Smith Middle School students in Lancaster County will soon be knee deep in a local creek as they pitch in to help the environment as part of Solanco's annual STREAM project.

Working with the Chesapeake Bay Foundation, more than two dozen students will perform a stream study, then they will work with SEPCOM Landscaping to plan a riparian buffer to help improve stream quality. STREAM stands for Smith Teaching Respect for the Environment using Alternative Methods.

The hands-on environmental STREAM Project is part of the Chesapeake Bay Foundation’s Susquehanna Watershed Education Project (SWEP).

SWEP explores local waterways to monitor the effect of agriculture and other land uses on the water quality of the Susquehanna River, which leads to the Chesapeake Bay. The students determine the stream quality by using macro-invertebrate surveys, and other samplings and observations.

Last fall the students evaluated the stream that flows through A. Dale and Fay Herr's farm. The Herrs have been active for years in the Young Farmer program. The Herrs own over 300 acres in Colerain and Eden Townships.

STREAM Project will take place November 9 from 8:30 a.m. to 2:30 p.m. in Muddy Run on Penny Road, just off of Route 372, west of the 372 / 272 intersection at Buck.

10/27/2006