Watershed Restoration

Watershed Restoration: A Shared Public and Private Investment

Stroud Water Research Center works hand in hand with landowners, helping them use their land more effectively through whole-farm planning and watershed stewardship. In return for our program services, landowners are asked to install forested buffers on streams on their properties and to allow us ongoing access to their sites to gather the scientific data from these efforts.

Our expert team sets up the collaborations and partnerships necessary to achieve the highest level of freshwater conservation. The Stroud Center and many partner groups and agencies have secured over $20 million dollars through USDA’s Resource Conservation Partnership Program to support agriculture conservation and restoration projects on farms in the Delaware and Chesapeake Bay watersheds.

Archival photo of Robin L. Vannote, Ph.D., working at an indoor stream flume. The Robin L. Vannote Watershed Restoration Program is named for Robin Vannote, Ph.D., a research scientist and the Stroud Center’s first director. Under Vannote’s leadership, the Stroud Center evolved from a dream to an institution at the forefront of freshwater research. The Stroud Center has benefited enormously from Vannote’s hard work, keen insight, and long-term scientific vision since 1966, and the naming of the Watershed Restoration Program is a fitting tribute.

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: Before laneway installation.

: After laneway installation. Limiting livestock traffic to the stabilized area will mean much less runoff of manure and sediment to waterways.

: Walkway area before stabilization. Note the stream in the background.

: After stabilization. The amount of nutrients, sediments, and pathogens reaching surface waters will be much less with this work in place.

Watershed Restoration Staff

Lisa Blazure

Soil Health Coordinator

Rebecca Duczkowski

Assistant Director of Donor Relations and Watershed Restoration Assistant

Matthew Ehrhart

Director of Watershed Restoration

Lamonte Garber

Watershed Restoration Coordinator

David Wise

Watershed Restoration Manager

Calen Wylie

Watershed Restoration Program Assistant

Watershed Restoration News

Spring growth of a ryegrass cover crop in a field, farmhouse and farm in the distance.

Expanding Watershed Restoration Beyond the Stream Corridor

Healthy streams need healthy watersheds. Improving soil health in farm fields can be a very cost-effective way to reach water-quality goals.

David Wise standing in front of a shrub border.

David Wise Recognized as a Good Natured Pennsylvanian

Growing up in Lancaster County and playing in its creeks, Wise had an up-close view of some of the water-quality issues he is now working to correct.

Bud Miller with his young riparian buffer, showing abundant growth of trees and wildflowers.

A Family’s Restoration Adventure, Four Years In

In 2017, Bud and Marilyn Miller were the proud overseers of a new riparian buffer. Since then, a beautiful transformation has unfolded on their property.

Pennsylvania Establishes a Soil Health Coalition

Healthy soils are a win for the farmers, a win for the environment, and a win for society, with the ability to grow healthy foods in a more sustainable way.

Photo of an American eel being weighed as part of a scientific study.

White Clay Creek: A Pennsylvania Stream Responds to Reforestation

The East Branch of White Clay Creek is the subject of a restoration study on a time scale rarely applied to streams or rivers anywhere in the world.

Photo of a farm with a large muddy area with cattle.

A Small Farm Offers Big Opportunities for Measuring Watershed Restoration Success

Stream restorations rarely get monitored rigorously enough to determine if the “patient” has fully recovered.

Watershed Restoration Projects

Ag BMP Planning and Implementation for Berks County

This project operates the Farm Stewardship Program in Berks County, assisting farmers to implement whole-farm conservation while leveraging U.S. Department of Agriculture funding for work including forested buffers. Read more

Leveraging Farm Bill Funds for Water Quality in the Brandywine-Christina and Middle Schuylkill Clusters

This project provides outreach and technical assistance to farmers in Chester and Berks counties to ensure full implementation of funds provided by U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Regional Conservation Partnership Program for constructing ag best management practices. Read more

Whole-Farm Conservation Including Forested Buffers

This project expands the Farm Stewardship Program in Lancaster and Franklin Counties — the top two dairy counties in Pennsylvania. To address water-quality issues, whole-farm conservation with forested buffers is implemented. Farmers who install forested buffers receive incentives that can only be used to pay for other needed best management practices on the farm. Read more

Comprehensive Agricultural Stewardship in Lancaster County

Stroud Center’s Farm Stewardship Program provides technical and financial assistance to farmers and landowners to implement best management practices (BMPs) to protect water quality and improve stream health. Read more

Demonstrating Low-Cost Methods for Reforestation

Four sites in New York, Pennsylvania, and Maryland will demonstrate options for improving the cost-effectiveness of reforestation methods, including direct seeding, innovative fencing in lieu of tree shelters, live stakes, improved methods for managing herbivore competition, and more. Read more

Delaware River Watershed Initiative Circuit Rider for Technical Assistance to Grantees

This project provides technical assistance to grantees of the William Penn Foundation and the National Fish and Wildlife Foundation to develop and implement watershed restoration efforts and grants to monitor the impact of projects implemented in the Delaware River Watershed Initiative clusters. Read more