Four local projects benefit from Growing Greener grants

WEST CHESTER » State Sen. Andy Dinniman, D-19, announced that four projects to clean up and protect local waterways in Chester County will receive more than $500,000 in total state grant funding through the Growing Greener program.

“Protecting and preserving our clean streams and pristine waterways is one of our Chester County values and part of our regional heritage,” said Dinniman, who serves on the Environmental Resources and Energy Committee. “These grants will continue to help ensure that our water and our watersheds – some of our most precious natural resources – is safeguarded for generations to come.”

The grants, which are administered by the Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection, are as follows:

• $36,000 for New Garden Township for the Bucktoe Creek Stream Restoration project to design restoration for 1,850 feet of stream and create 1.3 acres of new native riparian buffer in existing lawn areas.

• $52,360 for the Open Land Conservancy of Chester County to install a level spreader at the Airdrie Preserve in the Valley Creek watershed. The proposed project will supplement and enhance an existing infiltration structure at the outfall from a municipal storm water system and de-concentrate flood flows and arrest the ongoing formation of an eroded gulley.

• $130,812 for Valley Forge Trout Unlimited for the Wilson Run Stream

Restoration project to study, design, and construct a 2,200-foot long stream channel and riparian restoration project in partnership with a private landowner.

• $336,630 for the Stroud Water Research Center to Healthy Waters, Healthy Streams Training and Technical Assistance program. This project aims to increase adoption of conservation tillage and cover crops through a partnership with the Pennsylvania No-Till Alliance and educational forums and technical assistance over three years.

These grants come as part of seven grant projects throughout that will receive nearly $875,000 in total Growing Greener funding. Other projects in the county are as follows:

• $150,000 for the Brandywine Red Clay Alliance for the Plum Run Watershed Renaissance Initiative to construct a 5,100-footlong stream channel restoration project through a

low-density suburban landscape. Design of the project is currently under way with funding from a private foundation grant. The project would be adjacent to large stream restoration projects previously funded by Growing Greener with a “Watershed Renaissance” grant in 2010.

• $77,500 for the Kennett Area Park Authority for the Red Clay/Nixon Park Stream Restoration project to prepare a design and obtain a Chapter 105 permit for a stream channel/streambank restoration in Anson B. Nixon Park.

• $90,775 for Uwchlan Township for the Ludwig’s Run Stormwater Basin Retrofit project to repair and retrofit two existing stormwater basins. One of the basins will be enlarged and substantially re-designed, and the other is a straightforward “basin naturalization” project.

These grants come as part of 106 Growing Greener projects statewide to receive just over $20.7

million in total funding.

The Growing Greener grant program aims to invest in projects that protect watersheds from impairment due to non-point source pollution and to restore waterways damaged by non-point source pollution. Supported by the Environmental Stewardship Fund, which receives its funding from landfill tipping fees, Growing Greener is the largest single investment of state funds to address Pennsylvania’s environmental challenges.

“Growing Greener has been a statewide success story for environmental conservation and reclamation in Pennsylvania,” Dinniman said. “I’m proud to say that we have continued to expand and build on this historic investment in our watersheds and open spaces.”

Since it was launched in 1999, the Growing Greener program has provided more than $296 million to environmental projects statewide.