WEST CHESTER, Pa. — Have you noticed trees with surrounding tubes or wire cages next to a stream? Almost without fail, these trees were planted to create a riparian buffer to protect the stream from stormwater runoff, pollutants, and more. Riparian buffers provide many benefits, but their installation can be expensive and labor intensive.
Another streambank repair option uses live stakes, branch cuttings of certain native trees and shrubs that will grow into new trees and shrubs when in contact with moist soil. They can be placed in streambanks and are an effective, low-cost way to establish a root network to help prevent soil loss and to rebuild eroded banks. Common live stake shrubs include Red-osier Dogwood, Cornus sericea, Buttonbush, Cephalanthus occidentalis, and other shrubs that are also often planted in our backyard habitats.
Penn State Extension Master Watershed Stewards of Chester & Delaware Counties combined these two stream repair techniques to create a newly installed Live Stake Nursery riparian buffer.
The Live Stake Nursery was planted this fall along Rock Run above the Coatesville Reservoir in West Caln Township. It consists of ninety native shrubs that, when mature, will provide live stakes (cuttings) to local conservation organizations and streamside landowners through educational workshops offered by Master Watershed Steward volunteers. These shrubs will provide future material to protect streams and habitat across Chester County and Delaware County. An additional benefit to this riparian buffer is the source water protection it will provide due to its location upstream of Rock Run Reservoir, which provides raw water supply to the greater Coatesville area.
The Watershed Coalition of the Lehigh Valley, in partnership with the Penn State Extension Master Watershed Steward program, received funding from Pennsylvania American Water to install five Live Stake Nurseries across Pennsylvania, including the one in West Caln. This nursery was a collaboration between Pennsylvania American Water, Master Watershed Stewards of Chester & Delaware Counties, and Chester County Water Resources Authority with support from Chester County Commissioners, Chester County Conservation District, West Caln Township, and Coatesville Country Club.
“We’re extremely proud to have been able to provide funds to support this important project through our annual Environmental Grant program and are very grateful to the Watershed Coalition of the Lehigh Valley and the Penn State Extension Master Watershed Stewards for the commitment and dedication they’ve exhibited to bring it to fruition,” said Pennsylvania American Water President Mike Doran. “The benefits that this riparian buffer will bring to our local watershed, as well as to those where the harvested live stakes are planted in the future, are sure to be many and long-lasting.”
Chester County Commissioners Marian Moskowitz, Josh Maxwell, and Michelle Kichline said, “Chester County is a leader in open space preservation, but open space, if not properly managed and improved through stewardship and restoration, could cause water quality problems and other issues. Projects like this one are extremely important, and we thank Penn State Extension, the Watershed Coalition of the Lehigh Valley, our own Water Resources Authority staff and Pennsylvania American Water for their combined efforts to protect our streams and natural habitats.”
Penn State Extension Master Watershed Stewards (MWS) are locally educated and managed volunteers who address conservation priorities in collaboration with a broad partnership of organizations and local governments. The MWS Program recruits interested citizens from the community, provides them with formal classroom and hands-on, in-the-field learning, and then connects them with ongoing volunteer opportunities, such as riparian buffer installation, water quality monitoring, and watershed education activities. The program is now offered in 25 counties throughout the state, with 776 volunteers, who have contributed over 56,000 volunteer hours since the program began in 2013.
If you would like to learn more about live stakes, stream health, or how to get involved, contact Meagan Hopkins-Doerr, Coordinator for Master Watershed Steward Program in Chester and Delaware Counties, at mxh1135@psu.edu or 610-696-3500.
For more information on Pennsylvania American Water’s annual Environmental Grant Program, visit https://www.amwater.com/paaw/news-community/environmental-grant-program. The program funds innovative, community-based environmental projects aimed at improving, restoring or protecting the watersheds, surface water, and groundwater supplies in communities served by Pennsylvania American Water. Applications for 2022 funding will open in the spring.
–Meagan Hopkins-Doerr, Penn State Extension
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