Newsletter - AWS
Newsletter Fall 2013 Celebrating 46 years of preserving and protecting the natural and historic resources of the Octoraro.
President’s Message Linda Swank, President It is with great regret that I report that John Shuman had to step down during the summer due to ill health and the Board has asked me to fill his remaining term. We wish John and his family all the very best and thank him for all of his work on our behalf, as President and as a subject matter expert on several of our projects. He is sorely missed. John’s OWA initiatives include the creation of a Strategic Plan, which will set our direction for the next 5 years. I’m pleased to announce that we are close to wrapping that up and I look forward to being able to share it with you in the spring. It includes plans for the agricultural and urban/residential sectors as well as outreach and education and financial sustainability. I hope you’ll help us to put them into action over the next few years.
Inside this issue: Rising Sun Trian- 2 gle Park Stormwater Wetland Installed! National Geo3 graphic Photographer Peter Essick visits the Octoraro Octoraro Draft TMDL
4
These plans will, in many ways, formalize work that we are already doing. On page 2, Rupert Rossetti reports on the successful completion of a stormwater wetland in Triangle Park in Rising Sun, MD. This will not only reduce the nutrients and sediment entering Stone Run, the local tributary, but also provide an outdoor education classroom for the local community. On page 3, Pat Fasano shares one of his more unusual Amish Farm visits with a National Geographic photographer. As you probably know, Pat spends up to three days a week visiting farmers along with Levi or David Fisher and has built up a remarkable level of trust , without which such a visit would not have been possible. Pat and John have also been able to use that trust to work with the farmers on the successful completion of Conservation Plans on 71 farms over the past 2 years with more underway. The Octoraro Total Maximum Daily Load (TMDL), reported on page 4, will enable us to focus our work on subwatersheds with the greatest need. This TMDL and the Baywide TMDL, which covers the entire Chesapeake Bay watershed from New York to Virginia ,are likely to be game changers as we move forward and we are factoring both of them into the Strategic Plan.
A special thank you to our corporate sponsors: Chester Water Authority, Econ Refuse Service and The Steinman Foundation for their generous support.
I hope these articles give you a good idea of what we have been working on for the past few months, and will also give you a look ahead. We can’t do it without you, so thank you for your contributions, membership dues, and your sponsorship support. We invite you to our annual meeting on April 17th at Black Rock Retreat, so please mark it on your calendar today. And please consider a year-end contribution, which is, of course, tax deductible. Thank you, and Happy Holidays!
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Newsletter Fall 2013 Rising Sun Triangle Park—Stormwater Wetland installed!
Newsletter Fall 2013
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National Geographic Photographer Peter Essick Visits the Octoraro Watershed Pat Fasano, Secretary Voted one of the top 20 nature photographers in the United State, Peter Essick recently gave OWA permission to use this photograph, one of over 4,000 that were taken when he completed a photo-shoot in our watershed. He was assigned by National Geographic to take photographs regarding excessive use of nitrates throughout agricultural operations around the world. Prior to his spending three days with me to photograph manure spreading on Amish farms in the Octoraro Watershed, he had just returned from New Zealand and China. Needless to say, the Amish culture does not permit pictures of them due to their religious beliefs. I was able to obtain permission for Mr. Essick to photograph on the farms of both of our Amish Liaisons as well as two additional locations. This is the photograph that was used in the magazine in May of this year. The entire issue was devoted to nitrate usage on farms throughout the world.
Photo-credit Peter Essick
In the 3 full days I accompanied Mr. Essick to photograph at these selected farms, he shot over 4,000 frames, edited them down and will share with us others in addition to this one. In this new digital age, he was able to have the farmers and their sons view all photos taken so that if there were any photos that showed their faces, he could immediately remove them from his camera. Mr. Essick has made a number of additional pictures available for OWA to use as long as we credit him. To have access to world class photographs of our Amish farmers in the watershed is an extremely unusual and special privilege.
517 Pine Grove Road Nottingham, PA 19362 717-529-2132 [email protected] www.theowa.org Officers President: Linda Swank Vice-President: Open Treasurer: Matt Kehoe Secretary: Pat Fasano Board Members Anders Alfelt Arba Henry Axel Linde Rupert Rossetti Ed Thayer Newsletter Editor: Rupert Rossetti [email protected] Octoraro TMDL—now in DRAFT form The Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection has published a draft of proposed Total Maximum Daily Loads (TMDLs) for impaired segments in the Octoraro Creek Watershed. You can find the document at www.ahs.dep.pa.gov/TMDL/ Quoting from the introduction: “Octoraro Creek is listed as impaired for nutrients and siltation from agriculture. The mainstem West Branch and East Branch Octoraro Creeks are listed for potable water supply impairments (nutrients). Many of the contributing tributaries are listed for aquatic life impairments (nutrients and siltation). The TMDLs address nitrate (potable water supply), phosphorus (nutrients – aquatic life), and siltation (aquatic life).” The Draft TMDLs identify load reduction targets for nitrate, phosphorus and sediment, at the subwatershed level. These load reductions must be achieved to meet the terms of the TMDLs. The load reduction targets will help us to more precisely tailor our work to individual sub-watersheds, and the TMDLs themselves should provide us with access to additional funding streams.
President’s Message Linda Swank, President It is with great regret that I report that John Shuman had to step down during the summer due to ill health and the Board has asked me to fill his remaining term. We wish John and his family all the very best and thank him for all of his work on our behalf, as President and as a subject matter expert on several of our projects. He is sorely missed. John’s OWA initiatives include the creation of a Strategic Plan, which will set our direction for the next 5 years. I’m pleased to announce that we are close to wrapping that up and I look forward to being able to share it with you in the spring. It includes plans for the agricultural and urban/residential sectors as well as outreach and education and financial sustainability. I hope you’ll help us to put them into action over the next few years.
Inside this issue: Rising Sun Trian- 2 gle Park Stormwater Wetland Installed! National Geo3 graphic Photographer Peter Essick visits the Octoraro Octoraro Draft TMDL
4
These plans will, in many ways, formalize work that we are already doing. On page 2, Rupert Rossetti reports on the successful completion of a stormwater wetland in Triangle Park in Rising Sun, MD. This will not only reduce the nutrients and sediment entering Stone Run, the local tributary, but also provide an outdoor education classroom for the local community. On page 3, Pat Fasano shares one of his more unusual Amish Farm visits with a National Geographic photographer. As you probably know, Pat spends up to three days a week visiting farmers along with Levi or David Fisher and has built up a remarkable level of trust , without which such a visit would not have been possible. Pat and John have also been able to use that trust to work with the farmers on the successful completion of Conservation Plans on 71 farms over the past 2 years with more underway. The Octoraro Total Maximum Daily Load (TMDL), reported on page 4, will enable us to focus our work on subwatersheds with the greatest need. This TMDL and the Baywide TMDL, which covers the entire Chesapeake Bay watershed from New York to Virginia ,are likely to be game changers as we move forward and we are factoring both of them into the Strategic Plan.
A special thank you to our corporate sponsors: Chester Water Authority, Econ Refuse Service and The Steinman Foundation for their generous support.
I hope these articles give you a good idea of what we have been working on for the past few months, and will also give you a look ahead. We can’t do it without you, so thank you for your contributions, membership dues, and your sponsorship support. We invite you to our annual meeting on April 17th at Black Rock Retreat, so please mark it on your calendar today. And please consider a year-end contribution, which is, of course, tax deductible. Thank you, and Happy Holidays!
Page 2
Newsletter Fall 2013 Rising Sun Triangle Park—Stormwater Wetland installed!
Newsletter Fall 2013
Page 3
National Geographic Photographer Peter Essick Visits the Octoraro Watershed Pat Fasano, Secretary Voted one of the top 20 nature photographers in the United State, Peter Essick recently gave OWA permission to use this photograph, one of over 4,000 that were taken when he completed a photo-shoot in our watershed. He was assigned by National Geographic to take photographs regarding excessive use of nitrates throughout agricultural operations around the world. Prior to his spending three days with me to photograph manure spreading on Amish farms in the Octoraro Watershed, he had just returned from New Zealand and China. Needless to say, the Amish culture does not permit pictures of them due to their religious beliefs. I was able to obtain permission for Mr. Essick to photograph on the farms of both of our Amish Liaisons as well as two additional locations. This is the photograph that was used in the magazine in May of this year. The entire issue was devoted to nitrate usage on farms throughout the world.
Photo-credit Peter Essick
In the 3 full days I accompanied Mr. Essick to photograph at these selected farms, he shot over 4,000 frames, edited them down and will share with us others in addition to this one. In this new digital age, he was able to have the farmers and their sons view all photos taken so that if there were any photos that showed their faces, he could immediately remove them from his camera. Mr. Essick has made a number of additional pictures available for OWA to use as long as we credit him. To have access to world class photographs of our Amish farmers in the watershed is an extremely unusual and special privilege.
517 Pine Grove Road Nottingham, PA 19362 717-529-2132 [email protected] www.theowa.org Officers President: Linda Swank Vice-President: Open Treasurer: Matt Kehoe Secretary: Pat Fasano Board Members Anders Alfelt Arba Henry Axel Linde Rupert Rossetti Ed Thayer Newsletter Editor: Rupert Rossetti [email protected] Octoraro TMDL—now in DRAFT form The Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection has published a draft of proposed Total Maximum Daily Loads (TMDLs) for impaired segments in the Octoraro Creek Watershed. You can find the document at www.ahs.dep.pa.gov/TMDL/ Quoting from the introduction: “Octoraro Creek is listed as impaired for nutrients and siltation from agriculture. The mainstem West Branch and East Branch Octoraro Creeks are listed for potable water supply impairments (nutrients). Many of the contributing tributaries are listed for aquatic life impairments (nutrients and siltation). The TMDLs address nitrate (potable water supply), phosphorus (nutrients – aquatic life), and siltation (aquatic life).” The Draft TMDLs identify load reduction targets for nitrate, phosphorus and sediment, at the subwatershed level. These load reductions must be achieved to meet the terms of the TMDLs. The load reduction targets will help us to more precisely tailor our work to individual sub-watersheds, and the TMDLs themselves should provide us with access to additional funding streams.
