancher, a Tioga resident and, at that time, employed with Hunt Engineers, was good with details, planning, permits, and grant applications. Charlie pulled Fred aboard, where he served as board secretary and piloted long-range plans to completion.

“Charlie provided leadership and direction for his dream,” Fred says. “He had contacts with state and federal agencies, outdoor groups, the NRA, and Game Commission. His passion, drive…the love Charlie showed Mill Cove is beyond description. He spent hundreds of solo hours planting trees, cutting brush, mowing, and supervising the shooting range.”

Marilyn Jones, who was in charge of the Ives Run Recreation area, advised the board, predicting what the USACE might require. When she retired, she joined the Mill Cove board. When Fred wanted relief from his duties as board secretary, Marilyn took over.

And so, a complement of enthusiastic, hard-working folks filled the roster and worked, step by step, on the long-range plans, one of which was making sure the legalities around use of the site were in order. At tortoise speed, a lease was ultimately secured for Mill Cove from the Army Corps.

Fred attended board meetings with printed agendas. Charlie often started on item five or six until Fred gently brought him back to the agenda. That was Charlie. And that was Fred. True to Hank’s prediction, Fred, who served Mill Cove for twenty-two years, knew where to go, whose chain to rattle. His volunteer hours were surpassed only by Charlie’s. But—“Charlie was the spark plug, the visionary, a tireless advocate for the Cove,” Fred reflects. “Charlie was our leader, teacher, and inspiration. He fostered friendships with state and federal agencies, outdoor groups, all while soliciting memberships and contributions. Charlie made it all happen.”

Via Mansfield’s Bruce Dart, the Chamber of Commerce became involved. Bruce had logged twenty years on the borough council—as president for some of those years—and served in the chamber, as American Legion Post Commander, and was a Mansfield University alumnus.

“Charlie was ever optimistic and he found a way to share his optimism,” says Bruce, who was Mill Cove’s board treasurer for years. “His enthusiasm was infectious.” With Bruce’s help, the Mansfield Chamber became the address for Mill Cove, receiving mail and phone calls.

Charlie also recruited Mansfield University’s Fisheries Program Chair Aaron McNevin. Aaron pushed for an Earth Day event at Mill Cove, saying it was, “a perfect place.”

“The community responded,” he says. “Everyone wanted to participate and connect to the environment and Mill Cove. Charlie was one of those people who gets the job done. If we advanced Mill Cove’s mission, Charlie was happy.”

The fisheries program at the university had a large research boat that needed a home. Bring it to Mill Cove, Charlie said. So, a boat livery appeared for the study vessel and for Mill Cove’s kayaks.

Many others have contributed to Charlie’s big Mill Cove dream. Former Tioga County resident Dave Lamphier, a manager with Consolidated Gas, a locally based gas transmission company, came aboard. Consolidated Gas contributed to Mill Cove, along with Dave. Retired now to Florida, Dave’s an advisory board member who funds and manages the Mill Cove website.

Recently, the 250-acre USACE lease was renewed for fifty years. Several university programs use the area as an outdoor laboratory. Lee Stocks, head of Commonwealth University-Mansfield’s Institute for Science and Environment, supervises research projects at Mill Cove. With Charlie’s connections and his ability to twist arms, the US Fish and Wildlife Service did an extensive stream bank restoration project along Mill Creek that included a wheelchair accessible path just a foot off Mill Creek where buckets of trout are stocked. Teacher training workshops in environmental topics led to school field trips and environmental career days. Scouts held camporees, managed a butterfly garden, conducted an endangered bat project, and worked on wildlife habitat enhancement.

When the USACE insisted that the bridge spanning the entrance be replaced, Charlie shouldered that task. He cajoled Larry Hines, with Gutchess Lumber, to donate lumber needed for the bridge. Other major project donors have included Ward Manufacturing, Gas Field Specialists (who graded the road, the site, and installed drainage to the Environmental Center), and board member Steve Steinbacher who milled ash from Mill Cove with his portable sawmill for the center’s siding. To date, over $2 million has been invested in Mill Cove’s environmental area. Most was raised from memberships and contributions from individuals, businesses, and foundations.

The last two projects Charlie was involved with show his commitment to doing whatever was needed to get Mill Cove’s story told. Contacted by the host of the Pennsylvania Outdoor Writers’ annual conference, Charlie couldn’t offer enough. He’d be there to open up the shooting range, attendees could use the main pavilion for a meeting, he’d bring all the wood they’d need for an evening around the campfire. He’d even bring stumps to sit on.

Soon after that event, a graduate student wanted to erect a listening post for a migrating bird study. Charlie called Fred. Fred deadpans, “Charlie and I strained but got it up. Charlie wheezed, ‘Worth it. Mill Cove will be mentioned in a Cornell dissertation.’ He died a week later.”

Charlie had so much energy that folks expected he’d be around forever. On the anniversary of Charlie’s death, friends, family, and board gathered at the Environmental Center and dedicated the new pavilion to him “for his dedicated service to Mill Cove.” He earned it.

This year marks the twelfth annual Earth Day Celebration at Mill Cove. It’s planned for May 3, so put it on your calendar and bring the kids. Find out more at millcoveinc.org or call (570) 418-3593.