Schuylkill River Greenways, Partners Award $362,756 In Schuylkill River Restoration Fund Grants

The day also featured a bus tour to several local project sites that were previous SRRF awardees.

This year's eight projects are located in Berks, Chester and Lehigh counties and Philadelphia and will address stormwater runoff and/or agricultural pollution and one land acquisition project for a new urban open space.

The projects included--

-- Berks County Conservation District – Pine Creek Project - $20,756: The Berks County Conservation District and Pine Creek Valley Watershed Associations will work to stabilize streambank segments of Pine Creek, an Exceptional Value (EV) stream in the Schuylkill Highlands. The project will incorporate bio-engineering techniques and local materials to rehabilitate severely eroded streambanks damaged by sequential storm events.

-- Berks Nature – Hollinger Farm Project - $45,000: The Hollinger Farm project is a pastured beef and grain/hay operation in the Manor Creek, Maiden Creek, and Lake Ontelaunee watershed. This project will include installation of agricultural best management practices for nutrient capture and headwater stream water quality protection.

-- Berks Nature – Pond View Project - $45,000: The Pond View Farm project is a beef and small-scale chicken, and grain/hay operation in the Maiden Creek and Lake Ontelaunee watershed situated on an unnamed headwater tributary. Agricultural best management practices will be installed on this farm including (1) 40’ X 28’ X 6’ roofed manure storage facility, rain gutters, leaders, and lined outlet, as well as 1,600’ of streambank fencing.

-- Charlestown Playhouse – Phase 2 Stormwater Project - $30,000: A stormwater basin and drain will be installed in the lower parking lot of the Charlestown Playhouse that will manage storm flow to the Pickering Creek, Chester County. Native plants and shrubs will also be installed to show the efficacy and beauty of green infrastructure.

-- Lehigh County Conservation District – Lynnacres Dairy Farm - $100,000: Lehigh County Conservation District will partner with Natural Resource Conservation Service and Lynnacres Dairy to implement on-farm Best Management Practices that will improve water quality in the Upper Maiden Creek, benefitting the Schuylkill River Watershed’s ecological integrity and improving drinking water quality by reducing excess sediment, pathogen, and nutrient loads.

-- Neighborhood Gardens Trust – Brewerytown Garden Project- $4,000: Brewerytown Garden is a vibrant community garden located at North 27th and Master Streets in Philadelphia. In 2022, Neighborhood Gardens Trust will acquire two parcels within the Garden’s footprint that were actively marketed for sale, saving this beloved community green space & providing important environmental benefits that improve water quality. Funding will go to support the permanent projection of this urban open space. 

-- Partnership for the Delaware Estuary – Pickering Creek Project - $65,000: As part of the larger Lionville Pine Creek Restoration Initiative, this project features the installation of a variety of green stormwater management features on a large commercial building complex including the installation of a 5,200 sf bioretention system and bioswale.

-- Schuylkill Center for Environmental Education – Smith’s Run Project - $53,000: This stormwater project will address issues affecting Smiths Run, a first-order tributary on the property of the Schuylkill Center for Environmental Education. Our objectives for this project are to design and construct a stepped infiltration swale and reinforce the adjacent riparian forest buffer to protect water quality, create wildlife habitat, and effectively eliminate threats posed by stormwater runoff.

The Schuylkill River Restoration Fund resulted from a 2004 Delaware River Basin Commission docket approval to Exelon (now Constellation) for its Limerick Generating Station. 

There was - and still is - a shared desire to assist the restoration of the Schuylkill River Watershed by providing large grants for on-the-ground improvements, focusing on projects that address stormwater runoff, agricultural pollution and drainage from abandoned mines. 

The DRBC approves the projects that are selected for grants using the Constellation funds and is one of several entities that sits on an advisory committee that chooses which projects get awarded annually.

Since being established in 2006, the fund has collected more than $5 million - and leveraged another $5 million – for more than 130 projects that protect and restore the Schuylkill River.

In addition to the Schuylkill River Greenways, also attending the event were representatives from Constellation, the Philadelphia Water Department and Aqua PA.

For more information, visit the Schuylkill River Restoration Fund webpage.

(Reprinted from the Delaware River Basin Commission website.)

[Posted: October 6, 2022]  PA Environment Digest