The first half of the presentation will look through how Stroud Water Research Center designs, installs, and maintains riparian buffers. The second half of the presentation will look through Stroud’s methodology research in to forwarding riparian buffer success. The combined intent is to showcase how we do buffers and why we made those decisions.

In urban Bloomfield, New Jersey, a former brownfield situated within a 100-year floodplain was transformed into a public park featuring 4.2-acres of constructed wetland that is teeming with wildlife and a diverse array of native plant species. This project is an example of how green infrastructure can re-establish lost wetland ecosystem functions and values within an urbanized watershed through attenuating floodwaters, increasing flood storage periods, and providing attractive foraging and breeding opportunities for wildlife.

The project was successfully closed out in 2024; however, monitoring will continue indefinitely to gather long-term data of the constructed wetland’s functions and values. This presentation will illustrate the project’s history and provide post-closeout updates on the site’s current conditions.

During the Schuylkill River Project of 1947-1951, engineers dredged large amounts of anthracite coal sediment from the river and deposited it in riverside impounding basins for reclamation as fuel. Legacy coal contamination is still visible in riparian soils that are frequently mapped as the Gibraltar soil series, characterized by “coal washings deposited over alluvium.” A series of soil profiles were sampled from Pennsylvania State Game Lands 234 in a transect away from the Schuylkill riverbank and analyzed for the toxic element mercury (Hg), a main environmental source of which is coal combustion. We measured total Hg, mobile Hg fraction, and percent coal. Hg concentrations in Gibraltar samples were elevated over uncontaminated samples, and Hg was correlated with increasing percent coal. However, the average Hg content of Gibraltar samples significantly exceeded the typical Hg content of Pennsylvania anthracite. These findings suggest that these coal-containing sediments may be a sink for retained Hg rather than its source.

Land conservation projects often rely on external funding to acquire fee simple ownership or secure conservation easements. Yet the funding landscape is far from uniform. The viability of any given acquisition depends on a complex mix of factors: location, size, synergy with local and regional plans, the ownership type of neighboring parcels, the identity of the final landowner or easement holder, and whether public access is anticipated. In southeastern Pennsylvania, these challenges are compounded by uneven access to grant funding at the county and municipal levels. Some counties administer robust open space programs; others offer none. Municipal support varies just as widely.

This patchwork of funding availability creates significant disparities in which parcels can realistically be conserved – regardless of ecological value or community interest. This presentation will explore how practitioners navigate this fragmented funding terrain, offering examples of how local context shapes acquisition strategy. We’ll examine how partnerships and creative funding combinations can help close gaps in the “funding puzzle.” Attendees will leave with a clearer understanding of how to assess feasibility and adapt acquisition approaches to local funding realities.

Who is my audience and how in-depth and broad should my information be so the story is impactful, interesting and accessible? What are some considerations you should make beforehand so you get the footage for your desired video?  Making short videos is an effective tool to post on your social media outreach and can help you document your event to influence decision-makers, recruit new volunteers and members, create social media content for your organization and your partners, and report to funders. Come hear tips and tricks from two experienced social media and educational content builders and, of course, bring your own stories to share.

Rippled Waters Engineering partnered with the Schuylkill Action Network to create conceptual green infrastructure designs for four local schools in the Schuylkill Watershed. This project brings together science, education, and community to improve local waterways while inspiring the next generation of environmental stewards. Each school design focuses on solving real problems—such as flooding, erosion, and poor water quality—by using nature-based solutions that manage stormwater where it falls. Proposed features include rain gardens, biofiltration swales, and streambank restoration, which reduce erosion and filter stormwater runoff before it reaches nearby streams. Beyond their environmental benefits, these designs also create vibrant outdoor learning spaces for students. Native pollinator gardens, educational signs, and visible stormwater features help students see how green infrastructure works and why it matters. By transforming everyday schoolyards into living laboratories, the project connects students and community members to the health of the Schuylkill River and its watershed. These conceptual designs lay the groundwork for future projects that will make local schools greener, more resilient, and better connected to the natural environment around them.

We’ll discuss early adapters, current status, influences and future trends of native plants in the landscape including regulatory and non-regulatory factors.  Topics will include high-level design, planning, application and maintenance practices. Focus will be on the mid-Atlantic region.

EPCAMR Executive Director will provide an overview presentation on mine pool mapping efforts in the Upper Schuylkill Headwaters concentrating on the Pine Knot, Oak Hill, and Repellier AMD discharges that are currently being monitored with the Schuylkill Conservation District and other partners to determine future AMD Treatment in the watershed. An overview of the mine pool mapping will be presented that will give the audience a closer look at the tedious and time consuming process of preparing surface and underground mine maps for further analysis to determine mine pool elevations, storage potential, whether or not the mine pools are flooded, and conservative estimates on remaining coal volumes and mine pool volumes underground based on the best available historic mine maps that can be found on the Mine Map Atlas.

A small tributary to Valley Creek (EV) that flows through Open Land Conservancy’s George Lorimer Preserve had been dammed for prior farmland use.  The smaller of two dams was eroding dangerously.  The presentation will discuss solutions, removal of the dam, restoration of the stream channel and riparian habitat restoration.  It will also cover a subsequent adjacent downstream project to remove invasive bush honeysuckle and plant with native trees, shrubs and perennials.  The challenge going forward is how to deal with the much larger, sediment loaded, downstream dam.  The presentation will discuss how a small all-volunteer land trust has approached this issue, and the importance of professional supplier and funding partnerships.

The presentation will be broken into three parts.

An explanation of what the SFS exam is, who administers it, and where an interested party can go to learn more.

The importance of the SFS exam, which is that two SFS certified individuals are needed for an organization to submit tier 3 data to the PA DEP.

A runthrough of taxonomic keys such as those found in “An Introduction to the Aquatic Insects of North America”. As well as an introduction to preserved or living examples of the mayflies, caddisflies, and stoneflies that may be found in those keys / inhabit the Delaware watershed.

Due to the recent invasions of insectivorous species such as Virile crayfish, Rusty crayfish, and Oriental weatherfish on the Delaware River it is important for our organizations to push individuals to document what conditions look like now before these species become established and change the invertebrate communities of our watershed.

Have you ever struggled to communicate scientific findings to a disinterested audience? This interactive session will explore strategies to successfully engage the public and encourage participation through art, cartography, visual storytelling, and social media. Together, a Communications Expert and an Environmental Scientist will show how these techniques and tools can help translate complex data into something more accessible to general audiences. They’ll share lessons learned from past projects to help understand the dos and don’ts of science communication. Case studies will include volunteer initiatives along the Schuylkill River, community conversations about flooding in Trenton, NJ, and the use of an interactive StoryMap webpage to showcase watershed restoration efforts in Bucks County, PA. There will be recommendations on easy-to-access, free, and low-cost content creation tools.