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Interfaith Partners For The Chesapeake Bay Offering New Watershed Protection Site Assessment Action Kit

Are you and your congregation ready to take action to help restore and protect your watershed, but don’t know where to start?

The Interfaith Partners for the Chesapeake Bay now has a new Site Assessment Action Kit available with step-by-step instructions for promoting clean water and healthy ecosystems through responsible land and water management.

How It Works - A Case Study

Right after attending IPC's Faithful Green Leaders Training in October 2021, Christ Church Forest Hill, Rock Spring Parish scheduled a site assessment with their IPC regional outreach coordinator.

Their congregational property had been plagued with runoff and flooding that their newly formed green team wanted a professional opinion on.

Following the site assessment, they discovered that there were multiple locations where conservation landscaping would be appropriate.

In 2022 Christ Church's green team hosted three tree plantings and one invasive species removal on their congregational grounds.

If you are familiar with conservation landscaping, you may have asked yourself: "why didn't they install a rain barrel to capture and harvest the rainwater to reduce flooding?"

After their thorough assessment, it was deemed that there were not many opportunities on their property for rain barrels.

While many of the congregation's downspouts are connected, there was not sufficient space to install a rain barrel without removing crucial vegetation, or blocking pathways.

This is why a site assessment is a crucial starting point to determine what watershed protection efforts are best for your congregation, based on professional recommendations.

For more information, visit the IPC’s Strategies For Watershed Protection webpage. Questions should be directed to Bonnie Sorak, covering Lancaster County, by sending email to: bonnie@interfaithchesapeake.org.

Resource Library

If you haven't taken a look at the IPC library of Action Kits yet, come take a peek! We have more than 10 kits ready to support you with everything from Rain Garden Maintenance to Faithful Lawn Care. IPC is looking to grow the movement of faithful stewards caring for sacred waters, so we are always updating our resource library!

For more information on programs, initiatives, upcoming events and how you can get involved, visit the Interfaith Partners for the Chesapeake website. Follow on Facebook and on Twitter. Click Here to sign up for regular updates (bottom of the page).

NewsClips This Week:

-- Republican Herald: Schuylkill Conservation District Awards Recognize Environmental Stewardship

-- PA Capital-Star: PA’s Painterland Sisters Are Farming With The Future In Mind In Tioga County; Quest To Provide Sustainability For Their Farm

-- Wilkes-Barre Times: Earth Conservancy Stream Reconstruction Corrects Damage From Coal Mining

-- Observer-Reporter: Nonprofit Receives $100,000 Federal Grant For Dunkard Creek Watershed Restoration

-- Chesapeake Bay Program: Are We Trading Trees For Concrete In Chesapeake Bay Watershed?

-- Beaver County Times: New Nonprofit Reforest Our Future Aims To Foster Forest Regrowth

-- Middle Susquehanna RiverKeeper Blog: STEM Campers Go On Otters RiverWalk To Explore Ecosystem Along Susquehanna River Banks

-- Middle Susquehanna RiverKeeper Blog: Floating Classroom On Hiawatha In Williamsport Covers Native American Artifacts & Region’s Logging History

-- Halt The Harm Network, FracTracker Alliance: Aug. 30 Webinar: Wasted Water - The Impacts Of Fracking's Water Use From PA To Colorado, 2:00 to 3:00 p.m.

-- PennLive: Proposed Pump-Storage Hydroelectric Project Would Flood Homes, ‘Last Bit Of Nature’ On Part Of Susquehanna River

-- Susquehanna Greenway: Benefits Of A Morning Paddle - By Alana Jajko, Susquehanna Greenway Partnership [PaEN]