Riparian Buffer Month Celebrated At Overlook
"It's hard to think of a single action that would be more impactful across a single issue than planting native trees and shrubs beside a stream," said Lamonte Garber, watershed restoration coordinator with Stroud Water Research Center of Avondale. "We need more trees in Lancaster County."
Garber was addressing a group of people representing a number of organizations who had gathered in Manheim Township's Overlook Park, 605 Granite Run Drive, on Oct. 28 in celebration of Riparian Buffer Month, which was held during October. A riparian buffer is a vegetated area near a stream, which helps shade and partially protect the stream. "This is a riparian forested buffer," noted Garber, referring to the stream running through the park and the vegetation planted around it. "Manheim Township opened up this high visibility, high-foot-traffic site to be a long-term buffer demonstration area. We will bring people here to show them what these buffers do."
The group of organizations hoped to plant about 800 trees and shrubs on more than five acres in the park. "When we plant a tree near a stream, we get more benefits," explained Garber. "(Trees) are good for cooling our cities and giving off oxygen, (but) when you (plant) beside a stream, the tree is shading the stream to keep the temperatures down in the summertime, and dropping leaves into a stream feeds aquatic insects that eat leaves." Garber noted that the insects feeding in the stream are then eaten by turtles, fish, and frogs. In addition, the tree roots stabilize the stream bed.
Garber noted that the planting consisted of restoring native plants to the area. "We want to get as many trees, shrubs, wildflowers, and perennial natives planted over in there (as possible)," he said, adding that among the varieties that were planted that day were red maple, river birch, red bud, silky dogwood, hazelnut, persimmon, spicebush, black and red chokeberry, American plum, white spruce, crabapple, steeplebush, pussy willow, and pin oak. "These are some of the native trees and shrubs we are losing on our landscape to other invasive shrubs," he explained. "We will replace the non-native invasive (species) with good native trees and shrubs."
Lancaster Clean Water Partners brought together a diverse group of organizations for the event. Among those were Manheim Township, the Atlantic Coast Conference of the Mennonite Church, the Chesapeake Bay Foundation, Lancaster County Conservation District, the Department of Conservation and Natural Resources, Penn State Master Watershed Stewards, and The Alliance for the Chesapeake Bay. In addition, a group of Pequea Valley High School students representing the CORE program were there to help plant trees.
Following the planting, the partner organizations will place signs in the area to teach visitors about the importance of streamside trees and their benefits to the area.
Readers who wish to learn more may visit https://lancastercleanwaterpartners.com.
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