Written By Silas Chamberlin

The D&L is involved with so many types of projects, over such a wide expanse of eastern Pennsylvania, that it is sometimes difficult to keep them all straight.  We do heritage tourism, economic development, historic preservation, educational outreach, trail building, environment restoration, interpretation, and the list goes on. We are doing so many different things, in fact, that some of the projects totally escape my radar or I only know them as a project name on an annual report.  Sometimes the only way to get a handle on a project and learn about what the D&L is  really accomplishing is to get out in the field.  What you find is often remarkable.

Last Friday, I spent the morning with D&L Resource Conservation Specialist Sherry Acevedo and Borough Administrator Louise Firestone at the Wind Gap Riparian Buffer Restoration Site. The site, located on Route 512, the main street through town, has undergone a dramatic transformation during the last year or so. Before work began, you would have seen an old building sitting astride a stormwater culvert that carried water from a park and some small fields underneath the road and into a marsh that serves as the headwaters for Bushkill Creek. During periods of heavy rain, the culvert and condemned building narrowed the flow of water and forced it back onto the road, often causing severe flooding issues that led to road closures.

With the help of Sherry and Lehigh Valley Greenways (a DCNR initiative managed by the D&L), the Borough of Wind Gap demolished the building, improved the culvert, and planted a native plant riparian buffer to slow and absorb water flow. Removing the building allows stormwater to more easily pass under the road.  Slowing it with well-chosen plants prevents the water from depositing sediment and other nasty stuff in the nearby marsh. A plus for budget-conscious policymakers, the native plants require minimal maintenance—just some selective weed whacking, like we did this morning—and provide much-needed habitat for birds, butterflies, and even little minnows. Periodic rain does the rest.

The site after grading and seeding but prior to any growth.

In fact, even during this relatively dry summer, the plants are thriving. I had briefly visited this site once before, when the plants had only recently been planted and were growing low to the ground. A clearly visible stream passed through the center. This time around, the site resembles a well-cultivated jungle of native bushes and grasses and, instead of a stream, the water slowly passes beneath a dense layer of plants—just as it should, when the goal is to manage stormwater. Sherry pointed out which plants were natives and which were invasives. On the upper portion of the banks, Louise and I weed whacked the native grasses, giving them a healthy periodic cutting from which they’ll soon spring back. I carefully cut around the native bushes, which tended to blend in with everything else and made me paranoid that I was on the cusp of destroying something I shouldn’t.

Today the native bushes and plants are flourishing.

Down in the wetter sections, Sherry spot sprayed plants with a water-safe herbicide that can permanently remove invasives in a way that simple cutting can never do. After the spraying and whacking was complete, we spent time pulling weeds from the flower beds and fishing litter out of the water. The amount of cigarette butts, paper, plastic bottles, and wrappers tangled up in the plants reminded me that without them the water would have carried the pollutants directly into the marsh. Because the majority of Bushkill Creek is classified as a High Quality Cold Water Fishery, it is especially important to keep the headwaters free from pollution.

Native monarda blooms, adding flourishes of color to the green backdrop.

Unfortunately, I had to get back to the office, so I left before all of the work was complete. Sherry and the other volunteers continued with the weeding and then were supposed to plant another truckload of plants that arrived just as I was leaving.  As I drove south on Main Street and away from the site, I thought about the positive environmental and fiscal impact municipalities across the state could make by adopting low-maintenance, low-cost native grasses as a natural form of stormwater management, as Wind Gap had decided to do.  Perhaps one silver lining in this time of economic recession is that more local governments will adopt creative solutions that ease the burden of constant, expensive landscape maintenance, without sacrificing a healthy environment.

See the Bushkill Stream Conservancy’s Establishing Streamside Buffer Areas in Your Park or Community for more information on creating “No-Mow” riparian buffers.

A couple of weeks ago, I had the opportunity to visit some Lehigh Valley Greenways Initiative (LVGI) projects that are nearing completion. My “tour guide” was D&L Resource Conservation Specialist and LVGI grant administrator Sherry Acevedo. As noted in previous entries, thanks to Sherry, LVGI commits funds for nearly a dozen Lehigh Valley conservation and restoration projects every year. A testament to the program’s productivity, we passed numerous completed, current, and future projects, as we drove across Lehigh and Northampton counties. I’d like to highlight just two of the projects here.

First, we stopped in Wind Gap to check out a riparian restoration project. A small stream passes under Rt. 512 and into a wetlands area that forms the headwaters of the Bushkill Creek. At one time, the stream was channeled beneath a garage that stood between the road and the wetlands. Due to regular flooding of the narrow culvert, the foundation of the building was compromised. The Borough of Wind Gap demolished the garage for the bargain price of $10,000 and planned a small park for the site.

The foundation of the building was removed, revealing the suprisingly clean stream. The lot was regraded to restore a natural stream channel, and the soil was carefully replanted with native shrubs and grasses that would stabilize the banks. Thanks to a summer of mild weather and rain, the plants are flourishing. What was once the site of a garage is now a green pocket park!

On the day Sherry and I visited, small trout darted in the water, and borough workers worked on a small path to link the road with the back portion of the park. A beautification committee is now forming to take care of regular weeding and other maintenance, but the native plantings should require minimum work. This is a great example of what towns and cities can do with former building sites, especially on a minimum budget.

The second site we visited was on the northern end of Jacobsburg State Park, where the PPL Trail will eventually follow an electrical transmission corridor and former trolley bed towards Wind Gap. When we visited, township workers had recently completed a bridge across Sobers Run, a small creek that floods regularly and had actually put an upstream road bridge out of commission.

The bridge will provide access to the new section of trail, which should be constructed next year. As in the case of Wind Gap, Bushkill Township saved money by using recycled steel beams and standard lumber to construct this bridge for much less than even prefabricated spans. Despite the low price tag, you can tell from the photos that this small bridge could carry a tank and will withstand even the worst floods. While this will have to be a “bridge to nowhere” until the northern section of trail is complete, it might be worth stopping by to see the new bridge.

We probably could have spent a week traveling the region and checking in on all of LVGI’s past and future work, but I was more than impressed with the sample I saw. At a time when diminished state funding puts pressure on conservation efforts and partner municipalities alike, we need reminders of what we have gained from these initiatives — and what we stand to lose, if they should disappear.

The recent torrential rains did not prevent dozens of local and state politicians, representatives of state agencies, and members of the press from attending the Lehigh Valley Greenways Initiative (LVGI) press conference on August 13.

During the conference, which was held at the Silver Creek Country Club in Hellertown, D&L Resource Conservation Specialist Sherry Acevedo announced the recipients of $230,000 in state-funded mini-grants. The grants are intended to aid conservation, restoration, and education projects through Lehigh and Northampton counties.

Mini-grant recipients for 2009 are:

• Bethlehem: $33,000 to support an urban forestry program.

• Easton: $16,000 to support an urban forestry program and $5,000 to initiate environmental advisory council education and outreach activities.

• Plainfield Township: $27,700 to revise and adopt land use ordinances, complete an open space plan, and conduct education and outreach through the environmental advisory council and $20,000 to complete the stabilization, resurfacing and enhancements to the township rail trail.

• Lehigh Valley Planning Commission: $20,000 to coordinate local planning activities for consistent zoning along the Kittatinny Ridge greenway.

• Wildlands Conservancy: $12,000 to facilitate two five-day Lehigh Valley adventure camps and $10,000 to provide a Nature Nearby program to urban youth in Allentown, Bethlehem, and Easton.

• Lehigh County Conservation District: $5,000 to coordinate the 2009 Lehigh Valley Watershed Conference and $40,000 to complete early implementation projects of the Saucon Creek watershed plan.

• Washington Township, Lehigh County: $40,000 to surface and enhance a half-mile of the Slate Heritage Trail.

Congratulations to this year’s recipients! Since the D&L began administering LVGI grants, we have provided over $1.3 million for local initiatives.  Click here for a timeline of LVGI’s many achievements.