Bryson Bechtel, left, of Scott Township, and Abigail Lawless, of South Abington Township, pull out Japanese knotweed together.
Ben Freda | For Abington Journal
Bailey Cooper, general manager of Tully’s, hauls away knotweed in the back of his truck.
Ben Freda | For Abington Journal
Jake Lawless, of South Abington Township, hammers a stake on the ground near the creek.
Ben Freda | For Abington Journal
Niko Berardi and Evan Skerel, both of Clarks Summit, clean up near the creek.
Ben Freda | For Abington Journal
Rachael Stark, left, partner/volunteer of Keep Northeastern PA Beautiful, and John Morrow, volunteer coordinator of Lackawanna Heritage Valley and Lackawanna County River Association, plant spice brush and nano berries.
Ben Freda | For Abington Journal
CLARKS SUMMIT — For the Society for Ecological Restoration’s Make a Difference Week (June 4-11), many project sponsors got together on Saturday, June 4, to restore Lansdowne Creek, which is located on Northern Boulevard. This undertaking was called Lansdowne Creek Riparian Stewardship Event.
Lackawanna Heritage Valley identified this creek as a source of pollution to Leggetts Creek and the Lackawanna River.
“Lansdowne Creek is a more polluted waterway because of how it’s positioned in the urban area,” said Paul Bechtel, member of the Lackawanna River Conservation Association/volunteer master watershed steward. “We’re trying to focus on efforts on restoring Lansdowne Creek because it’s going to have more impact on water quality further down on Leggetts Creek and Lackawanna River.”
Janet Sweeney, who works at Pennsylvania Environmental Council, also volunteered at the event as a master watershed steward. “It’s not just doing planting,” she said. “It’s (also) cleaning up river dump sites.”
Many project sponsors partnered with Lackawanna Heritage Valley to get rid of Japanese knotweed, an invasive plant species, which has an underground root system called rhizomes. “We can’t eradicate it but we can mitigate its growth,” said John Morrow, volunteer coordinator of Lackawanna Heritage Valley and Lackawanna County River Association. John explained that the knotweed has to be dug out, not pulled out. He also said that Lansdowne Creek is part of the Chesapeake Bay Foundation, which provides a portion of plants and supplies along with Keystone 10 Million Trees Partnership and Community Roots. “We have many partners that through various means facilitate this work,” said John.
The plants donated are native plants such as spice brush and nano berries, which provide food source for wildlife. “One of the key components of our work is to reestablish indigenous species that are beneficial with these projects,” said John.
Trout Unlimited volunteers once or twice a year to help with the planting in order to give shade to the fish. Rachael Stark, partner and volunteer of Keep Northeastern PA Beautiful, an affiliate of Keep America Beautiful, was thrilled to be involved when she found out about the partnership with this project.
“It perfectly matches up with our mission,” she said. “We were excited to help them (Lackawanna Heritage Valley) accomplish their project.” Bailey Cooper, general manager of Tully’s Restaurant, used his truck to haul away knotweed that was taken away from the creek.
“I’m happy to help,” he said. “It’s a nice change to see the creek not flood out every time we get rain.”
Volunteers also planted native saplings and live stakes to help stabilize the banks, provide riparian habitat, and assist with water filtration. “The wooden stakes were simply installed to help protect the newly planted saplings from flooding and to help us know where they are during maintenance like weed whacking,” said Paul.
