Northampton Notes A Quarterly Newsletter of the Northampton County Conservation District Volume # 16 Spring 2016 Issue # 2 2016 Envirothon: Dedicated in Memory of Chryss Buchman This year’s 19th annual Northampton County Envirothon was dedi- cated to our beloved District Manager, Chryss Buchman, whose sudden passing in April has saddened us all. The competition was held on April 28, 2016 at Louise Moore Park. Chryss had been involved with the Envirothon competition for 25 years, both in Lehigh and Northampton Counties; it was a program that she truly believed in. She was a strong leader and caring person but most of all a great friend and she will be greatly missed. All at- tendees of the 2016 Northampton County Envirothon were asked to wear a green ribbon in remembrance of Chryss, to show their support to the staff, as well as Chryss’ family. A few members of Chryss’ family were able to join us for the awards ceremony where the District presented a commemorative award. District staff also prepared a memorial display which incorporated pictures showing Chryss in her element with the Conservation District, in- cluding Erosion and Sedimentation control field inspections, educational programs, teacher workshops, and Envirothons. Bangor Area High School’s Team #Maroon again swept the 2016 Memorial display prepared by NCCD staff competition and finished first at the event! The Team — Christian Sieg- fried, Michael Reduzzi, Matt Lucas, Madison Collins, Noah Horne — took the 1st place award by obtaining the highest cumulative score of the day. Bangor Area High School’s Team #White placed second, and Freedom High School Team #1 placed third. Each winning team was awarded a plaque, medals and other prizes. The Envirothon is an environmental competition for students in grades 9 through 12 that focuses on five environmental and natural resource categories: Wildlife, Forestry, Soils and Land Use, Aquatic Ecology and a current environmental issue. The current issue for 2016 was Invasive Species: A Challenge to the Environment, Economy and Society. This year, seven schools again competed with a total of 13 teams. Competing schools included Bangor Area High School, Bethlehem Catholic High School, Freedom High School, Moravian Academy, Nazareth Area High School, Northampton Area High School and Pen Argyl Area High School. The competition, which exposes students and their teachers to study materials and experiences beyond the classroom, included written exams and hands-on activities that were developed by soil scientists, aquatic biologists, foresters, wildlife managers and natural resource professionals. Following the testing, Jeff Mucklin, of Nurture Nature Center, provided an educational presentation on “Creative Solutions to Environmental Challenges” for the participants. In memory of our beloved manager, Chryss Buchman, the Dis- trict presented a new award “The Chryss Buchman Memorial Current Issue Award” to Northampton Area High School Team #1 for having highest non- placing score at the Current Issue Station. Bangor Area High School Team #Maroon represented Northampton County at the Pennsylvania Envirothon on May 24 and 25, at Susquehanna Bangor Area High School Team Maroon University and Camp Mount Luther where sixty-five teams of high school Envirothon winners students competed at this year’s event. Our team placed 15th overall with a score of 418.3 out of a possible 600. The District is so proud of our team, great job guys! Continued on Page 3 Hydromania 2016 On May 12, 2016 District staff members Nathan Prichard and Kristina Maurer, along with volunteers Helen Maurella and Ryan Heaney, attended the 2016 Hydromania. The event held by the Lehigh Valley Water Suppliers Inc., hosted more than 1,150 3rd and 4th graders with the intent of teaching them about their local watershed through crafts, lessons and activities. Various Lehigh and Northampton County agencies were invited to attend and run an event of their choice. The NCCD team held an erosion relay race to teach the children about weathering, erosion, and deposition. The children were able to act as river water, moving stones from one side of the course to the other. The event and activity were a huge success! Upcoming Act 48 Teacher Workshop The NCCD will be offering an Act 48 continuing education workshop for teachers titled: “Schoolyard and Backyard Conservation: What Can You Do?” The workshop will be held at the NCCD Office in Nazareth on Thursday, October 20, 2016 from 8:00AM to 4:00PM and will provide teachers with seven Professional Development Activity Hours. The workshop will aim to increase awareness of and concern for water quality issues and to encourage applica- tion of simple “on the ground” practices at the individual level to protect valuable surface and ground waters. The pro- gram will introduce local educators to stormwater management, non-point source pollution control, and environmental conservation practices on an individual level. Information, literature and techniques, delivered through hand-on activi- ties, will be provided to the educators to be replicated in their classrooms for students’ awareness and implementation in their own schoolyards and backyards. It should be a fun-filled, educational day. Hope you can join us in October. The workshop flyer will be going out in September for registration, however, please feel free to call and pre- register to reserve your seat now if you are interested. The class size is restricted to twenty educators. Financial and other support for this project is provided by the Pennsylvania Association of Conservation Dis- tricts, Inc. through a grant from the Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection under Section 319 of the Clean Water Act, administered by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency. Conservation District Partners with WCLV & Master Watershed Stewards for Upcoming Projects The Conservation District is partnering with the Watershed Coalition of the Lehigh Valley (WCLV) and the Penn State Extension Master Watershed Steward program on upcoming rain garden construction and signage projects. Also part- nering on these efforts are Plainfield Township, Pen Argyl Borough, and the Appalachian Mountain Club. These projects will be partially funded by a grant awarded to WCLV by the Delaware and Lehigh National Heritage Corridor mini-grant program. Rain gardens are currently being planned and designed for Plainfield Township’s municipal building, as well as Pen Argyl’s borough hall. The WCLV and the conservation district’s watershed specialist are working with both municipal- ities to design gardens that will not only be practical improvements to the buildings, but also serve as demonstration models of best management practices to members of the public. The municipalities will be assisting in construction, and design and maintenance will be provided by Master Watershed Stewards with support from NCCD and the WCLV. Construction on these projects is planned to begin in late summer/early fall. In addition to the rain gardens, a green-roof retrofit demonstra- tion project is planned at a location yet to be determined. These gardens are an excellent example of a naturalized method for handling stormwater. For those unfamiliar with them, a rain garden is a shallow, planted depression designed to capture runoff and help it infiltrate into the soil and transpire via vegetation. Often, a layer of gravel or other porous soil is placed underneath the garden to further increase its infiltration capacity. The gardens not only act as a stormwater management practice, but also offer an opportunity to plant native grasses, flowers, and shrubs. In addition to the rain garden and green roof projects, a moveable informational display focused on the Monocacy Creek Watershed will be developed and installed at Illick’s Mill in Bethlehem. Master Watershed Stewards will be coordi- nating with the Appalachian Mountain Club, whose regional offices are based at Illick’s Mill, and NCCD staff for design and construction. Early plans for the display are to have it include not only educational information, but also serve as a place to announce upcoming events in the watershed. Farmland Preservation Update - Submitted by Northampton County Farmland Preservation We would like to welcome Ryan Shaw to the Farmland Preservation Team. Ryan joined the team on March 28, 2016. Ryan has an extensive background in forestry, working as a private consultant for 8 years. He graduated from Penn State with a degree in Forest Science and has a great background in many of the skills required for the Farmland Preservation Technician. Many of you had met and worked with Barbara Martucci, our former Technician. She has since moved on to a different greener pas- ture, working with our county parks department. Ryan has hit the ground running, literally, as the 2nd week he was here we began our spring inspections. So if you see us out and about, stop us to say “Hello” and introduce yourself to Ryan. Our spring 2016 Northampton County update has us currently with162 farms preserved on 14,409.07 acres. Thirteen farms are in the process from our 2015 application round, and will be closing by the end of the year. As a result of the implementation of the Township Partnership Program, an additional 3 farms will be preserved in Plainfield Township and 4 will be preserved in Moore Township. We will also be able to preserve three farms in Upper Mount Bethel Township this year and a portion of one farm locat- ed in Lower Mount Bethel Township. Therefore, the Township Partnership Program—will allow us to preserve an additional 720 acres. We had 13 qualified application for the 2016 application period. All applicants have been approached and are eligible to par- ticipation in the preservation program. Annual inspections of preserved farms are in the process of being completed. Due to several rain events this spring and a limited ground freeze this winter, many farms sustained damage from erosion. A few farms also experienced significant runoff.