Greening The Lower Susquehanna Celebrates Another Successful Year

The Greening the Lower Susquehanna volunteer corps, organized by Penn State’s Agriculture and Environment Center had another successful 2016 filled with tree plantings, litter pickups, maintenance days, and other exciting volunteer events.

Each year, the program engages Dauphin, Lebanon, and Lancaster county residents in environmental volunteer events that help improve local waterways and environments.

This year was no exception to that, as over 400 volunteers came out to be stewards of their local communities.

With over 400 volunteers mobilized, more than 1,000 hours were dedicated to our environment in 2016. Just some of the things these volunteers accomplished are:

-- Harvested and planted over 1,000 live stakes along two streams to stabilize their eroding banks;

-- Removed over 2,000 square feet of invasive plants and replaced them with native pollinator plants;

-- Collected over 100 bags of litter, 40 tires, and countless large car parts to keep the trash out of our waterways;

-- Weeded and maintained a rain garden that captures and filters roof and parking lot runoff;

-- Rescued over 400 tree seedlings that were replanted in streamside restoration and reforestation projects across the region; and

-- Planted nearly 1,000 trees along streams to help create improved riparian buffer habitats that clean runoff water before it reaches the stream.

Volunteers of all ages and backgrounds helped make these events possible. Greening the Lower Susquehanna is always recruiting new volunteers to help with tree plantings, rain garden maintenance, litter pickups, and much more.

Churches, businesses, youth groups, service organizations, and all others are welcome to participate in any of the group’s events.

If you or your organization is interested in volunteering, visit the Greening the Lower Susquehanna webpage or contact Jennifer Fetter by sending email to: jrf21@psu.edu to be added to the Greening the Lower Susquehanna email list.

For more information on other programs, initiatives and upcoming events, visit Penn State’s Agriculture and Environment Center webpage.

(Photo: Volunteers plant trees in the City of Lancaster.)
(Reprinted from the Penn State Extension Dec. 19 Watershed Winds newsletter. Click Here to sign up for your own copy.)