Watershed Restoration Projects

A suite of watershed restoration projects are delivering results for improving water quality. With a network of partners, the Stroud Center’s watershed restoration team is providing technical assistance with planning, ...

This project installs streamside forests to improve water quality and stream health. Locations include but are not limited to target areas in Chester and Lancaster counties and are responsive to ...

This project includes site visits to check the status of recently planted buffers, replanting of any mortality, and providing feedback to landowners on status and success of their buffer plantings ...

This project provides funding for five farms in Lancaster and Chester counties in Pennsylvania to install forested buffers and any needed infrastructure to protect streams from livestock. Funded by: Pa ...

This project provides funding for the installation of streamside forests at New Bolton Center in Chester County, Pa. Project Lead: Matthew J. Ehrhart Collaborator: University of Pennsylvania School of Veterinary ...

This collection of projects includes training, planning, and technology conversion assistance to farmers as they prioritize soil health thereby protecting water on their lands. Training sessions by the Pa. No-Till ...

Chesapeake Bay Foundation’s Keystone 10 Million Trees Partnership contracts with the Stroud Center to test tree planting and maintenance-related materials. The goal is to demonstrate methods that maintain high levels ...

This project provides funding for implementing streamside forests, streambank fencing, stabilized livestock crossings, and watering systems in Lancaster County, Pa., as part of the countywide restoration strategy. Funded by: Funded ...

This project supports installation and care of about 25 acres of forested buffers after they are planted in the west branch of Red Clay Creek. Funded by: Alliance for the ...

This project restores 30 acres of forested buffer in the west branch of Red Clay Creek and includes care after planting. The buffers are part of whole-farm work on a ...

This project installs nearly 80 acres of forested buffers and demonstrates the income potential from buffers for fruits, nuts, and salable horticultural materials. Funded by: Pennsylvania Department of Conservation and ...

This project establishes the Pennsylvania Soil Health Coalition to improve communication and coordination among numerous organizations involved with soil health education, implementation, and research. Coalition member organizations will conduct educational ...

This project implements agricultural best management practices on farms, such as stormwater-runoff controls for barnyards and mushroom compost processing areas, new and seasonally earlier cover crops, improved no-till practices, and ...

In targeted portions of the Chesapeake Bay watershed in Lancaster and Chester counties, Pa., the project implements whole-farm systems of best management practices on about two dozen farms, restores about ...

This project helps about two dozen farms in Lancaster and Chester counties to install nearly 200 agricultural best management practices, including nine miles of forested buffers and nearly 21,000 acres ...

This project restores stream health by addressing excessive sedimentation in the French Creek and Shenango River waterways that threatens freshwater species. Project creates a multi-county no-till drill rental program to ...

This project installs conservation practices on farms to improve watershed health. It provides outreach, technical assistance, and financial assistance to farmers to plan and implement whole-farm conservation. Funded by: National ...

The project increases capacity for and accelerates the rate of installing state-of-the-art forested buffers towards locally led clean water plans for Lancaster and Chester County. The project will result in ...

This project will accelerate implementation of agricultural water quality improvements in Lancaster County through development and implementation of comprehensive nutrient management plans. Project will result in more than 1,100 acres ...

This project installs riparian forested buffers for water quality and stream health improvements. Locations include but are not limited to target areas in Chester and Lancaster Counties. Funded by: Pennsylvania ...

This project implements best management practices on three equine operations to improve water quality and stream health of the West Branch of Red Clay Creek. Funded by: Pennsylvania Department of ...

Farmers receive assistance to plan and implement at least 80 agricultural best management practices on the condition that they also install forested buffers on their streams. Funded by: National Fish ...

Farmers receive assistance to plan and implement at least 80 agricultural best management practices (BMPs) on the condition that they also install forested buffers on their streams. Funded by: National ...

This project implements whole-farm conservation on all four farms in the catchment of a very small unnamed tributary to Pequea Creek in Lancaster County, Pa. The farmers are undertaking comprehensive ...

This project implements agricultural conservation practices on three Plain sect farms in the Honey Brook, Pa., area. Funded by: Pa. Department of Environmental Protection Project Lead: Matthew J. Ehrhart Collaborators: ...

Per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFASs) are a group of thousands of chemicals that are used in a wide range of industrial applications and represent a risk to human health. They ...

This project investigates how different agricultural management practices influence water quality and soil health. Using Rodale Institute’s 37-year-old Farming Systems Trial and a recent transition to organic farming at the ...

This funding supports the Stroud Center’s research and restoration teams to participate in the Delaware River Watershed Initiative’s focus areas within the Brandywine-Christina, Middle Schuylkill, and Schuylkill Highlands watersheds where ...

This project, part of the Delaware River Watershed Initiative, provides technical background and assistance to grantees of the William Penn Foundation and the National Fish and Wildlife Foundation to develop, ...

This project collects and interprets data on macroinvertebrate specimens from stream sites to provide a baseline for the evaluation of goals defined for restoration and protection projects funded by the ...

Professional and volunteer monitoring of chemistry, macroinvertebrates, and fish to support restoration and protection efforts represent an invaluable (and often neglected) tool to evaluate short- and long-term progress toward conservation ...

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 ...

This project engages watershed residents to be active participants in efforts to document conditions across the focus areas of the Delaware River Watershed Initiative. Work includes efforts to support monitoring, ...

This funding supports the Stroud Center’s Robin L. Vannote Watershed Restoration Program to participate in the Delaware River Watershed Initiative’s focus areas within the Brandywine-Christina, Middle Schuylkill, and Schuylkill Highlands ...

This project enables a collaboration with Rodale Institute to advance knowledge on soil health and impacts on water quality, including a comparison of till, no-till, and organic-based cropping systems. Related ...

This project uses Model My Watershed to communicate the value of forest protection by estimating its impact on water quality. Funded by: Open Space Institute and William Penn Foundation Project ...

This project supports the Stroud Center’s continuing efforts on soil health, particularly for outreach and education on cover crops and no-till farming. It also installs conservation practices on farms to ...

This project engages two farmers to implement more than 1,000 acres of cover crops, conduct trials of eight or more innovative methods to advance cover crop and no-till techniques, and ...

This project supports Stroud Water Research Center’s continuing efforts on soil health, particularly for outreach and education on cover crops and no-till farming. It also installs conservation practices on farms ...

This project planted 675 trees and shelters on 2.01 acres of riparian land along an unnamed tributary of Doe Run in West Marlborough Township, Pa. The project was designed to ...

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. Work on ...

This Watershed Renaissance Initiative grant will enable Stroud Water Research Center to implement extensive watershed restoration projects designed to capture and control excess water and sediment production from agricultural hillslopes ...

For this project, scientists and watershed restoration professionals restore one headwater basin to reduce flooding downstream, improve water quality, and increase stream-ecosystem resilience so that it will once again support ...

Scientists are studying how soil structure and soil ecosystem health improve farm fields over a three-year period after shifting from conventional tillage practices to cover cropping. They are also measuring ...

Scientists are monitoring fecal indicator bacteria, sediment, and water chemistry from the barns at the Fair Hill Training Center. Based on the data collected, the scientists and restoration team will ...

This Watershed Renaissance Initiative grant will enable Stroud Water Research Center to implement extensive watershed restoration projects designed to capture and control excess water and sediment production from agricultural hillslopes ...

This project involved an experimental planting of 900 trees and shelters on 2.75 acres of riparian land along a headwater tributary of the Brandywine Creek in East Fallowfield Township, Pennsylvania ...

Stroud Water Research Center secured more than $1 million in funding from the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Regional Conservation Partnership Program and is ensuring full delivery of best management practices ...

A multiyear project to monitor, protect, and restore critical freshwater sources for 15 million people from New York to the mouth of the Delaware Bay ...

Professional and volunteer monitoring of chemistry, macroinvertebrates, and fish to support restoration and protection efforts represent an invaluable (and often neglected) tool to evaluate short- and long-term progress toward conservation ...

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

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 ...

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 ...

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

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 ...

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 ...

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 ...

This project involved an experimental planting of 900 trees and shelters on 2.2 acres of riparian land along Buck Run in East Fallowfield, Pa. The project was designed to test ...

This project involved an experimental planting of 300 trees and shelters on 0.7 acres of riparian land along Buck Run in East Fallowfield, Pa. The project was designed to test ...

Stroud Water Research 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 ...

Planting trees along the stream corridors is a best management practice for keeping pollutants out of streams and improving their health. 2013: In collaboration with the Brandywine Conservancy and Dansko, ...

This project involved planting 400 trees along Craigs Mill Run (1.8 acres) and 600 trees along the East Branch of Brandywine Creek (1.8 acres) in Pennsbury and East Brandywine townships, respectively, as a best management practice for keeping pollutants out of local streams and improving their health ...

This project involved an experimental planting of 500 trees on 1.5 acres of riparian land as a best management practice for keeping pollutants out of a headwater tributary of Red Clay Creek as well as creating a research site for testing the effects of herbicide use on the survival and growth of seedlings ...

This project involved an experimental planting of 925 trees on 4.1 acres of riparian land for keeping pollutants out of two headwater tributaries of Crum Creek and learning new insights into how to properly install the bird netting, associated with protective shelters, placed on all seedlings to increase their survival and growth ...

This project will demonstrate the feasibility and implementation of in-field monitoring equipment for manure applications and field-specific water quality impacts of farming practices ...

The Stroud Preserve riparian reforestation project is a demonstration of the three-zone Riparian Forest Buffer System developed by the USDA Forest Service ...