A3O-Lancaster Farming, Saturday, November 21, 1998 Lebanon Conservation District Praises Wengert’s Dairy VERNON ACHENBACH JR. Lancaster Fanning Staff MT GRETNA (Lebanon Co.) The Lebanon County Conservation District last week recognized outstanding efforts by individuals and businesses in the southeastern Pennsylvania county for work dohe to conserve natural resources. During its annual meeting and awards recognition event, held at the Timbers Restaurant in Mt. Gretna, District Director Charles Wertz and District Naturalist/ Forester Leigh Beamesderfer reviewed district activities and accomplishments for the past year. In the actual awards presenta tions, members of the district board of directors presented the awards, in some cases accompan ied by a slide presentation of some of the activities. A local dairy business, an Annville couple, a Union Canal Elementary School teacher, a South Londonderry Township landowner, and two special volun teers were recognized. Ciean Water Farm Award Wengert’s Dairy, a 67-year-old family dairy business (recently sold to the national Illinios-based Deans Foods Coip., but with retained local leadership and iden tity), was recognized with the dis trict’s Chesapeake Bay Clean Water Farm Award. The award was made to John B. Wengcrt, president, in recognition of Wengert’s Dairy’s fencing 8,000 linear feet of streambank from cattle, planting steam bank shade and erosion control trees, and constructing two catdc cross ings along the Snitz Creek. The creek bisects the 241 acres of farmland surrounding the dairy plant, located near the city of Lebanon. Wengert’s Dairy has long been recognized within the dairy regu latory industry and among con sumers, as achieving the highest quality dairy products. Wengert's (also produces the Graybill’s line of products) con tracts the production of more than 3 million pounds of milk per week from 71 dairy farms in Lebanon County and northern Lancaster County. Tenant farmers of the land sur- From the left, Jo Ellen Litz, Lebanon County commission er and district board member, presents thedistrict’s Educa tor of the Year award to Kathy Sattazahn. rounding Wengert’s plant, Dave Bomberger and Paul Miller, use a conservation plan revised in 1995 by the USDA’s Natural Resources Conservation Service. The plan includes a conserva tion cropping sequence, conserva tion tillage, and stripcropping. A herd of 40 heifers are pastured along the Snitz Creek. Late last year, Wengert’s com pleted the streambank fencing and cattle crossings through a state DeparUnent of Environmental Pro tection program. The project is important for sev eral reasons, not the least being the impacts to the Snitz Creek from upstream activities. The Snitz Creek has been a stocked trout stream for years. It used to cany an evident resident population of wild and carryover brown trout and it had several miles opened for public fishing and stocking by the state and local groups. For many years, between Wengert’s Daily and its Cornwall Mines headwaters, the lower sec tion of the stream had run through several dairy farms that didn’t use streambank fencing. The lower cattle stocking densi ties of those years, and the more or less stable flow of the stream characteristic of streams that receive significant contributions of flow from limestone springs even during storm events, helped prevent severe erosion of banks and the suffocating sedimentation of its pools, even with a lack of cattle fencing. But, especially during the 1970 s and early 1980 s, residential deve lopment on the stream’s upper floodplain was done without any stream-protecting stormwater con trols, or with protests coming too late to matter. In the upper reaches of the stream during those years, and to some extent since, residential land developers canalized and dredged the streambed, as well as removed sections of streambank, and con structed flood diversion dikes, in an effort to improve and accelerate flood-plain drainage. In addition to those activities, mostly designed to gain percola tion testing for home building, there had been some filling-in of spring seeps and wetlands as well, again in some cases to gain hous ing lots. Dr. Timothy Trayer and family are recognized as the Lebanon County District Land owners of the Year. From the left, Jeffrey Steckbeck presents the award to Dr. Timothy, son Troy, Debra, and daughter Amy Trayer. All of that flood plain activity has further added to the stormwa ter loading of the stream, increas ing the likelihood of damage to unprotected streambanks along the lower reaches. In all, the stream’s condition has deteriorated significantly since the early 19705. While fewer of the farms upstream ate without bank protec tion, fewer farms exist. The work done at Wengert's with 12 feet setback from the stream on both sides, along with the planting of gum, willow, and red maple trees has apparently already begun to stabilize the streambanks and improve conditions for aquatic and riparian wildlife. In addition, the work has added tremendously to the natural beauti fication of the Wengert’s Dairy site, increasingly surrounded by residential development Third generation president of the dairy, John B. Wengcrt, man ages the dairy with the same high standard that his grandfather Samuel K. Wcngert once did, according to Connie Hoffer, a dis trict board director, who with hus band Gerald, recently entered their owned South Annville Township farm into farmland preservation. The award was presented to Wengert’s Dairy by Connie Hoffer. The recipient, John B. Wengert, also has established in many ways, that he realizes the importance of preserving farmland and open space, according to Hoffer. He is actively involved in the local “Rail-to-Trails” endeavor. “A drive by Wcngert’s Dairy on Walnut Street exemplifies how industry, agriculture and the envi ronment can co-exist in harmony,” Hoffer said. Conservationists Of The Year David and Ann Lasky of Annvillc were named the county district’s Conservationists) of the Year. Betty Conner, also a Conserva tion District director, as well as involved with several other county and area conservation and educa tional programs, presented the award to the Laskys. Both of the Laskys have been intimately involved in organizing and carrying out efforts to improve the environmental and recreational conditions and quality of the Leba non County area. Work done by both involves watershed protections and From the left, Betty Conner, Lebanon Conservation Dis trict board member, presents the district’s Conservationist of the Year award to David and Ann Lasky. improvements for the Swatara Creek and the Quittapahilla Creek. The Swatara Creek Watershed comprises the bulk of Lebanon County, and the Swatara Creek is the larger- stream that empties directly into the Susquehanna River. The Quittapahilla Creek is a tri butary to the Swatara, and the main draining stream for the city of Lebanon, and the municipalities of West Lebanon, Cleona, and Annville. Other streams of concern which drain contiguous, highly residen tial municipalities, are tributaries to the Quittapahilla. Most of the aquifers and some adjoining land along the limestone spring-supplied streams in Leba non County have a long history of being mined for limestone for homes, barns, road and drainage fill materials, mix for concrete and for soil amendment. While the historically wealthy leaders of Lebanon County saw fit to make considerable donations of land for public parks (Coleman's Park, etc.), when those wealthy families lost control of their opera tions to global corporations, such public lands support began to dwindle. In the meantime, the county’s ratio of public land to public began to dwindle. Furthermore, locally elected leadership expressed little real commitment or desire to maintain ing public lands. Instead that lead ership has over the years moved to sell much of its public lands, espe cially some watershed lands, in order to temporarily achieve lower tax rates, or temporarily effect no tax increases. As a result, through attrition of public open space, formerly unde sirable areas have represented mostly last chance opportunities to regain some public lands for pas sive or individual recreation. Such a formerly undesirable area is located in the Borough of Annvillc a 23-acre abandoned limestone quarry operation that has become, through efforts, a recreational area the Quittapa hilla Creek Nature Park. Locally known in abbreviated form as “The Quittie Creek Nature Park,” the Laskys have been involved in its development and improvement, as well as being involved in the larger Swatara Creek Watershed Association (SCWA). Ann Lasky has been co-chair of the Quittie Creek Park Committee since its inception in 1989. She has helped to organize clea nups in the park, tree plantings. Earth Day walks, mulching of trails (with mulch provided by loc al tree trimmers), trail mainte nance, and educational school programs. The Quittapahilla Creek has suf fered long-term abuses from being used as a sacrifice stream for the wastes and storm water from the Lebanon city population; it was greatly considered a dead or offen sive stream because of the wastes supplied by the former Bethlehem Steel operations, Lebanon Steel and other foundaries and steel working industries, as well as other industrial and commercial (Turn to Page A3l)
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