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
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