Master Watershed Stewards In York County Present Outstanding Partner Award

The Penn State Master Watershed Stewards in York County recently presented Kipp Allison, Zoning Officer for Windsor Township, with the 2017 Outstanding Partner Award.

Together, Master Watershed Stewards, Kipp and other staff from Windsor Township converted a grassy stormwater swale at Freysville Park to a functioning bioswale.

A bioswale, much like a rain garden, is a landscape feature designed to slow, collect, infiltrate and filter stormwater. Bioswales help protect local and regional water quality, reduce streambank and channel erosion, may reduce flooding and help stabilize stream flow volumes.

Check dams were installed in this particular bioswale to slow the movement of water, enabling more water to infiltrate back to groundwater. The check dams will also help remove small amounts of sediment.

Approximately 2,000 native plant plugs were planted in the swale to help filter and clean the stormwater as it infiltrates.

Once the swale is established, it will require less maintenance than turf grass. Native plants require less water, no fertilizer and resist local pests and disease. Additionally, the native planting created a wildlife habitat.

Master Watershed Stewards assisted with the planning, design and planting. The outstanding partnership helped make the project a success!

The project was funded from a Growing Greener Grant from the Department of Environmental Protection and Windsor Township.

There are Master Watershed Stewards Programs in Allegheny, Berks, Bucks, Chester, Delaware, Lackawanna, Lehigh, Luzerne, Monroe, Montgomery, Northampton, Wyoming and York Counties.

For more information on the program and how you can get involved, visit the Penn State Master Watershed Stewards webpage.  If you live in the participating counties or would like to establish a program in your county, contact Erin Frederick at 610-391-9840 or send email to: elf145@psu.edu.

(Photo: Doug Hoke - York County Commissioner, Kipp Allison - Windsor Township Zoning Officer and Jodi Sulpizio - Master Watershed Steward Coordinator, Penn State Extension York County.)

(Reprinted from the latest edition of Watershed Winds newsletter from Penn State Extension.  Click Here to sign up for news from Penn State Extension.)