On December 30, 2020, the Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection (DEP) announced that 24 projects to clean up waters in the state’s Southeast region have been selected to collectively receive more than $4.9 million in funding through DEP’s Growing Greener program.
“Growing Greener awardees help keep Pennsylvania clean,” said DEP Secretary Patrick McDonnell. “It is imperative that communities in Pennsylvania receive the necessary funding to reduce pollutants in area waterways.”
Covered bridge in Pennsylvania.
Photo by David Mark from Pixabay.
Statewide, more than $34 million has been awarded to fund 149 projects to clean up waters. Grantees have up to three years to implement their projects from the award date.
Growing Greener is the largest single investment of state funds in Pennsylvania’s history to address Pennsylvania’s critical environmental concerns of the 21st century.
Growing Greener has helped to slash the backlog of farmland-preservation projects statewide, protect open space, eliminate the maintenance backlog in state parks, clean up abandoned mines and restore watersheds, provide funds for recreational trails and local parks, help communities address land use, and provide new and upgraded water and sewer systems.
DEP is authorized to allocate these funds in grants for watershed restoration and protection, abandoned mine reclamation, and abandoned oil and gas well plugging projects.
Three other agencies also received funds to distribute for appropriate projects: the Pennsylvania Department of Agriculture to administer farmland preservation projects, the Pennsylvania Department of Conservation and Natural Resources for state park renovations and improvements, and the Pennsylvania Infrastructure Investment Authority for water and sewer system upgrades.
Two Growing Greener project awardees in the Southeast region include the Pennypack Creek Streambank Stabilization and a project by the Schuylkill River Development Corporation to repair the Tidal Schuylkill River Bulkhead.
The Pennypack project will address a badly eroded section of streambank along the Pennypack Creek in Philadelphia through a natural material retaining structure and associated plantings. Another component of the project is the restoration of the adjacent riparian forest and improved public access. The Schuylkill project will repair the bulkhead in three underwater locations where gaps have been discovered. Once the repairs are made, the contractor will fill in the corresponding depressions and sinkholes with new soil and grass.
Here are the new Growing Greener Awardees:
Bucks (4)
• Bucks County Conservation District, Equine Concentrated Animal Operation Best Management Practice (BMP) Implementation, $305,140
• Heritage Conservancy, Bellwood Preserve Riparian Restoration, $26,563
• Neshaminy School District, Restoration of Idlewood Environmental Station along the Neshaminy Creek, $100,339
• Penndel Borough, Hydrodynamic Inlet for Pollution Reduction in Penndel Borough, $199,461
Chester (8)
• Brandywine Red Clay Alliance, Plum Run Stream Restoration Phase 3 at Strode’s Mill, $194,689
• Chester County Conservation District, Chester County Chesapeake Bay Agricultural Waste Storage Project, $46,200
• City of Coatesville, Millview Basin Stormwater Basin Retrofit, $300,000
• Kennett Area Park Authority, Red Clay Stream Restoration at Anson B. Nixon Park, $203,514
• Stroud Water Research Center Inc., Agricultural BMPs and Forested Buffers for Chester County Focus Areas, $707,818
• Valley Forge Chapter Trout Unlimited, Valley Creek Monitoring Project at the Former Knickerbocker Landfill, $7,275
• Valley Forge Chapter Trout Unlimited, Install More Infiltration Trenches in Neighborhoods of Upper Crabby Creek, $256,300
• Valley Township, Valley Crossing Stormwater Basin and Swale Retrofit, $188,000
Delaware (1)
• Delaware County Conservation District, Conservation Planting Trailer, $11,285
Montgomery (5)
• East Norriton Township, Kimberly Drive Basin Retrofit, $203,352
• Horsham Township, Witmer Road Basin, $150,000
• Lower Merion Conservancy, Growing Greener Streets, $184,960
• Reform Congregation Keneseth Israel, Reform Congregation Keneseth Israel Stormwater Improvements, $265,000
• Tookany/Tacony-Frankford Watershed Partnership, Jenkintown Creek Restoration: Alverthorpe Park Stormwater Management Project, $543,250
Philadelphia (4)
• Delaware River City Corporation, dba Riverfront North Partnership, Pennypack Creek Streambank Stabilization, $178,458
• Partnership for the Delaware Estuary, Inc., Shell Recycling in Philadelphia for Climate Resiliency Projects, $103,784
• Pennsylvania Horticultural Society, TreeVitalize Watersheds XV, $250,000
• Schuylkill River Development Corporation, Repairing the Tidal Schuylkill River Bulkhead, $175,000
Chester and York (1)
• Dickinson College, Developing High-Frequency Sensor Monitoring Tools for Managing Harmful Algal Blooms, $171,624
Philadelphia, Lehigh, Bucks, Lackawanna, and Monroe (1)
• The Academy of Natural Sciences, Headwater Climate Resilience, $162,591
Statewide (4)
• Pennsylvania Association of Conservation Districts Inc, PA Conservation Reserve Enhancement Program, $1,522,910
• Pennsylvania Lake Management Society, Implementation of Lake BMPs Project IV, $468,790
• Pocono Northeast Resource Conservation Development Council, Consortium for Scientific Assistance to Watersheds (C-SAW) X, $703,638
• Western Pennsylvania Coalition for Abandoned Mine Reclamation, Quick Response 9: Fiscal Management for Repair of Growing Greener Projects, $200,000
Featured photo of Pennsylvania’s Bushkill Falls is by Mircea Ploscar from Pixabay.