News & Notes February 2008

Landscaping for a Healthy Environment

Submitted by: Michele Ulmer, Pike County Conservation District's education coordinator. Michele is currently carrying out a PACD mini-grant titled "Landscaping for a Healthy Environment: Reducing Stormwater Flooding and Water Pollution." The program focuses on designing, installing, and caring for landscapes that benefit our local environment by reducing stormwater, flooding, and water pollution.

At our fall workshop, forty participants learned how to design and install a rain garden to capture runoff, how increased impervious surfaces are affecting our watershed and the water quality of our streams, and how to properly apply pesticides and fertilizers while protecting our environment. This program was developed by Vincent Cotrone, Extension Urban Forester and Mary Pat Appel, Master Gardener both of Penn State Cooperative Extension. Mr. Cotrone demonstrated to participants the link between people and nonpoint source pollution. He explained how these links affect the landscape and how making some changes in our own back yards can make a difference. Ms. Appel received many questions on what native plants work best for rain gardens as well as questions about deer resistant plants.

This event also included the distribution of stormwater fact sheets and rain barrels. Project evaluations demonstrated the audience's increased knowledge of the focus topic, local watersheds, and nonpoint source pollution - its impacts and our role as citizens. Additionally, workshop attendees demonstrated an intention to install stormwater best management practices and implement erosion and sedimentation controls when they returned home. This spring, follow-up surveys will be sent out to program attendees to ascertain whether or not they have followed through with these intentions.

Overall, the participants left the event very excited to utilize the program content in their own back yards. There were also participants from some of the larger community associations in Pike County that discussed taking this information back to offer as options to homeowners who have ongoing stormwater issues throughout the County.

Check out this website for a listing of plants native to our area - www.plantnative.com.

Water Conservation Education Programs Make a Splash in Columbia County
Thanks to PACD Chesapeake Bay Mini-grants

Submitted by: Cathy Haffner, Columbia County Conservation District watershed specialist. In 2006-07, the Columbia County Conservation District and partnering organizations conducted free public workshops geared towards reducing water pollution and encouraging water conservation. Cathy Haffner, watershed specialist, conducted two rain barrel/rain garden workshops in collaboration with Penn State Master Gardeners of Columbia County to illustrate an effective way to reuse rain water in your own backyard and reduce polluted runoff from entering our local waterways.

Through a PACD Chesapeake Bay educational mini-grant, we were able to purchase and disseminate sixty plastic barrels and hardware to workshop participants to construct their own rain barrels. These workshops were so popular that we had a waiting list!

We also conducted a workshop titled, Landscaping with Native Plants for Birds, Butterflies, and the Bay, thanks to a second PACD Chesapeake Bay educational mini-grant. This workshop covered how homeowners can reduce their use of pesticides, conserve water, save time, and foster wildlife by planting native plants around their home rather than non-native alternatives. In addition to explaining the difference between native and nonnative plants, a Department of Conservation and Natural Resources Forester, Marty Martynowich, taught participants how to identify and destroy common invasive plant species.

For the finale, workshop participants got down and dirty to plant a native demonstration garden outside of the Conservation District office door. A local landscaper, Jim Gibson, volunteered his time to design the garden for us and share his expertise with workshop participants. The plants used for the garden are native to the Chesapeake Bay watershed and readily available at most local nurseries. Next time you are in the area, please stop by and see the progress made on the conservation district's demonstration garden.

Workshop participants planted a native demonstration garden at the Columbia County Conservation District.

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