POTTSTOWN PA – Eight projects expected to improve water quality throughout the Schuylkill River Watershed have received funding from recent grant awards. Five of the winning efforts are located in Montgomery, Berks, and Chester counties.
The grants, totaling $653,402, come from the Schuylkill River Restoration Fund. They were presented earlier in September during a program held by the Pottstown-based Schuylkill River Greenways National Heritage Area.
The fund is described by Greenways as “one of the region’s most significant sources of sustained funding for projects that directly improve water quality.”
Since 2006, it has “distributed more than $6 million for 127 projects, and helped leverage another $15 million in investments,” the organization adds. Its goal: to protect and restore the Schuylkill River and its tributaries.
Schuylkill River photo provided by the Pennsylvania Fish and Boat Commission
Montgomery County Projects
Locally, two projects will occur in Montgomery County:
- Perkiomen Valley Trout Unlimited received $65,000 to restore a 1,100-foot section of the West Branch Perkiomen Creek from Longacre to Barto. It will address stream bank stabilization, erosion reduction, and improvements to fish and aquatic habitat; and
- The Riverbend Environmental Education Center received $10,626 to restore more than 17,000 square feet of stream side habitat along Saw Mill Creek. It includes planting about 185 native trees and shrubs, removing invasive species and debris, controlling erosion, and creating an outdoor education space.
Berks County Projects
Two other projects, both awarded to Berks Nature, are located in Berks County:
- It received $99,800 to create new covered manure storage and livestock areas, and additional controls, at beef producer MIL JOY Farm, 324 Virginville Rd., Perry Township. Located in the Lake Ontelaunee source-water area, it help prevent sediment and nutrients from reaching Maiden Creek and down-stream waterways; and
- It also won $91,076 to conduct seven separate riparian restoration projects. They are intended to restore nearly 6,000 feet of stream-side habitat across the Hay, Maiden, Willow, Saucony and Tulpehocken creek watersheds. More than 1,700 native trees and shrubs will be planted across nearly 10 acres to reduce runoff, stabilize stream banks, and improve water quality.
A Chester County Project
The fifth project, in Chester County, will be conducted by the French & Pickering Creeks Conservation Trust:
- It received $86,900 to restore about 4,500 feet of stream corridor in the county’s south branch of French Creek, as well as to improve permanently protected habitat on 246 surrounding acres. The south branch is deemed an “exceptional value waterway.” The project will stabilize eroding banks, improve aquatic habitat, and establish native vegetation.
Greenways explains that “the projects illustrate … the fund’s watershed-wide approach to water quality. Pollution entering a small tributary miles from the Schuylkill eventually becomes part of the larger river system.”
“Restoring stream banks, improving agricultural practices, planting stream side buffers, and managing storm water upstream produce benefits” beyond individual project sites. it says.
Other grant-winning projects were located in Philadelphia, Lebanon, and Schuylkill counties.
Our local news reporting includes articles about state, county, borough, township, and village government decisions and activities within, or that affect residents of, Montgomery, Berks, and Chester PA counties. It also includes Traffic articles about private and public transportation issues. Find more government articles here.
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