Initiative slated to address water quality issues and restore farmland in Centre County
With help from the National Fish and Wildlife Foundation, a major restorative initiative is slated for central Pennsylvania.
The Chesapeake Conservancy and Precision Conservation Partnership were awarded funds to address water quality issues and restore 25-30 farms in six counties. The project could serve as a national model for a mapping program aimed to improve waterways so that they can be removed from a statewide list of impaired streams — a registry compiled by the Department of Environmental Protection.
“Implementing best management practices upstream is priority No. 1 for a healthy Chesapeake Bay. It’s an enormous task, and in previous years, may have seemed overwhelming,” Chesapeake Conservancy President and CEO Joel Dunn said in a statement. “Today, thanks to the power of technology and together with our partners, we can practice precision conservation — getting the right practices in the right places at the right scale.”
The Chesapeake Conservancy’s NFWF project complements the Chesapeake Bay Foundation proposal, a project also funded by a NFWF grant and seeks to increase the capacity of trained landscaping professionals to offer landowners incentives for forest buffers. Combined, the projects will restore 67 acres of riparian buffer in Centre County.
Some grant funds will be used to address Penns Valley projects, including Elk Creek and a tributary to Pine Creek near Woodward. Restoration work is also expected to take place in Halfmoon Valley near Stormstown and in the Beaver Branch Watershed near Pine Grove Mills.
Partners on the other catchments in Centre County are the Centre County Conservation District, ClearWater Conservancy, Western Pennsylvania Conservancy, Chesapeake Bay Foundation, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service and Partners for Fish and Wildlife.
“The Penns Valley Conservation Association is excited to be a part of the NFWF grant,” Tom Doman, PVCA board of directors chair, said. “Through this partnership, PVCA can leverage our strengths and apply them to where they can be most effective. This grant will allow our organization and its many partners to focus on reaching the right landowners with the appropriate practices and implement conservation measures where they matter most.
Doman said the funding will help make “significant progress” in delisting Pennsylvania’s impaired streams.
“This collaborative approach aligns well with PVCA’s focus on improving the water quality of Penns Creek and enhancing wildlife habitat as well as supporting the local farm economy in Penns Valley of Central Pennsylvania,” he said.
This story was originally published September 2, 2020 at 5:28 PM.
