A26-Lancaster Farming, Saturday, May 16, 1998
Lebanon Youth
(Continued from Page A 23)
looking" stream hanks.
Historically, when natural areas
were dominant, removing "nature"
provided a "safe" area for humans.
Also, there has been a past use of
strict engineering solutions to local
stream flooding problems
channeling and diking.
However, it resulted in
increased flood damage downs
tream, and more extreme dryness
of flood plains, wetlands and
uplands during drought.
After more than 200 years of
agricultural production and heavy
industry, many of the streams in
the southeastern region of the state
(that includes Lebanon County),
have had their slopes and courses
altered dramatically to accomo
date farming, as well as industry,
transportation, steam water runoff,
and other land uses.
In more recent rimes, as streams
began to recover from the effects
of many mill dams, canal dams,
and bank changes, some post
-1950s teal estate developers have
removed vast expanses of riparian
forests along stream hanks and
even more recently have altered
many of the upland headwaters of
tributaries.
Tributary health and integrity
arc the most important insurances
to continued health of a main
watercourse.
For Lebanon County, the main
stream in its valley is the Swatata
Creek, and the Quittapahilla Creek
is its largest tributary.
The stream had been sorely pol
luted for years, mainly from
industrial toxins and wastes. It was
also tendered biologically imparcd
by uncontrolled Lebanon City
storm water runoff (which
continues).
Up until recently, most of the
tributary streams had good to
excellent water quality, and many
supported at least marginal popu
lations of wild trout, and a wide
variety of fishes.
Because of the loss of heavy
industry in Lebanon City, as well
as improved community waste
water treatment, the Quittapahilla
Creek water quality has improved
dramatically in the past 20 years.
In the meantime, almost every
one of its tributaries has had its
quality reduced somewhat signif
icantly, though not necessarily
permanently.
There has been a long history of
ignored knowledge about the ben
efits to a stream and its water qual
ity by ensuring adequate stream
bank planting and retaining adequ-
For Installed \ \ \ \
STANDING SEAM ROOFING \ \ \ \
contact \ \ \ \
STRICKLER METAL \\ \ \
ROOFING \ \ \ \
717-865-3093 \\\\
or 610-488-9303 \ \ \ \
Specializing in double crimp standing seam
Available In
prefinished in 20 + Colors
Galvalume - Galvanized - Tern - Etc.
FREE ESTIMATES
Work Approx. 80 Mile Radius of Lebanon, Pa.
595 E. Rehrersburg Rd., Bethel, PA 19507
ate headwater sources such as
wetlands and upland zones.
Streambank planting can pro
vide shade, help retain and
improve streambank integrity, and
provide habitat and food for vari
ous organisms, many of which
have life-cycles that include part of
their life in water, and the other
part in the riparian zone.
While political forces are build
ing behind the concept that the
main problem with water quality in
the Chesapeake Bay is because
farms are dumping excessive
amounts of nutrients into water
courses, another more scientifical
ly sound concept, if not more com
plete, is that other activities that
cause historically excessive flood
ing and drying have destroyed
much of the nutrient-using abilities
of streams, the Susquehanna River
and the Chesapeake.
While there is no question that
some agricultural operations arc
such that nutrients flowing off the
farm are stressing stretches of
streams, what is begining to grow
in acceptance it the acknowledge
ment that the destruction of aquatic
habitat has signficantly reduced
the amount of life along and in
watercourses that naturally con
sume and filter nutrients.
Some suggest that, should the
ship-ballast water-introduced zeb
ra mussel become established
throughout the Susquehanna and
the brackish areas of the Chesa
peake, the nutrient problem would
be solved, but an environmental
nightmare begun.
The mussel is in the upper Sus
quehanna River. There are no
controls.
A healthy aquatic community,
which includes its upland areas
and lower elevation streambanks,
can be assumed to assimilate a fair
ly large volume of nutrients com
pared to a stream that, except for
the name, has been reduced to a
drainage ditch.
Beck Creek, albeit small in
comparison to many streams, and
short in total length, can be
expected to receive many benefits
from die tree planting.
Increased shade can help pre
serve stream temperatures and pre
vent deadly summer extremes.
Though few sources cite specif
ics of the interdependency and
interrelationships between land
and water environs, and the plants
and animals along a stream, they
arc evident.
Aquatic insects such as mayflies
and caddis flies require stteamsidc
vegetation in order to successfully
complete their life cycle.
A mayfly egg is laid in water,
and the young generally spend a
year in the stream, feeding on vari
ous plant and/or bacterial and fun
gal materials.
After maturing to a certain
stage, the immature mayfly comes
to the surface of the water where it
emerges into a flying insect.
If it survives being eaten by fish,
or birds or frogs or some other pre
dator, the flying mayfly then
requires streamside trees and
shrubs on which to land and hide,
for it has one mote stage to get to
before it can reproduce.
The flying mayfly changes one
more time into a reproductive
stage. It changes while clinging to
a streamside plant, usually hidden
under a leaf or under a small stem
or twig. Then, after drying off and
the tight time arrives (usually all
within a day), it flies out to the
middle of a stream where it may or
may not meet a mate.
Many arc eaten by birds, bats
and fish as they tty to lay enough
eggs back into the stream to sustain
the population for one mote year.
(Many times they seem to fly
slightly upstream to lay eggs.
Since eggs wash downstream with
the water before clinging onto
something in the streambed, some
consider this is a way for some
mayflies to keep rcpopulating the
same stretch of stream.)
This is the wonder of a healthy
stream. It makes sense.
Should a heavy load of manure
overtake a stream once, it can injur
it, though the effects generally are
temporary.
If the trees are all cut from the
stream bank, and the bed straight
ened, and if the banks are grazed
down or turned into a lawn, the
effects are more permanent than
the humans who do it
It can no longer assimilate the
nutrient load it gets, much less
additional accidental %pills. What
doesn’t get used, gets passed on
downstream, or buried in the
sediment
In another example of the inter
dependency, deciduous forest
streams as Beck Creek can be
assumed to be in its natural
state benefit during the winter
and early spring from the lack of
leaves.
Sunlight during winter is short
duration and at a much lower angle
than during summer. He light
allowed to penetrate into the
stream helps provide energy for
MARTIN’S TIRE & ALIGNMENT
plants such as algea to use the
nutrients deposited from leaf fall
and from usual late fall and spring
storm water.
Those algea are then food for
bacteria, insects and young post
hatching fish, which are food for
larger insects, fish, birds and ani
mals, etc.
Those algea, and other life
forms that used the nutrients and
sunlight to grow, tie up nutrients
into the food chain of that stream.
Even algea that aren’t consumed
can remain in the food chain. Some
get washed onto a flood plain dur
ing high water and can attatch to
tree bark or other plant structure
along the plain, and the nutrients
tied up in it consequently can be
used again locally, not in the Bay.
Later in the year, after leaves
appear, the sunlight is filtered, the
air around the stream is protected
and humidity preserved, and water
temperatures are more stabilized,
and can be maintained closer to the
ground water temperature of 52 to
55 degrees.
Trout, for example, die if water
temperatures get into the mid to
high 70s. They are not the only
species intolerant of extreme
temperatures.
If the leaves do not appear, the
continued sunlight during summer
can easily drive water tempera
tures close to air temperatures
in the 80s to 90s.
This is especially so in heavily
grazed pastures with unprotected
banks.
Without the trees and shrubs, a
stream can quickly become shal
low and wide, and very quickly
summer water temperatures can
shoot above tolerable levels for the
aquatic life.
All it takes is one day out of the
year few water temperatures to be
driven high enough to 101 l most
existing stream life.
The result is an almost sterile
stream.
For species, such as trout, with
out restocking, it could mean the
permanent loss of the species to
that stream, all because of one day
of high water temperatures, which
is all because there were no trees or
shrubs, all because the trees and
shrubs were cut down for whatever
reason.
Biologists use the term “bio
mass" to describe the amount of
organic, generally living material,
in an environmental system.
A system with little relative bio
mass is generally considered hos
tile to life, while one that has com
paratively large amounts of bio
mass is considered healthy for life.
Just as people describe the beau
ty of a rain forest in terms of its
diversity and bulk of life forms
from top of forest to bottom, a
healthy stream has the same
attributes.
The trees the youth planted were
not raised specifically for stream
side planting, though some species
were well suited.
All species should grow well
and provide beauty and benefits to
the stream, according to Paul
Troutman.
The tree types included were
sweet gum, red oak, white oak,
silver maple, red maple, green ash
and river birch.
, as. The shrubs included hollys,
dogwoods, chokeberry and
arrowwood.
According to Wolfgang, in
addition to the tree species made
available from DCNR, were a few
leftovers from the district tree sale,
particularly hybrid poplar, white
pine and Norway spruce.
Wolfgang said the project was
made possible through a Chesa
peake Bay mini-education grant of
$750 (the maximum allowed),
which was used to purchase the
500 “white stick** tree shelters.
He said Farmer Boy Ag of
Myerstown also was essential to its
success, providing 500 Stakes to
support the shelters and seedlings.
Though the Lebanon Conserva
tion District is done for the year
with streamside planting, there are
plans being developed now for
projects next year.
Those landowners and teachers
interested in participating in next
year’s projects should call Wolf
gang at (717) 272-3908.
For those concerned about the
plastic shelters, district employees
will remove them and monitor
them. The landowner is primarily
responsible for maintenance of the
‘stream bank plantings thereafter.