Elk Creek Restoration Project Highlights Future of Chesapeake Conservation

安纳波利斯, MD – 十大赌博正规老平台 recently joined partners to install vegetation and structures to reduce nutrient and sediment runoff and improve water quality on a property on Elk Creek, 佩恩河的一条支流, 在中央郡, PA. 该项目的实地合作伙伴包括美国.S. 鱼类及野生动物管理局, 永远的栖息地, 宾夕法尼亚加利福尼亚大学基金会, 宾夕法尼亚河谷保护协会, 七柳有限责任公司, 美国农业部自然资源保护局, 和切萨皮克湾基金会. Funding for the project was provided by USDA’s Natural Resources Conservation Service, 宾夕法尼亚州DEP越来越绿和格伦花园市场, Winghaven托儿所十大赌博正规老平台了苗木.

The partners 计划ted a 35-foot wide riparian buffer along a 1000-foot agriculturally impaired stretch of the stream. This is one of six sites that are part of a new mapping validation project to identify where restoration can have the greatest benefits to water quality and wildlife habitat.

“通过这个项目, 十大赌博正规老平台 and our partners are using precision conservation—projects at the right place, 正确的比例, 尺寸合适, 合适的时机, and making sure they are working—to pilot a new approach to conservation. Instead of sweeping acquisitions or all-encompassing legislation, we can use the latest high-resolution datasets to conduct advanced geospatial analysis to better target and implement best management practices,十大赌博正规老平台协会总裁兼首席执行官乔尔·邓恩说.

An analysis done by the 十大赌博正规老平台 determined that this one acre riparian restoration area has the potential to intercept and mitigate runoff from nearly 14 acres of upstream farmland, 草坪, 不透水表面, 例如道路和人行道. Mapping the relationship between upslope land and the creek receiving runoff can help identify priority areas where restoration can keep pollutants from entering local waterways and the Susquehanna River.

“Precision conservation is one of the most exciting new concepts that I have been involved with in my twenty year career in conservation. 用数据驱动的工具, 它确实有可能重塑我们的处理方式, 计划, 恢复宾夕法尼亚州及其他地区的河流,“弗兰克·罗勒, 修复专家, 切萨皮克湾基金会, 说. “Just as importantly it creates new partnerships with landowners and organizations, enabling us to get projects on the ground where they are needed the most.”

十大赌博正规老平台 has financially supported this project through a partnership with the Washington, D.C.位于美国的格伦花园市场. To balance the carbon footprint of shipping products from outside the Chesapeake Bay watershed to their grocery stores, Glen’s Garden Market provided funding for the riparian 计划ting.

The 计划ting includes a diverse mix of high-value wildlife food and cover including shrub, 树, 还有传粉者. “我们正在采取全面的措施, multifaceted approach to stream restoration in Penns Valley and elsewhere in the Bay watershed,莱尔·舍温说. Mr. Sherwin is the principal of 七柳有限责任公司 and affiliate biologist with the USFWS Partners for 鱼 and 野生动物 program. 今年早些时候, additional best management practices (BMPs) were implemented to control invasive exotic 计划ts, 禁止牲畜进入溪流, 为鳟鱼提供栖息地, 防止未来的侵蚀和沉积.

Chip Brown and Jonathan King own properties along this section of Elk Creek. Brown and King are both optimistic about the in-stream and riparian projects and look forward to continuing to work with all the groups that have made this project possible. “I believe this project will definitely help to stabilize the banks from eroding and increase habitat for the 鱼 in Elk Creek,金说.

“The stream work has already improved the rate of flow in the stream in our property and helps to keep sediment off the stream bottom,布朗说. “I have already spoken to other neighboring streamside landowners about conservation projects. 为了使项目成功, educating other neighboring streamside landowners will be critical.”

目前, 21 Penns Valley landowners are participating in stream restoration and habitat buffer projects on five waterways sponsored by 宾夕法尼亚河谷保护协会 and numerous partners.

新的映射验证项目

The 十大赌博正规老平台 has coordinated with local universities to monitor this location and validate the mapping methodology. 5月，在bmp安装之前, four researchers and 15 students began monitoring this and five other study sites.   研究小组将继续监测水的化学成分, 藻类, 鱼, 在接下来的几年里，这些地方的大型无脊椎动物. Research findings will help validate and refine the mapping tools in order to create a model to use throughout the Susquehanna River watershed, 最终将使切萨皮克湾受益. 项目合作伙伴包括十大赌博正规老平台协会, 宾夕法尼亚州自然资源部, 切萨皮克湾基金会, 宾夕法尼亚流域基金会, Degenstein基金会, 萨斯奎哈纳大学, 布鲁姆斯堡大学. The project is funded by the National 鱼 and 野生动物 Foundation Innovative Nutrient and Sediment Reduction program.

本材料是基于美国科学与技术研究所支持的工作.S. Environmental Protection Agency and the Chesapeake Bay Program’s Innovative Nutrient and Sediment Reduction grants program, which support efforts within the Chesapeake Bay watershed to accelerate nutrient and sediment reductions with innovative, 可持续发展的, 以及具有成本效益的方法.