Wildlife for Everyone Endowment Foundation and local partners announced the completion of a stream restoration project at the Quaker Run abandoned mine site.

The project is a cooperative effort that includes Coal Township, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, and the Department of Environmental Protection.

More than 2,000 feet of stream were restored and more than three acres of wetlands were created. The site had been extensively disturbed by past mining and industrial activity. The Fish and Wildlife Service designed the project and supervised contractors in the actual construction of the project.

“This project in Northumberland County serves as a model for stream and wetlands restoration on abandoned mined land," explained Vern Ross, Executive Director of Wildlife for Everyone Endowment Foundation.

The Department of Environmental Protection, Bureau of Abandoned Mine Lands, provided funding to Coal Township to restore the land and the Wildlife for Everyone Endowment Foundation provided financial management services. The Foundation will hold a portion of the funds for five years to be used in the event that any remedial work is necessary.

The project was undertaken at the request of Coal Township because it was unable to locate a contractor who could complete the work with the available funding. The project provided an excellent opportunity for the Fish and Wildlife Service to demonstrate habitat restoration techniques on heavily disturbed land. “This was a good fit for the Foundation because one of our major focus areas is habitat restoration”, stated Russ Schleiden, Chairman of the Board.

Dr. Thomas Ballestero, an engineer from the University of New Hampshire, designed the stream and wetlands and provided construction oversight. Dr. Ballestero works with the Fish and Wildlife Service under an intergovernmental personnel assignment.

Dr. Ballestero used natural channel design methods to calculate the proper dimensions and slope for the new channel. Since there were no remnants of the original channel on site, he studied the stream above the project site and several streams in similar settings in the watershed. The new, constructed channel mimics the form and function of a naturally stable stream in the region.

The wetlands were designed to take advantage of the site topography and drainage and to control runoff from the adjacent industrial development and mined land. About three acres of wetlands were created.

The planting plan was developed by Kelly Williams, a Wildlife and Fisheries Science student from Penn State. She seeded the area with a variety of native plants and also used some woody plants that were transplanted from adjacent wetlands. The wetlands were designed to have fluctuating water levels to promote a wide variety of plants. Additional plantings will be completed in the spring of 2007.

Dave Putnam, a wildlife biologist with the Fish and Wildlife Service pointed out that one of the advantages of working with the Foundation is its ability to hold the funds needed for future years’ work. “Government agencies are generally tied to yearly funding cycles and these cycles rarely permit funding from one year to be carried over to future years. In this case, plantings may take place over the first two years and some may be done even five years from now. “

Dr. Ballestero pointed out that “the wetlands catch nearly all of the water entering the site and will attenuate storm water surges and filter it before it enters Quaker Run. Prior to the work, the stream was suffering serious erosion problems due to concentrated storm flows. While this project will not solve all of the water quality problems in the watershed, it shows that a great deal can be accomplished.”

The work was completed in September and cover vegetation is expected to be fully established over the next growing season. Amphibians moved into the upstream wetlands as soon as they were completed. Dragon flies were also very numerous over the new wetlands.

The site is located between Shamokin and Kulpmont south of Route 61 adjacent to the Rinehart Food Center. It will be very interesting to watch the site mature over the next few years.

For more information on this and other projects, visit the Wildlife for Everyone Endowment Foundation website.

12/1/2006