The Brubaker Run-Lime Spring Square development project in East Hempfield Township, Lancaster County is a 98-acre development site that includes an 11.5 acre floodplain restoration project.
LandStudies was brought in by Oak Tree Development group to design the restoration.
Construction started in September and represents just one piece of the network of stormwater best management practices (BMPs) associated with Lime Spring Square, which will contain a mix of industrial, commercial, retail, office space, and a community park.
When complete, the floodplain restoration project will not only remove legacy sediment and pollutants but will enhance groundwater recharge and provide many ecological and aesthetic improvements.
The 8.4-acres of created wetlands and native vegetation, when combined with the restored and reconnected floodplain, will provide additional water quality benefits.
According to Justin Spangler, LandStudies Project Manager: “This is a great demonstration of how we can incorporate an ecologically productive ecosystem into a developed watershed.
“The Brubaker Run Floodplain Restoration is reestablishing important stream and wetland functions that have been systematically erased from this watershed over the last 300 years. Restoring these functions will help the entire watershed by providing important ecological and water quality benefits on a large scale.
“We are already seeing favorable ecological responses. Significant numbers of macroinvertebrates like mayflies, caddisflies and scuds have already repopulated the gravel within 20 days of returning water to the new stream channel, even while the floodplain is under active construction upstream.
“One reason this is important is because macroinvertebrate populations support higher order organisms in the food web.”
The floodplain restoration project was all privately funded by the developer.
Click Here for drone video of the site taken on October 10 when the project was about 50 percent complete.
For more information, visit the LandStudies website or contact Christine Le, 717-726-4440 or send email to: christine@LandStudies.com. LandStudies is certified as a Woman’s Business Enterprise (WBE), Minority Business Enterprise (MBE) and Disadvantaged Business Enterprise (DBE) based in Lititz, Lancaster County. Follow LandStudies on Twitter, Like them on Facebook.
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(Reprinted from LandStudies November newsletter. Click Here to sign up for your own copy.)
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