Department of Conservation and Natural Resources Secretary Cindy Adams Dunn announced an investment of $790,000 for 13 grants to plant trees along streams in Pennsylvania to improve water quality.
“Streamside forest buffers provide a wide range of benefits to both the environment, and to landowners, including better water quality, habitat for pollinators that can assist with crop production, and increased opportunities for recreational activities,” Dunn said today at a meeting of the State Conservation Commission in State College. “These grants will help demonstrate a newmulti-functional buffer option that incorporates some native plants in the buffer zone to provide a sustainable source of income for the landowner.
Five conservation districts throughout the state are supported with riparian buffer funding. Dunn noted that approximately 260 acres of buffers are anticipated from this grant round, including about 145 acres within the Chesapeake Bay watershed.
The grants by county are:
- Adams — Adams County Conservation District, $50,000, construction of approximately 10 acres of buffers along waterways in the Lower Susquehanna and Potomac watersheds;
- Allegheny — Allegheny County Conservation District, $90,000, construction of approximately 10 acres of buffers along waterways in the Allegheny and Monongahela watersheds;
- Berks, Chester, Dauphin, Lancaster, Lebanon, Schuylkill, and York — Stroud Water Research Center Inc, $113,000, construction of approximately 38 acres of buffers along waterways in the Lower Susquehanna watershed;
- Blair — Blair County Conservation District, $50,000, construction of approximately 4 acres of buffers along waterways in the Juniata watershed;
- Centre and Huntingdon — ClearWater Conservancy of Central PA, Inc, $80,000, construction of approximately 28 acres of buffers along waterways in the Juniata and Susquehanna watersheds;
- Chester — Natural Lands Trust, Inc, $50,000, construction of approximately 20 acres of buffers along waterways in the Lower Delaware watershed;
The Land Conservancy for Southern Chester County, $50,000, construction of approximately 20 acres of buffers along waterways in the Lower Delaware;
Brandywine Conservancy & Museum of Art, $57,000, construction of approximately 8 acres of buffers along waterways in the Lower Delaware watershed;
- Chester and Lancaster — Alliance for the Chesapeake Bay, Inc, $50,000, construction of approximately 12 acres of buffers along waterways in the Lower Susquehanna watershed;
- Juniata — Juniata County Conservation District, $50,000, construction of approximately 10 acres of buffers along waterways in the Lost Creek watershed;
- Lehigh and Northampton — Wildlands Conservancy, Inc, $50,000, construction of approximately 65 acres of buffers along waterways in the Central Delaware River watershed;
- Mifflin — Mifflin County Conservation District, $50,000, construction of approximately 20 acres of buffers along waterways in the Lower Juniata and Lower Central Susquehanna watersheds; and
- Snyder — Snyder County, $50,000, construction of approximately 18 acres of buffers along waterways in the Lower Central Susquehanna watershed.
“Today’s announcement will not only leverage about $1.4 million in additional funding, but will move Pennsylvania even closer to its goal of planting 95,000 acres of streamside buffers by 2025,” said Dunn.
The grants are administered through the Community Conservation Partnerships Program with dollars from the Keystone Fund, which is generated from a portion of the realty transfer tax and the Environmental Stewardship Fund, which receives its funding from landfill tipping fees. Grants for buffer plantings also will be available in the 2017 grant round opening this month.
Dunn noted that DCNR service foresters located in each of the 20 forest districts statewide can assist landowners with information about planting forest buffers.
Forest buffers along stream banks provide critical barriers between polluting landscapes and receiving waterways. Properly planted and maintained, streamside tree and shrub plantings filter the runoff of sediments and fertilizers that are applied to lawns and crops; control erosion; slow stormwater runoff; cool stream temperatures; and improve fish habitat.