Our update last November reported on the beginning of the dam removal and stream channel regrading. Preserve visitors and readers of Landmarks will know that our excellent contractor, Flyway Excavating, completed the construction work in mid-December. It’s time for an update on the status and next steps!
The useful Chester County GIS website Chescoviews. (https://arcweb.chesco.org/CV4/) has just posted an update to its basemaps so we can see aerial views of the site before and after the project. The photo from March of 2023 vividly shows the eroded by pass ditch and the narrow north wall containing the pond.
The next photo, dated September 2023, but in fact taken after December 2023, shows the stream channel meandering through the site, the stone riffle designed for grade control and passage of trail mowing equipment, and the matting which stabilizes the site until it is planted. The stream channel looks full in this photo, and indeed it has proved very stable despite the extreme rain of recent months.
The project was made possible with grants from Chester County and the Valley Creek Trustee Council. The Administrator of the latter program, Jeff Schmid, of the PA Fish and Boat Commission, came from his Bellefonte office to inspect the project. A photo with Preserve Manager Greg Sprissler (on the left) offers a ground level view from downstream.
We have been talking with contractors and granting agencies about the next steps. Our approach is guided by the Pennsylvania Wildlife Action Plan, which is designed to improve the scientific basis for making conservation decisions, with special emphasis on wildlife species of greatest conservation concern, specifically birds. For our site, the Plan and our birding community friends suggest habitat that favors Wood thrush and related species including Kentucky warbler, Ovenbird and Worm-eating warbler. In order to create a habitat large enough to make a difference, we will not only plant the newly graded area with a mix of herbaceous plants, shrubs and trees, but we will also replace three acres of invasive bush honeysuckle downstream of that site. If all goes well, particularly with our grant applications, the work will be completed in the Fall.
We are hoping that this project site can become a “restoration laboratory” for all residents to experience according to their interests. Those good with computers can help analyze the data from the monitoring equipment we will be setting up. There will be opportunities to plant many trees and shrubs, and to help with fencing. And we hope residents can stop by and learn from the planned site tours. Stay tuned!
The removal of the dam widened and deepened the stream channel upstream of the project site, which made it more difficult to step across the water at the foot of the new trail from the parking lot. Eagle Scout candidate Mats Michlitsch and his team from the Paoli 1 troop came to the rescue with a sturdy boardwalk. Visitors can now gratefully keep their shoes dry!
This project is a great example of the wide-ranging benefits provided by OLC’s long-standing partnership with scouting and the Eagle Scout program. The list of Eagle projects is a very long one (bridges, kiosks, fences, erosion control structures, trail construction, tree planting, etc.!) and we are very grateful indeed to all the scouts and their families.