Efforts to get Master Watershed Steward programs off the ground in Pennsylvania are meeting with success, thanks to a pilot program in the Lehigh Valley area that has now branched out to Montgomery County. 

Several other counties have also expressed interest in a Master Watershed Stewards program for their regions.  (Photo: MWS volunteers plant a riparian buffer in Kreidersville Covered Bridge park in Northampton County.)

The MWS programs are designed to help monitor and protect local streams, through the participation of volunteers who are trained to monitor the health of the streams. The programs address the critical issue of stormwater runoff and its effects on the watersheds that provide drinking water to people across the watershed. 

The PA League of Women Voters Water Resources Education Network was delighted to see a Pennsylvania version of the Master Watershed Stewards Program take shape and supported the launch with a 2013-2014 Watershed Education grant ($4,650) led by the Watershed Coalition of the Lehigh Valley.

The project focused on providing volunteers with the knowledge needed to address non-point source water risks including reducing polluted runoff, stabilizing stream banks and creating habitat with riparian buffers and rain gardens. The program was a collaboration among partners in Lehigh and Northampton Counties with a goal of creating a model that can be expanded throughout the Commonwealth.

Erin Frederick, Penn State Extension horticultural and natural resources educator, coordinates the Lehigh Valley-Northampton program as well as efforts to expand the Master Watershed (MWS) Program statewide.

Frederick was also the project leader for the WREN-funded project. The Lehigh Valley program has been running since 2013, graduating 35 volunteers from two classes with another class running this fall. A MWS program launched in Montgomery County in August and is now training 12 volunteers.

The MWS program for Pennsylvania is being led by Penn State Extension, with many partners helping throughout the region, including conservation districts, watershed associations, educational institutions, land trusts and other environmental organizations in a designated MWS program region, Frederick explained.

In addition to the programs in Lehigh-Northampton and Montgomery counties, Frederick said another eight Pennsylvania counties are lined up to begin MWS programs, providing funding can be secured.

The counties, located in Southeastern PA, include Chester, Berks, Bucks, Delaware, Philadelphia, as well as Monroe, Centre and York counties. She said other counties near the Susquehanna River have also expressed interest.

The challenge, she said, is "finding funding to make it happen."

While seed money from outside grants has been secured to get the programs going, program coordinators (one MWS coordinator is needed for each county) are ultimately asked to secure future funding to keep their programs going, through grants or corporate donations, Frederick said.

Volunteers are vital to the program, she said, as the ground force that translates program goals into action. Volunteers might work with local municipalities to help conduct rain barrel workshops for residents, give presentations on the geology of a region, install native plant trails or rain gardens, to name a few. Volunteer have also helped county conservation districts with stream restoration projects.

"We give them a glimpse of each subject so that they're exposed to all of these concepts. We see the volunteers develop their own niche...once they find it they can seek more advanced training.  We're providing the contact where they can go to seek more information to do further studies," Frederick said. She added that she provides volunteers with information on resources, webinars  and can connect volunteers with experts at Penn State.

Volunteers receive 40 hours of training, then complete 50 hours of hands-on service the first year. In subsequent years, volunteers must secure 10 hours of continuing education and fulfill 20 hours of volunteer service each year.

Training for MWS volunteers includes an introduction to native and invasive plants, stormwater retrofits, geology and soil, wildlife and how they are connected to the watershed, fish identification, aquatic insects, as well as water habitat and stream sampling techniques. Training volunteers to conduct public education programs is also a primary goal of the program.

"We're training them to be educators, there is an educational component," Frederick said. It is a two-fold goal: to educate the public to change behaviors and attitudes toward natural resources and to get people in the community to be more aware of stormwater and understand what individual homeowners can do.

She said the goal is to have the MWS program mirror the highly successful Master Gardener program throughout the state.

"We're striving to get this (MWS program) throughout the counties just like the Master Gardener program. There are more than 2,000 master gardeners throughout the state. Last year they spent 140,000 hours teaching the public, at a value of $3 million in volunteer time and effort. It's just phenomenal what they can accomplish. We really need that level of support for our water resources," Frederick said.

Frederick said she is thrilled with the MWS program so far. The 35 volunteers who are taking part in the Lehigh Valley program have logged 1,000 volunteer hours to date. She estimates more than 1,500 people have been reached through volunteer participation at outreach, educational and community events.

"If we had that in every county we could really make a difference," Frederick said. "We're moving county by county based on where there's interest and where there's funding," she said.

Since program began, Frederick estimates an 80 percent retention rate of volunteers. There is a Penn State Extension office in every county, so volunteers can connect there. While not every Extension office has a program at this time, it can serve as the contact point to help launch a new MWS effort. To learn more about Penn State Extension's Master Watershed Stewards Program click here to visit their website.

Another stewardship program in Pennsylvania that launched in 2013 with funding from the William Penn Foundation is the Schuylkill Water Stewards.

A successful Watershed Stewards program has been up and running in Howard County, MD through the Watershed Stewards Academy there.

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Feature: Vanport Township: A Small System With A Tall Order To Preserve Clean Water

Feature: WREN: 3 Rivers Alert Information Network Flourishes Thru Collaboration

(Reprinted from the September edition of Water Policy News is now available from the PA League of Women Voters Water Resources Education Network.  Click Here to sign up for your own copy.)

10/6/2014