EPCAMR is proud to announce its participation in the Collaborative Waterboxx Pilot Project, a partnership with the Appalachian Coal Country Team, the Western Hardrock Watershed Team, and Inquiring Systems, Inc. Through generous financial support provided by the Mental Insight Foundation, EPCAMR will plant and monitor 2 plots of trees using Groassis Waterboxxes over the next year. One plot of 20 additional native trees are anticipated to be planted at the site of the Huber Breaker Miner’s Memorial Park, a former abandoned mine lands brownfield location that fronts the historic Huber Coal Breaker, Ashley, PA, along 101 S. Main Street, which happens to also be directly adjacent to the EPCAMR Office. The Huber Breaker Park site already has 4o seedlings that are currently being monitored by EPCAMR’s Watershed Education Intern, Sarah-Jane Gerstman, a senior from Wilkes-University on a monthly basis. EPCAMR will receive $2000 for our continued research efforts on the planting plots at both locations.
The second plot 20 native seedlings that is planned is along a small tributary of the Solomon Creek, known by EPCAMR as Nockley’s tributary, based on their watershed assessment work completed on this impaired section of stream that feeds the main stem of Solomon Creek in Wilkes-Barre, PA. EPCAMR will be working with the local landowner, Frank Nockley, who’s brother Dave, owns Nockley’s Pharmacy, in Hanover Township, along S. Main Street to gain access to the site with his permission to improve the riparian corridor and habitat of the tributary, which is in need of stream restoration work. A small dedication ceremony is also going to be planned for the Nockley tributary location, in honor of Abe Coolbaugh, an avid hunter and fisherman, who grew up in the Wilkes-Barre Area. A small plaque in his name will be placed on one of the larger surrounding trees in the stream corridor thanks to a financial contribution from the South Wilkes-Barre Mini-Mohawks Football Program. EPCAMR will be putting out a call for Tree Planters for this project! If interested, please let us know.
Now on its second year, the Waterboxx Project is a three year research effort to study the effectiveness and value of the Groassis Waterboxx in various terrains, mine lands, and climates found in the mountainous regions of the United States. The Waterboxx, an ‘intelligent water incubator,’ produces and captures water from the air through condensation and rain, increasing survival prospects for tree seedlings planted in harsh environments. Monitoring will occur at the initial planting and continue once every month for a total of twelve (12) months. Each monitoring instance by EPCAMR will be as near to thirty (30) days apart as is reasonable feasible.
EPCAMR’s Waterboxx Project has an educational component or activity to it. The educational programs and tours that will be provided to local elementary schools in the Wilkes-Barre Area School District will educate students on native seedlings, stream restoration techniques, use of the Waterboxx technology, water conservation, and stream corridor restoration. These activities will allow EPCAMR to promote our goals/mission as well as clearly define the purpose of the project and its importance to the local community. More importantly, it will lay the foundation for future stewards of our environment.
For more information about volunteering, contact Robert E. Hughes, EPCAMR Executive Director at 570-371-3523 or rhughes@epcamr.org
The OSM/VISTA Teams are coalitions of change-minded grassroots-level watershed improvement groups determined to repair the environmental degradation left from pre-regulatory mining while creating economic stability needed in rural communities. The OSM/VISTA Teams are a partnership between the Office of Surface Mining and AmeriCorps VISTA. The ACCT sponsors 32 OSM/VISTAs throughout 7 states in the Appalachian Region and is headquartered in Beckley, WV. The WHWT sponsors 27 OSM/VISTAs across Colorado and New Mexico and is headquartered in Durango, CO.
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