The Alliance for the Chesapeake Bay, the Pennsylvania Department of Conservation and Natural Resources, Northeastern School District officials and Penn State Cooperative Extension are teaming up for a streamside tree planting at Shallow Brook Intermediate School. This planting is the first of three phases that will occur over the next several seasons. Once completed, more than 20 acres of new forest will have been planted on the school’s property.

The project demonstrates the strength of cross-sector partnerships and the collaborative nature of modern conservation efforts. Master watershed stewards will be responsible for long-term management and maintenance of the buffer, and a few teachers in the school that are also watershed stewards will incorporate the buffer into their lesson plans.

Pennsylvania has a goal of planting 95,000 acres of streamside forest buffers by 2025 to improve local water quality and meet Chesapeake Bay restoration goals outlined in their Phase III Watershed Implementation Plan. The Shallow Brook tree planting alone will account for more than 25 percent of York County’s goal for urban forest buffers.