Hilary Hirtle

In 2003, the Pennsylvania Council of Trout Unlimited, the Department of Conservation and Natural Resources (DCNR), the Fish and Boat Commission, and the Foundation for Pennsylvania Watersheds formed the Coldwater Heritage Partnership to provide grants for conserving and protecting coldwater streams across PA, particularly those with naturally reproducing trout. The program helps generate water conservation plans, implement riparian buffers and in-stream aquatic habitat structures, restore streambanks, and address invasive species.

Since its inception, the Coldwater Heritage Partnership has provided approximately 173 planning grants and completed 62 implementation projects, providing financial and technical assistance to grassroots organizations. The program encourages partnerships and links partners with the expertise needed to create successful projects. Additionally, the program focuses on building connections with the local community by hosting public meetings and place-based events that emphasize the importance of watershed health.

Funding for the Coldwater Heritage Partnership comes primarily from DCNR’s Community Conservation Partnerships Program (C2P2), supported by the Environmental Stewardship Fund. Without state funding, this program would not exist, and it would be nearly impossible for grantees to leverage other funding sources. Even with DCNR as a major funder of the program, they have to turn away several great projects due to insufficient funds, struggling to fulfill the enormous need to fund high-quality coldwater streams, which make up less than 30% of PA streams.

The Mountain Watershed Association received a Keystone Recreation, Park, & Conservation Fund grant from the Department of Conservation and Natural Resources to prepare a comprehensive Rivers Conservation Plan for the Indian Creek Watershed, a tributary to the Upper Youghiogheny River located in Fayette County. This watershed plan allows them to survey the streams’ resources and water quality, identify areas of improvement, and establish guidelines for restoration work. This assessment has helped guide a series of projects, including acid mine drainage remediation, water treatment system refurbishments, and streambank restoration.

Without state funding, the watershed association would not know what issues to address and in what priority. Moreover, the organization would not be able to address pollution, threatening the region’s drinking water, aquatic life, and recreational opportunities. In rural settings with few private funders, small nonprofits like the Mountain Watershed Association depend on the state to complete community projects. Otherwise, streams would continue running orange, having cascading effects on our health and that of local wildlife.

Ducks Unlimited has been working on a multi-faceted project in Celery Swamp, located in Mercer and Lawrence counties. Starting in 2019 and expecting to complete it by 2023, this four-phased project is one of the organization’s most sizeable endeavors in Pennsylvania. The first phase of the project involved acquiring a 126-acre property, whose historic wetlands were excavated to produce ponds for farmed koi and grass carp and donating the property to the Pennsylvania Game Commission. Now, Ducks Unlimited and their multiple local and national partners are working on restoring Celery Swamp by removing leftover infrastructure, redistributing the site’s topography, and reconnecting the ponds so that they follow their original hydrology. The aim is to bring back the original wetland and its many benefits and add necessary infrastructure so that the PA Game Commission can add the property to State Gamelands 151 and manage it accordingly. They also seek to make the sites accessible to people with disabilities.

This project has been possible due to a series of partnerships and grant sources, including private, state, and federal funding. With help from the Department of Conservation and Natural Resources’ Community Conservation Partnership Program (C2P2) and the North American Wetlands Conservation Act, among other funding sources, Ducks Unlimited and partnership will be able to leverage four grants through the project’s lifespan. If it were not for these funding streams, they wouldn’t be able to create a habitat where Northwestern PA waterfowl species can flourish. Restoring and conserving Celery Swamp does not merely increase habitat availability; it brings other direct ecosystemic benefits, such as increased water quality and water retention to prevent flooding downstream. The site will welcome fishing, hunting, opportunities for veterans to engage with the outdoors, and a site to host educational programs from local schools and universities.

New pedestrian bridge and streambank stabilization work in progress.

Like many Pennsylvania municipalities, York City has a system of aging parks. It also has a growing need to address regulations aimed at improving water quality and reducing flood damage.

While these could be challenges, York has embraced them as opportunities through its Green Infrastructure Action Plan. One resulting project: the Poorhouse Run Stream Restoration.

The project took place just beyond the ballfields at Memorial Park, along a stream known as Poorhouse Run. The work combined water quality protection with outdoor recreation.

Improvements made include:

• Streambank stabilization
• Streamside tree planting
• New pedestrian bridge and walking path
• Educational signs

Installing the new walking path (photos credit: Chaz Green).

DCNR supported these improvements with a $200,000 Rivers Program grant from the Keystone Recreation, Park and Conservation Fund. The city matched the grant dollar-for-dollar, for a $400,000 investment in the park.

“I grew up in York near Memorial Park and can remember splashing around in this stream,” says Chaz Green, the city’s Director of Public Works. “The restoration of Poorhouse Run will encourage local access to the water and provide green stormwater infrastructure.”

These improvements not only make Memorial Park better, they also benefit people downstream. The new trees and stabilized streambanks will reduce pollution in Codorus Creek, the Susquehanna River, and ultimately the Chesapeake Bay.

Written by ClearWater Conservancy

Work on the Schaeffer family’s 3.7 acre buffer along Halfmoon Creek began in fall 2020. Initial efforts on the family’s organic farm included site preparation with assistance from local farmers, invasive species removal by ClearWater’s AmeriCorps member, Sidney Shultz, and planting of native trees and shrubs along Halfmoon Creek by Native Creations.

Soon, the buffer will be completed with the planting of two native grass and wildflower meadows adjacent to the trees and shrubs. Some of the eroding stream banks will also be strengthened with live stakes (planting branches of live plants directly into the stream banks), and work to control invasive plant species will continue. Native wildflower meadows will benefit pollinators and will be gently harvested for cut flowers. While the native plants grow to protect the stream and soil and provide wildlife habitat, the Schaeffer family also plans to steward their multifunctional buffer in order to harvest fruit, nuts, and herbs for cooking, and flash graze their pigs in the meadows. Of course they’ll also enjoy the beauty of the newly planted streamside forest-stay tuned for more photos as the trees and shrubs leaf out and the wildflowers and herbs start flowering.

Implementation of the 9-acre buffer along Slab Cabin Run on Joe Dionisio’s property began in summer 2020 with the removal of a large thicket of invasive shrubs along the stream. Due to the impenetrable thickness and size of the invasive shrubs, the work could not be completed by hand, but Bud Snyder Excavating was able to use a forestry mulcher machine to remove the invasive shrubs in a few days. In Fall 2020, Native Creations was able to then plant native trees and shrubs, a streamside forest, along Slab Cabin Run.

Due to powerlines over the stream, strategic location of the trees and shrubs was carefully planned to avoid creating any future problems for local electric service. Walking paths for the landowners and access points to the stream for the family dogs were also planned into the strategy for the streamside forest.

The Dionisio buffer installation will soon be completed with the planting of three acres of switchgrass, a native grass with deep roots for great soil conversation. Switchgrass can be harvested as a perennial crop for silt sock stuffing, biofuels, hay, pasture and other markets. Additional steps include planting a 3-acre wildflower meadow for pollinators, live staking to stabilize eroding stream banks and continued invasive species control work. Mr. Dionisio plans to enjoy his multifunctional stream buffer by harvesting switchgrass, fruit, nuts, and an existing hay field on the slope above the trees. Most importantly, though, he looks forward to walking his dogs on the paths throughout the buffer.

The Department of Conservation and Natural Resources (DCNR) approved both streamside forest projects as part of the DCNR multifunctional riparian forest buffer grants (funded by the Environmental Stewardship Fund, also known as Growing Greener) awarded to ClearWater Conservancy. The required funds to match DCNR grants are provided by partners at Native Creations Landscape Services, North Central PA Conservancy, and the Chesapeake Conservancy. In-kind match is provided by the landowners and ClearWater’s wonderful cadre of volunteers who help complete different aspects the buffer work, like planting wildflowers and live staking streambanks. A big thanks to all those involved with this important work!

In 2014 the state of Pennsylvania signed the Chesapeake Bay Watershed Agreement along with five other states. Joining the regional effort to clean up the Chesapeake Bay, the Commonwealth pledged to avert more than 565 million pounds of nitrogen, phosphorous, and sediment from entering the Bay every year by 2025. Since then, PA has implemented thousands of agricultural best management practices and different types of natural infrastructure across the watershed to reduce sediment runoff. In 2018, the state recognized it was far from achieving its obligation and created a pilot program by funding five local governments, York, Franklin, Adams, and Lancaster counties, provided they limit nutrient and sediment loads entering their streams.

As a result of this pilot program, York County developed the York Countywide Action Plan to prevent 4 million pounds of nitrogen from flowing into York waterways by 2025. Since then, the Planning Commission for York County has provided the PA Department of Environmental Protection with an annual list of potential projects, such as stormwater management, stream restoration, bio-retention, and riparian buffers. Despite the amount of money that has gone into these projects and their inherent success, Pennsylvania will need to make significantly greater investments in these and similar projects so that York County and the other 42 counties in the watershed can meet their total maximum nutrient and sediment loads. A standard stream restoration project prevents approximately 1,200 pounds of nitrogen from running into the waterway every year — only 0.03% of York County’s total goal.

Greene County is known for its lush woodlands and expansive agriculture — landscapes that have been rapidly changing with increased industrial development. Countless forests and pastures have transformed into industrial facilities such as those surrounding oil and gas wells. The change in land use has exacerbated bank erosion in several Greene County streams, resulting in increased land loss and impaired waterways. High sediment and nutrient loads in the water lead to higher water flows and, with that, more frequent flooding. Flood events result in more streambank erosion, establishing a positive feedback loop that can only be stopped by reducing or mitigating sediment runoff.

Greene County Conservation District is seeking funding for a series of projects in Browns Creek that would help address the stream’s impaired water quality and recurring flood events. Having been rejected state funding in 2019 due to limited funds, the conservation district is pursuing the state’s financial support to complete streambank stabilization projects and implement agricultural best management practices. A state grant would facilitate the county’s work with Partners for Fish and Wildlife and allow for them to reduce sediment and nutrient runoff from heavy agricultural operations along the creek. The aim is to establish more off-stream water facilities for cattle, fence sections of the stream, plant riparian buffers, and stabilize the streambank to minimize flooding and restore aquatic habitats, among other crucial projects.

Funding Browns Creek’s restoration is crucial to the health and safety of individuals within and beyond Greene County. Continued stream erosion along Browns Creeks causes Greene landowners to lose more land — the land they pay taxes for every year. Beyond that, loads of pollutants would continue exacerbating the water quality of Browns Creek and eventually that of larger streams, such as the Monongahela River, which merges with the Allegheny River in Pittsburgh to become the Ohio River. Failing to address sediment erosion at a local level has widespread negative consequences on water quality at a watershed level.

Two grants from the Environmental Stewardship Fund are enabling the Wyoming County Conservation District to implement projects to improve water quality throughout Wyoming County.

The first grant, in the amount of $31,555, will be used to fund the Nutrient/Sediment Pollution Reduction Initiative. This initiative aims to implement agricultural best management practices at 4 different locations throughout Wyoming County, helping to stabilize impaired areas contributing that are contributing to poor stream quality conditions and affecting the health of the local water quality.

The second grant, in the amount of $80,731, will be used to fund the project, Controlling Nutrients within an HQ Watershed. This project plans to construct a roofed concreate manure storage facility for an agricultural operation located near Bowmans Creek.

Bowmans Creek, an approximately 26-mile-long tributary of the Susquehanna River, is designated as a High-Quality Coldwater Fishery and Migratory Fishery. The funding for this project will be beneficial in maintaining the Creek’s high-quality conditions, contributing to the region’s tourism economy and as a center for fishing and other outdoor recreational pursuits.