Who gave $3 million so the Schuylkill Center could preserve a tract of land? Two sisters.

The Schuylkill Center for Environmental Education in Philadelphia closed a deal this week to permanently preserve an adjoining 24-acre wooded tract it owns that was used decades ago as a Boy Scout camp. Donors who put up $3 million toward the deal had remained anonymous.

Until now.

Under the arrangement, the Schuylkill Center will retain ownership of the tract along Port Royal Avenue, fronting on Eva Street in the Upper Roxborough and Shawmont neighborhoods. But Natural Lands, a large regional nonprofit land trust, will hold a conservation easement that permanently preserves the land from development.

The center had proposed selling the tract last year saying it needed the money for much needed maintenance and repairs, but neighbors resisted furiously, fearing development.

In December, the center announced that an anonymous donor had stepped in with a $3 million gift through Vanguard Charitable to fund the tract’s preservation. It is the largest donation ever to the center.

» READ MORE: A $3M donation will preserve 24 acres of fought-over woods in Roxborough

This week, Schuylkill Center officials revealed that the money came from “entities affiliated with longtime Schuylkill Center supporters and environmentalists Jessica Berwind and Joanna Berwind.”

“The Berwind sisters and their families are eager to see the center leverage this gift into becoming a world-class center for generations to come through its people, programming, and campus, enriching the local community at a time when development continues to replace green space in the city,” the center said in a statement.

The Berwind sisters declined further comment Wednesday, according to a family representative.

Both hold positions at Philadelphia-based Berwind Corp., a family-owned investment management firm. Berwind owns six companies involved in pharmaceuticals, chemicals, medical packaging, automotive, life sciences, energy, general industrial, and natural resources “representing several billion dollars in enterprise value,” according to company literature. Joanna is a co-chair at Berwind, which was founded in 1886. Jessica holds other “various roles” at the company.

The two sisters are also directors at Spring Point Partners LLC, “a social impact venture” focused on “strengths-based youth development, animal welfare, sustainable water, and learning innovations.”

The Spring Point Partners website says Jessica “worked as an art dealer for almost 20 years and owned and operated a contemporary art gallery in Philadelphia.” She is a practicing metalsmith, producing gold and silver jewelry since the 1970s.

And, the site says, Joanna holds an undergraduate degree from Wesleyan University, a master’s degree from Bryn Mawr College, and an MBA from Villanova.

Their donation went to the Schuylkill Center to eliminate all development rights on the Boy Scout tract. The tract will now join the 340-acre main campus, bringing the center’s protected land holdings to 364 acres. The center holds the largest preserved private property in Philadelphia.

“We are incredibly grateful for the generosity of the Berwind sisters,” said Marilyn Tinari, president of the center’s board of trustees. “Our duty as stewards is to engage with the Earth sustainably, and sometimes, as in this case, not to engage at all but to act as guardians to preserve it as is. This gift will enable us to secure in perpetuity a significant piece of open space for Philadelphia.”

Erin Mooney, the center’s interim executive director, said: “This is a momentous occasion in the center’s history, and this historic gift allows us to meet the future with a vision we can put into action.”

Center officials said the money would help meet pressing needs and “unlock future funding opportunities … including other gifts from foundations and donors and opportunities for state grants that require matching funds.”

The Boy Scout tract was originally given to the center by one of its founding families. Center officials reached out to Natural Lands to create the conservation easement. Natural Lands already held the easement on the center’s main campus.

“We are honored to expand our long-standing relationship with the Schuylkill Center to protect this important landscape in the city,” said Oliver Bass, president of Natural Lands.

Neighbors rallied against the center’s original development proposal last summer. They called for the wooded land adjacent to the Upper Roxborough Reservoir to be preserved. Green Tree Run flows through the tract, and a nearby “Toad Detour” protects amphibians crossing the road each spring. The land had been zoned for single- and multifamily homes, passive recreation, adult and child care, community centers, and community gardens or farms.