Project Gallery

Conservation Projects

Since the Watershed Coalition was founded, on-the-ground restoration and conservation projects have defined our core mission.

Strategy
Success
  • Partnerships – with other conservation organizations, local businesses, and municipalities, are essential.
  • Small demonstration projects are key to building understanding and support for new or unfamiliar practices
  • Community involvement is an important ingredient – the more people who are invested in projects near where they work and live, the better the chances for long-term success.
  • The long term success of project depends upon maintenance. Stream banks and rain gardens overrun by weeds are unsightly, and detract from conservation messaging.
  • Small demonstration projects are key to building understanding and support for new or unfamiliar practices
  • The most perfectly designed and planted project will become a failure if not properly cared for.

Lehigh Valley Greenways Funded Projects

The Lehigh Valley Greenways, founded in 2004, provides mini-grant funding for projects throughout the Lehigh Valley. The WCLV has accomplished many projects with Greenways funding. A few of the more recent ones are highlighted below.

Trexler Meadow

Completed in 2018 by the WCLV and Master Watershed Stewards, the project worked to create a native plant meadow in Trexler Park.

Municipal Rain Gardens

Municipal raingardens, accompanied by educational signs, provide demonstrations of stormwater practices for residents to be able to see. Rain gardens have been built at Bushkill Township, Plainfield Township, Pen Argyl Borough, Upper Saucon Township, and the Upper Saucon Township Authority buildings.

Hokendauqua Park Pussy Willow Buffer

Planted in 2019, the WCLV and BHCWA joined forces to plant 17 varieties of pussy willows along the creek in Hokendauqua Park.

DCNR Multifunctional Riparian Buffer

The Department of Conservation and Natural Resources has long advocated for the environmental impact of full-height forest and meadow streamside buffers. Grant funding was offered to pilot an approach to ‘multifunctional buffers,’ plantings that would have a positive impact on water quality while offering farmers the chance to have a cash crop on otherwise marginal land. The WCLV applied for, and received a multifunctional buffer grant in 2019 on the Link Farm.

Misty Valley – Link Farm
Nate Prichard Removing Invasive Plants from the Misty Valley Buffer

Using funds from the Department of Conservation and Natural Resources multifunctional buffer program, in 2018 the WCLV partnered with a local farmer to convert frequently flooded streamside property into cropland for nut trees. Click on the photo to watch a video describing the project.

Conservation is a state of harmony between men and land – Aldo Leopold