Photo by Caitlin Mercier, Watershed Specialist, LCCD
Located in South Whitehall Township in Lehigh County, Cedar Creek Park West is a 156 acre community park that is a hub for recreational activity. The park hosts the largest sports field facility in the Lehigh County Parks system, and features wooded wetlands, providing wildlife habitat and a space for birdwatching.
The Lehigh County Conservation District (LCCD) identified an eroded tributary of Cedar Creek within the park that needed stabilization and an enhanced riparian buffer. With Lehigh County Department of Parks and Recreation already in the process of planning park improvements (which includes removing a tennis court from the floodplain area) LCCD is partnering with the Parks Department to stabilize the tributary and return the floodplain to wetland habitat.
To help bring this project to a reality, LCCD received a Environmental Stewardship Fund Grant (Growing Greener) for $63,000 to assist with stabilizing the streambank, planting a riparian buffer, and restoring wetland habitat. The project will ultimately reduce pollutant loading into the stream, particularly nitrogen and sediment, and the riparian buffer and wetland enhancement will provide additional filtration and infiltration for stormwater as well as increase habitat.
The project is moving towards the permitting phase and is expected to be complete by the end of 2022.
