Maria Gereda, Kingston, PA  from the Wyoming Valley, and Dennis Dukinas, Dallas, PA, from the Back Mountain, both natives of Luzerne County, will be hosted and supervised by EPCAMR until the end of December 2025 to work with us to provide volunteer services to add some capacity to the organization starting yesterday.

Bobby Hughes, EPCAMR Executive Director exclaimed, “We are thrilled to have both of these environmental and conservation professionals join us for the 20 plus weeks through the end of the year to assist us with a number of direct service projects that we currently have underway with a limited staff, who have the passion and commitment to follow through on a number of our awarded grants and professional services throughout the EPCAMR Region.”

Bobby went on to say, “I can’t say enough about Conservation Legacy, OSMRE, and especially AmeriCorps (State and National) and AmeriCorps VISTA and their support for our work. April Elkins Badtke has been a long-time friend and colleague for over 2 decades when the original Appalachian Coal Country Watershed Team was formed to provide similar support to non-profit environmental organizations that were and are still working in coal country up and down the Appalachian Mountain Range. She is a consummate professional at Conservation Legacy who never has had a problem responding to my emails or messages at all hours of the night or on weekends and listening to my concerns about AmeriCorps and the funding cuts that we had to endure several months ago. We currently have Morgan Romanowski, Scott Township, Lackawanna County working with us through the end of September 2025 to finish up her year term as an AmeriCorps (State and National) volunteer fellow GIS Watershed Outreach Specialist and Mark Jones, who initially was an Energy Community Assistance Program (ECAP) Community Development Coordinator volunteer with AmeriCorps VISTA, who had to placed into Conservation Legacy’s AmeriCorps VISTA Program. He will be volunteering with us until the end of December 2025.”

Maria will continue her work with EPCAMR as a GIS Watershed Outreach Specialist through the Stewards Individual Placement Program. In her new role, she will help promote food security by encouraging the creation of community gardens in coalfield communities and working with local organizations to plant, maintain, and harvest them as one project that EPCAMR has already started on with the distribution of biodegradable Waterboxxes from Groasis that we have been giving away for free to groups that are interested. Community gardens were very common in what were called “patches” in the coal towns around the Anthracite and Bituminous regions. She will also support affordable housing development by advocating for new housing developments to consider being built on reclaimed abandoned mine lands. She will also continue to engage and assist with  environmental education experiences for students in school districts throughout the region that are under the poverty level.

Dennis and Maria are “kicking for macroinvertebrates on Little Shickshinny Creek in Shickshinny Borough as a part of our Coldwater Heritage Conservation Plan where we are developing a watershed assessment for the Shickshinny Creek Watershed and Paddy and Rocky Run.

Bobby said, “Maria, a Luzerne County native, from Kingston, PA in the Wyoming Valley, joined EPCAMR just two months ago as a part-time Summer Watershed GIS Outreach and Education Intern. In that short time, she has gained a wide range of hands-on experience that will serve her well in her expanding role. She was a natural fit for this longer term position that could give her full-time hours under this program.” 

During her internship, Maria earned a certification in the Non-Tidal Streams Protocol through the North Atlantic Aquatic Connectivity Collaborative (NAACC). She worked closely with EPCAMR Staff to scan and catalog both surface and underground mine maps for the Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection’s Mine Subsidence Insurance Program. She also participated in field watershed assessments, surveying bridges and culverts across the Shickshinny Creek, Paddy Run, and Rocky Run tributaries in the southern Wyoming Valley—work that directly supports EPCAMR’s ongoing watershed assessment efforts in the Northern Anthracite Coal Fields funded by the PA American Water Charitable Foundation and the PA Council of Trout Unlimited‘s Coldwater Heritage Planning grant program. 

Maria also contributed to community outreach by assisting with water quality monitoring, stream flow measurements, and abandoned mine drainage (AMD) evaluations. She also helped engage local youth in environmental learning during educational events like tie-dye workshops. Her professional network has expanded by attending conferences, including the Abandoned Mine Pools as Beneficial Resources event at Bucknell University and the 2025 ARIPPA Annual Conference.

EPCAMR Staff conducted an AMD Tie Dye T-shirt Workshop for PA Inclusive in Pittston with our recycled iron oxide pigment. Dennis assisted Morgan Romanowski, Mark Jones, and Bobby Hughes in putting on the workshop for the youth and adults.

In addition, Maria will contribute to the development of “land that channels rainfall” resource maps, combining data on demographics, economic indicators, and workforce development with information on local trade schools and community colleges. She will conduct short community surveys and polls via EPCAMR’s social media platforms, update and expand the EPCAMR Partnership Database across 16 counties within our region alone, with our Community Development Coordinator Mark Jones, and will assist in identifying grant opportunities and other organizations and foundations that might be suitable for preparing future grant applications. Her work as well and Dennis’s work will be closely aligned with the goals and objectives laid out by EPCAMR’s Strategic Planning and Education/Science Committees.

Currently enrolled in an online GIS course through Austin Community College, Maria is eager to apply what she’s learning to the real-world challenges facing Pennsylvania’s coalfield communities. Her passion, commitment, and growing expertise make her a valuable asset to EPCAMR’s mission of revitalizing the region through education, outreach, sustainable redevelopment of our abandoned mine lands, and restoration of our watersheds impacted by abandoned mine drainage (AMD).

Maria participated in an AMD Tour in Schuylkill County with EPCAMR where she was able to visit the infamous “Ashland Fountain”, which is a constantly overflowing AMD discharge from the Bast and Continental Collieries that drains to the Mahanoy Creek watershed as explained by Bobby Hughes, EPCAMR Executive Director.

Dennis Dukinas, Dallas, PA, in the Back Mountain of Luzerne County is currently completing my final course at Bloomsburg University, where he is finishing his degree in Environmental, Geological, and Geographic Sciences with a Minor in Hydrology.

Bobby shared that “Throughout his academic career, he has gained valuable hands-on experience both outdoors as an Eagle Scout and indoors, working with Geographic Information Systems (GIS) desktop environments. He has already used mapping technologies such as ArcGIS Pro and ERDAS Imagine remote sensing imagery and software to create various hypothetical scenarios in college and now gets to take those lessons learned from the hypothetical to the real world watersheds that EPCAMR works in throughout the coalfields. His experience already includes georeferencing, story mapping, census data analysis, and using tools like ArcGIS Pro Online’s ModelBuilder. He already has earned certifications through ArcGIS Online and holds a Watershed Management Training Certification. He’s also already received a free Aquatic Organism Protocol Training from EPCAMR while a volunteering two weeks before his official internship from NAACC. Maria already has this Certificate as well, however, both of them have to assess 20 culverts and or bridges before they can become a field Lead Observer.”

In his role as a GIS Watershed Outreach Specialist, prior to his start today, he’s already gained valuable experience assessing water quality, conducting visual habitat assessments, identifying, counting, and classifying macroinvertebrates as a part of the biological assessment monitoring EPCAMR conducts for our watersheds assessments, and he’s learned how to use our field photometer and YSI Multi-parameter probe already to perform chemistry tests in-stream. He will be involved in a number of projects that were highlighted by Bobby Hughes on their first day of orientation, along with some training provided to them in EarthVision, where they will be helping to digitize mine maps for another project of ours in the Bear Creek Watershed, Dauphin County and creating 3D surface and underground mine pool models to help us calculate volumetrics of water and coal remaining a region of the Southern Anthracite Coalfields. 

Bobby joked with Dennis before this week to get as much sleep in over the Holiday Weekend because he will be shifting from volunteering a few days a week to a full 40 hours a week through the end of the year. “He was in this morning ready to go and get some administrative paperwork out of the way, hear about the myriad of projects that we are going to be working on, work on his background article notes for this release, and to begin his initial training on EarthVision with Mike. I’m really looking forward to the energy, enthusiasm, willingness to jump in and learn from the Staff about all of important work in the region and the value that their efforts are going to have in the communities that we are working in that we have maintained positive, trusting relationships with, for nearly 3 decades.”

Michael Hewitt, EPCAMR Program Manager and Frank Sindaco, GIS Watershed Outreach Specialist is teaching Maria and Dennis how to use our field monitoring equipment at the Askam AMD Maelstrom Oxidizer Treatment System on Earth Conservancy’s property along Dundee Road in the Nanticoke Creek watershed.

The post EPCAMR Hosts 2 Stewards Individual Placement Program (SIPP) GIS Watershed Outreach Specialist AmeriCorps (State and National) Interns Administered by Conservation Legacy through the end of December 2025 appeared first on epcamr.org.

Schematic of a Waterboxx

Robert planting a Waterboxx at the Espy Run AMD Treatment System on Earth Conservancy property, located in Hanover Township, on an formerly abandoned mine land problem area that has been reclaimed.

Eastern Pennsylvania Coalition for Abandoned Mine Reclamation (EPCAMR) will serve as the lead regional environmental non-profit organization from the Northern Anthracite Coalfields that will undertake, coordinate, monitor, research, report, conduct education and outreach into the communities served in the region on the EPCAMR Waterboxx Collaborative, and recruit its existing volunteer base and existing coalition of watershed organizations and other reclamation related partners to plant trees on various mining, vacant lands, at mine drainage treatment facilities, abandoned mine lands, public, State, County, or community parks within the coalfields, along riparian corridors in the watersheds worked in, and around underserved schools in areas where reforestation, streetscape, and shade tree canopy cover establishment could be undertaken and easily maintained throughout the course of the project.

The Appalachian Regional Reforestation Initiative (ARRI) will facilitate and assist with the design, implementation and analysis of this pilot phase experiment using Groasis Waterboxxes.  ARRI’s foresters will provide quality control on all proposed planting activities including site preparation, tree planting, Waterboxx installation and monitoring.  ARRI Science Team (http://arri.osmre.gov/) will continue to provide layout, design and advice regarding the experiments undertaken.  ARRI would continue to assess the potential for the Waterboxx technology within the overall goals and objectives of their mandate for reforestation and restoration parameters and programs to determine if and how this technology can be integrated into ARRI operations and activities going forward.

EPCAMR will be looking to work once again with the Appalachian Coal Country Team (ACCT) to provide direct assistance with the Waterboxx research that initially funded the Phase I and Phase II of the research project that enabled EPCAMR to plant seedlings on abandoned mine lands over the last two years.

Bridgemont Sustainability Institute (BSI)– The BSI Advisory Council intends to begin the process of conducting research into the establishment of job training curriculum and small business enterprise development.  This effort will be conducted within an emerging network of community-based programs that emphasize the training and job-related practice for sustainability practitioners/advocates in West Virginia and that this educational practice will be an important role for the nascent Bridgemont Sustainability Institute. BSI shall develop their plans in conjunction with the actual results that are achieved within the experiments that are underway and that will be conducted and will be connecting to and engaging with appropriate partners to accomplish that set of objectives. Depending on the outcomes that are expected but yet to be confirmed, BSI would initiate and develop related and appropriate workforce development training that are likely to include small business planning, customer service training, specialized skills training (to carry out the work of the business enterprise), etc. and be carried out by BCTC faculty or adjunct faculty recruited by us.   BSI continues to be committed to the overall project objectives and has agreed to participate in the promotion of the Waterboxx project through Phase II and within the aforementioned sustainability network. BSI would begin preliminary research related to workforce development initiatives around building the Waterboxxes with biodegradable materials.

Expanded Reforestation and Ecosystem Restoration Experiment Design Description

EPCAMR will further examine this expanded reforestation and ecosystem restoration experiment to assess and evaluate the viability, practicality, usefulness and cost effectiveness associated with improving the survivability and sustainability of a variety of indigenous and ecosystem compatible native Pennsylvania tree species that are associated with the reforestation requirements and enhanced resiliency of the ecosystems and diverse environmental landscapes in which these experiments will be conducted.

EPCAMR will provide a summary of what we’ve deemed the successes, problems, and sometimes failures of the completed Phase I and Phase II experiments that have already been conducted over the last two years at two site locations where a total of 34 Waterboxxes had been placed for research under previous grant awards by the ACCT.

Project Site 1 is the Huber Miner’s Memorial Park, Ashley, PA, Luzerne County, a former grayfields abandoned mine site on a 3 acre parcel of abandoned mine lands that was a part of the former Huber Coal Corporation Colliery that is now being converted into a public community park being undertaken by the Huber Breaker Preservation Society and EPCAMR, along with a host of other local project supporters and contributing community volunteers. This site had the notoriety of being the location of the last coal breaker standing in the Northern Anthracite Appalachian Coal Fields until earlier this year when it was torn down and sold for  its value in scrap metal by a scrap metal recycling company out of the Philadelphia area, Paselo Logistics. The Project was under the direction of Robert E. Hughes, EPCAMR Executive Director, and Ray Clarke, Chairman and Treasurer of the Huber Breaker Preservation Society, along with the ACCT Raven 5 NCCC Team, and Charlie Jones, Eagle Scout Candidate, Swoyersville, PA, who was awarded the esteemed honor following the completion of the project with Troop #154.

2 Waterboxxes planting with fruit trees at the Huber Miner’s Memorial Park in Ashley, PA.

Project Site 2 is the Espy Run Abandoned Mine Drainage Treatment System, Hanover Township, PA, Luzerne County, a former abandoned mine land property owned by the Earth Conservancy, that has worked closely with EPCAMR to design and construct a passive wetlands AMD Treatment System to treat the Espy Run mine drainage discharge that would otherwise flow into Espy Run, a tributary to the Nanticoke Creek, untreated, if it were not for the construction of this treatment system. EPCAMR monitors this AMD Treatment System for the Earth Conservancy frequently throughout the year and it has been easy to monitor the 14 Waterboxxes that were placed by the Boy Scouts of America Troop #154 and EPCAMR. The Project was under the direction of Robert E. Hughes, EPCAMR Executive Director, and Joe Del Santo, Eagle Scout candidate, Dallas, PA, from the same Troop that worked on Project Site 1, a year earlier, who was awarded the esteemed honor following the completion of the project with his Troop.

7 Waterboxxes can be seen in this photo at the Espy Run AMD Treatment System on Earth Conservancy property located in Hanover Township, PA.

The results of initial Phase I and Phase II experiments by EPCAMR and our partners have, to date, been very positive, with a few setbacks, in terms of seedling mortality, cracked Waterboxxes, intensive deer browsing, lack of growth of pine seedlings due to sandy backfilled soils, Winter snowfalls caused breakage in the seedling heights, and accidental damage to a few Waterboxxes by a careless excavator operator from an adjacent property owner at the Huber Memorial Park location occurred.

However, EPCAMR affirms that the growth of the seedlings in the majority of the Waterboxxes have been successful and are thriving, making them a practical, cost effective and fully functional tree planting enhancement that are capable of achieving the following objectives:

1. To expand the ecosystem specific planting and growing experiments at new selected sites reflective of the type of soil and environmental conditions that could benefit from the use of the Waterboxx technology.
2. To continue with scientifically valid research experimental analysis at the current Phase I and II sites wherein we are using a comparative methodology in which selected tree species are planted in similar conditions with one set using the Waterboxx and the other not. In this way plantings are being monitored and data is being collected that allows to make the analysis and to evaluate the outcomes from the two methods.
3. To expand this Waterboxx technology within the Northern Anthracite Coal Fields Appalachian EPCAMR region in several additional distinct ecosystems to be designated and defined by EPCAMR and our Coalition partners in our area, with varying soil and environmental conditions from which a determination can be made regarding the suitability, viability and cost effectiveness of the Waterboxx technology.
4. To continue the monitoring, analysis and evaluation of the prior plantings and to expand the experiments into new areas in order to determine if sufficient evidence is available upon the conclusion of the experiments and analysis that will assist with determining what types of ecosystems can benefit the most from the Waterboxx technology as an integral aspects of the overall reforestation and restoration strategy and practices of the participating collaborative partners.

The Waterboxx Project experiment research design parameters have been implemented and EPCAMR has relayed the need to modified these methods in correspondence with and compatible with the unique conditions of each ecosystem in which the experimental activities are being conducted and due to the lack of specific monitoring devices and funding for soil testing. The experimental criteria continues, as before, consisting of 20 hardwood seedlings planted with Waterboxxes at different locations along with a comparable planting of 20 similar controls of the same tree species (40) trees planted and monitored for this first pilot Phase III of the project).  EPCAMR will work with ARRI to  work cooperatively with ACCT to locate these additional sites and acquire and employ resources appropriate to and consistent with the requirement of the research project to make sure that all site locations are properly prepared. EPCAMR can provide some in-kind contributions towards this effort, in terms of GIS Mapping, printing of maps, GPS equipment usage, GPS data gathering of the locations of the plantings of the Waterboxxes geographically, and use of some EPCAMR equipment and available supplies towards the project.

Several of the EPCAMR Staff are already trained in the construction and placement of the Waterboxxes and have trained over 50 community volunteers in the last two years so that they were able to properly monitor, report and maintain the experiment at each of our previous Project Sites. EPCAMR will to train additional community volunteers under the  Phase III operations. EPCAMR will continue to collaborate and work cooperatively with the ARRI Science Team when appropriate, and local colleges and universities for monitoring and analysis purposes through supporting internships on a quarterly basis that will allow EPCAMR to continue to train additional undergraduate students to assist with the project.

EPCAMR developed and implemented educational outreach components that helped to connect multiple age groups at our sites, working with elderly community leaders, parents, Boy Scouts of America, community leaders, environmental leaders, interns from the local colleges and universities, and with the former NCCC Raven 5 OSM/VISTA AmeriCorps Team.  The volunteer participants were organized and managed by EPCAMR and engaged in the planting of trees at each selected location.  EPCAMR has an existing extensive 20 year network of community watershed organizations, reclamation-related non-profits, regional environmental NGO’s, strong municipal partnerships, and civic groups that we will be reaching out to provide opportunities for them to acquire the Waterboxxes and the seedlings for participation in the project.

EPCAMR proposes to conduct the following activities for Phase III of the Waterboxx Research Project:

1. To plant 160 trees using 80 Waterboxxes in 2015-2017 for the project. Plantings will occur between the months of March and August of 2015-2016. Plantings will occur on a variety of soil types including but not limited to ripped/unripped legacy mine soils, vacant lots, streambanks, parks, historic preservation sites, and abandoned mine lands. Planting methodology and alternations will be made under supervision of Groasis.

2. EPCAMR will report monthly between the Spring of 2015 and June of 2017. A total of 160 trees using 80 Waterboxxes implementing the Groasis standard of two seedlings or one seedling/one bush per Waterboxx standard will be utilized. Two seedlings or one seedling/one bush method will be used for both seedlings with a Waterboxx and without.
   1. The initial planting report will include but not be limited to:
      1. Temperature of soil/air/water in and outside of the Waterboxx
         1. Checked at morning and end of work day (depending on proximity to office and accessibility to sites)
      2. Measurement of current water level
      3. Measure of seedling roots, stem, and section above soil after planting
      4. Note of surrounding environmental conditions
      5. Volunteer Management data from planting event
      6. 11 reports will include but not be limited to:
         1. Temperature of soil/air/water in and outside of the Waterboxx
            • Checked at morning and end of work day (depending on proximity to office and accessibility to sites)
         2. Measurement of current water level
         3. Measurement of seedling roots, stem, and section above soil after planting
         4. Note of tree mortality and surrounding environmental conditions
         5. All reports will be compiled into a single report to be submitted to ISI and Groasis for their research efforts.

3. EPCAMR will communicate with Bridgemont Sustainability Institute (BSI) to analyze our prior results from our previous Phase I and Phase II projects to provide additional insight as it becomes available to guide the research and development of those previous projects as they relate to the implementation of Phase III going forward.

4. EPCAMR expects to receive increased site incentives and financial support to support Staff that will be reflective of the increased monitoring, reporting and analysis requirements combined with the additional involvement with the BSI research.

5. EPCAMR will work to make the plants more community oriented around the Waterboxx research effort by making the plantings a part of reforestation events. The first report will include information gathered from the volunteer event and initial planting.  The next 11 reports will reflect the monthly monitoring data.  The final report will feature the overall experience EPCAMR will coordinate in the research effort.

6. EPCAMR is interested in a volunteer management consultation with ISI or the ACCT Support Office to prepare EPCAMR for future events.  It’s anticipated that the consultation will focus around the application of the Toolkit for Working with Rural Volunteers created by the OSM/VISTA Teams. EPCAMR currently does not have a copy of the Toolkit.  EPCAMR believes that working through The Toolkit and consultation will assist our own regional non-profit organizations in creating a more sustainable volunteer monitoring program, in addition to tree planting events and other community efforts that are undertaken by our Staff.

7. EPCAMR Staff will attend a Waterboxx Workshop held by the Reforestation Coordinator to learn about assembly, installation, the overall project concept, and proper reporting, provided that travel and lodging funding is available. EPCAMR Staff can benefit greatly from attending these meetings and workshops where other like-minded organizations that are a part of the research effort will also be there to network and share experiences as well as to be introduced to new partnerships potentially than can be made.

Abbreviated Budget

EPCAMR Staff Coordination  (part-time Watershed Outreach Specialists and seasonal interns)-$10,000

Travel and Lodging (Trainings and travel to project sites, mileage reimbursements, per diem)-$2000

Supplies-seedlings, shovels, spades, water containers, soil thermometers, air temperature monitors, storage shed, paper, clipboards-$2000

Administration-phone calls, internet, postage, fax-$1000

Total 2 Year Budget Expenses Requested-$15,000

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Robert Hughes, EPCAMR Executive Director, and Ray Clarke, HBPS Chairman and Treasurer, stand with Charlie Jones and other members of Troop #152 in front of the Huber Breaker and memorial at the Miner;s Memorial Park.

The Groasis Waterboxx, an AquaPro Holland product developed in 2009 as a way to grow trees and plants in desert environments, serves as an “intelligent water incubator” that captures water from the air through condensation and rain. Due to the design of the device, the condensation is produced and captured without using any energy. Installing a Waterboxx begins with digging a 4-6 inch hole that allows the Waterboxx to sit at the surface. After digging, the hole should be filled with 5 gallons of water to help restore soil capillary systems and allow for better water retention. At this point, the Waterboxx can be installed and is ready for planting, with an 8-shaped notch at the top providing space for plant growth while reducing evaporation.

This diagram shows the interior of a Groasis Waterboxx. The Waterboxx allows water to be retained in its base, as shown in blue, which allows plants to grow in desert-like environments. The notch at the top, seen near the trunk of the tree, reduces evaporation.

The Huber Breaker Preservation Society‘s Miner’s Memorial Park is a great location to test and monitor the effectiveness of the Groasis Waterboxxes because of the high concentrations of culm and other coal waste in the soil. The culm acts similar to sand, allowing for little moisture retention, making it difficult for native plants to sustain life. The Waterboxxes, which are designed for environments with poor water retention, will help to solve this problem and allow for more variation in plant life on the Memorial Park property.

Ray Clarke, HBPS Chairman and Treasurer, helping Troop #152 scouts dig a Waterboxx hole after hitting the Engine House Foundation.

After EPCAMR obtained the funds to begin the reforestation project at the Miner’s Memorial Park, Charlie Jones, an Eagle Scout candidate, decided to organize his Boy Scout Troop #152, Forty-Fort, to assist EPCAMR. On August 3, 2013, work began at the site with EPCAMR staff, Ray Clarke – Huber Breaker Preservation Society Chairman and Treasurer, and members of Troop #152. The day consisted of digging holes for the installation of Waterboxxes, mulching and tending to various shrubs that already been planted at the site, and planting four fruit trees: pear, peach, plum, and black cherry. After the end of the project, EPCAMR installed 20 Waterboxxes that will be monitored for water content and tree growth monthly as part of research for the Regional Reforestation Planting Project funded by the ACCT and Groasis.

Troop #152 members install Waterboxx lids on top of the plum and pear trees at the Miner’s Memorial Park

The information will be valuable in determining the viability/value of using Waterboxxes. If they are deemed successful, as they have been over the last year, they will be included in other reforestation projects by EPCAMR.

EPCAMR Intern- David Svab places a Groasis Waterboxx into its freshly dug hole at Espy Run.

EPCAMR Executive Director- Robert Hughes plants a Groasis Waterboxx at Espy Run.

EPCAMR was again funded for a Phase II round of research funding and was provided with an additional 20 more Waterboxxes, of which 8 were planted at the Espy Run AMD Treatment Wetlands location, in Hanover Township in the Fall of 2013 by EPCAMR Watershed Outreach Intern David Svab and EPCAMR Executive Director, Robert Hughes, in partnership and with permission from the landowner, the Earth Conservancy. Due to the fast approaching Winter and a delay in getting the seedlings and trees delivered and in stock from the nursery that was used, EPCAMR will be continuing to plant an additional 12 Waterboxxes at the first sign of Spring.

This photo shows the newly planted Waterboxxes next to the settling ponds at the Espy Run AMD Treatment Facility.

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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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