The Chesapeake Bay Targeted Grants Program awarded eight grants totaling $5 million this week, including support for two Pennsylvania projects. They include:

· Conestoga Watershed Manure Composting (Chesapeake Bay Foundation, $800,000), which will coordinate the removal of 40,000 pounds of nitrogen and 35,000 pounds of phosphorus from entering the Conestoga River by implementing a diversified manure composting system in the watershed; and

· Market-based Approach to Nutrient Reduction (Protected Harvest, $800,000), which will establish a third-party dairy certification program that provides premium pricing to dairy farmers in Lancaster County, Pa., and Shenandoah Valley, Va., who adopt conservation practices that minimize nutrient runoff to the Bay and its tributaries.

“This grant award will enable CBF and our partners to make a huge impact on the health of the Susquehanna River and the Chesapeake Bay,” said CBF’s Pennsylvania Executive Director Matthew Ehrhart. “Rather than applying excess manure to farm fields where it enters our local rivers and streams, we will instead be turning it into a reusable resource.”

The focus of the effort is on the Conestoga watershed in Lancaster County. The Conestoga contributes the highest level of nitrogen and phosphorus pollution of any watershed flowing into the Susquehanna River. This is mainly caused by the high concentration of animal intensive activities. This project will utilize most of the excess manure in the Conestoga watershed, which might otherwise be applied to the land and contribute to polluted runoff in the region.

The excess manure will be taken from area farms and delivered to one of two to four manure composting facilities that have been or will be established through local municipalities. The end product, the compost, will be used in landscaping operations, to reclaim many of the 184,431 acres of abandoned mine lands, and also as part of a Lancaster County erosion and sediment control program through the Pennsylvania Department of Transportation.

“Ultimately, this project will reduce pollution in Pennsylvania’s rivers and streams; help to restore abandoned mine lands; further our utilization of bio-based energy generation, and increase farm profitability,” Ehrhart said. “This is a model that could be replicated across the watershed, resulting in a dramatic reduction in nitrogen and phosphorus pollution.”

For more information, visit the Chesapeake Bay Targeted Grants Program webpage.

5/11/2007