Yes, Penn State brings Penn State researchers, educators and students together with community members to work directly, through research and engagement with industries, to maintain and extend existing ecosystems and their biodiversity to solve water quality problems in local priority watersheds.
The Agriculture and Environment Center Community Watershed Engagement Program brings Penn State researchers, educators and students together with community members to work directly, through research and engagement with industries, to maintain and extend existing ecosystems and their biodiversity to solve water quality problems in local priority watersheds. Efforts include:
- The Lower Susquehanna Regional Partnership, or LSRP, launched by the Penn State Agriculture and Environment Center in priority adjacent watersheds in western Lancaster and southern Lebanon and Dauphin Counties. A diverse set of agriculture and conservation partners are working together to provide sampling and data collection, outreach, technical assistance, and funding assistance to interested farmers in the LSRP region. The LSRP includes Penn State University, Lancaster, Lebanon and Dauphin County Conservation Districts, United States Department of Agriculture’s (USDA) Natural Resource and Conservation Services, USDA Agricultural Research Servcie, Lancaster Farmland Trust, Stroud Water Research Center, PA No-Till Alliance, Susquehanna River Basin Commission, Chesapeake Conservancy, Londonderry Township and other local municipalities, US Fish and Wildlife Service, Chesapeake Bay Foundation, Alliance for the Chesapeake Bay and, most importantly, local farmers.
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Conewego Creek Initiative brings together a diverse partnership of organizations collaborating to pool resources and work with Conewago residents, farms, businesses, and municipalities to increase adoption of practices that will improve and protect water quality. The Initiative is a dynamic, organic process, and new partners are always welcome. Partners include Penn State Extension, Penn State Agriculture and Environment Center, Dauphin County Conservation District, Lancaster County Conservation District, Lebanon County Conservation District, Mount Joy Township, and Tri-County Conewago Creek Association, among others.
- The Greening the Lower Susquehanna program provides opportunities for citizens to work alongside community partners to improve water quality and provides free trees to landowners interested in establishing backyard buffers or reforestation. They also coordinate the “Greening the Lower Susquehanna” volunteer conservation corps, a group of hundreds of dedicated volunteers who help plant and maintain riparian buffers, rain gardens, and native meadows, clean up streams, and rescue seedlings for future plantings.
- The Sustainable Watersheds Program promotes, restores, and maintains healthy local watersheds through collaborative community engagement and engaged scholarship. Through this program Penn State students and the Agriculture and Environment Center have:
- developed and delivered stormwater workshops for homeowners in local communities around Penn State;
- helped develop manure management plans for local farmers;
- designed and implemented volunteer rain gardens;
- produced videos to document the restoration work of Spring Creek Trout Unlimited;
- worked with community members of the Lost Creek watershed in Juniata County to develop a vision for Lost Creek and a comprehensive watershed restoration plan; and
- are active members of a new watershed partnership in Halfmoon Creek in Centre and Huntingdon Counties.
Learn more about Penn State’s Progress on SDG 14 HERE.
