The Master Watershed Steward Program was established to strengthen local capacity for managing and protecting watersheds, streams, and rivers by educating and empowering volunteers across Pennsylvania.
One of the projects that helps the Master Watershed Steward program meet this mission is the Live Stake Nursery project, which provides community engagement through a combination of boots-on-the-ground restoration work and educational outreach.
The goals of the MWS Live Stake Nursery project are to:
-- Create sites for stream restoration source material
-- Develop volunteer skills in live stake harvesting, installation, and educational instruction
-- Strengthen partnerships through the use of live stake nurseries
-- Educate and engage the public and community organizations
-- Establish nurseries as a location for community science projects
What is live staking?
Live staking is a stream repair technique where branch cuttings are harvested from certain native shrub and tree species and then inserted into an eroded stream bank to provide bank and soil stabilization.
These branch cuttings are harvested when the host plant is dormant and before bud breaks in the spring.
When properly planted, these branch cuttings are called live stakes and will grow roots into the soil, helping to prevent further stream bank erosion into the stream or river.
Once stakes mature into healthy shrubs and trees, additional live stakes can be harvested to restore other streamside areas.
The process of live staking is more widely accessible to individuals and watershed association groups than other stream restoration projects that require more costly materials or expertise.
Live staking:
-- Requires minimal equipment and little training
-- Stakes are low-cost when purchased or free when harvested directly
-- Introduces residents to an easy, beneficial water quality and habitat improvement project
Additionally, live stakes will eventually provide valuable wildlife and pollinator habitat along the stream.
The MWS program has installed several nurseries across the state consisting of six native shrub species that readily grow along stream banks and propagate well when planted as live stakes.
Once mature, the nursery shrubs will be pruned annually to supply free source material as a low-cost way to support local and regional conservation efforts.
Nurseries also have the potential to become a focal point for conservation education by serving as prime locations for native plant and live staking workshops as well as community science projects.
Financial Support
These live stake nurseries were made possible in large part by the following funding sources: Pennsylvania American Water Environmental grant program, DEP Growing Greener grant program, PA Infrastructure Investment Authority, DCNR, Lehigh Valley Greenways mini-grant, and The Watershed Coalition of the Lehigh Valley.
Engaging Community Members
The Master Watershed Steward live stake nurseries have engaged local communities in many ways.
Our stewards are members of the communities where they volunteer and are involved in designing the nurseries, including planting location, layout, and species distribution, and recruiting partners and volunteers from the public for the nursery installation workshops.
During the installation workshops, the Master Watershed Steward program educates the public about the purpose of the nursery and proper tree-planting techniques.
All live stake nurseries include signage to educate visitors about the nursery and live staking techniques.
Involving Partners
The Master Watershed Steward program worked with many partners to install our live stake nurseries.
These partners included but were not limited to, Conservation Districts, county and municipal parks, watershed groups, and other volunteer organizations.
Partners had various roles, depending on the nursery, such as involvement in the nursery design, securing additional funding or donations for nursery materials like fencing & mulch, working collaboratively with MWS volunteers on the installation and maintenance of the nurseries, and as nursery site hosts.
Program Expansion
Once nursery shrubs are mature enough for harvesting, the nurseries will become host locations for educational workshops on native plants and proper live stake harvesting techniques.
During these free or minimal-cost workshops, public participants can keep the live stakes they harvest to plant along their stream banks.
There are also plans to pilot a community research project at these nurseries to provide research-backed recommendations for live stake harvesting.
Lessons Learned
Through the installation of the nurseries across the state and some trial and error, our MWS programs have learned valuable lessons, improving future live stake nursery installations--
-- Be realistic in communications with property owners regarding maintenance and timeline for fencing (permanent or temporary) and harvesting.
-- Develop a post-planting management plan outlining areas to be mowed or avoided and those responsible for different maintenance efforts.
-- Ensure a water source is nearby for summer and drought maintenance of nurseries/
-- Perimeter and row fencing, rather than individual shrub cages, is the most time and cost-effective deer prevention method for the MWS nurseries.
To learn more about live staking as a low-cost and effective technique for erosion control, please see the Penn State Extension article live-staking-for-stream-restoration.
Click Here for the original article with maps and other photos.
Visit the Penn State Extension Master Watershed Steward Program webpage to learn more about how you can get involved in this program.
[Posted: March 19, 2025] PA Environment Digest
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