Our program staff spends a significant amount of time implementing watershed restoration projects and traveling to numerous farms to promote and implement the SAN program.
What is SAN?
The Schuylkill Action Network (SAN) is a partnership focused on improving our water resources in Berks County. Our county comprises 40% of the entire Schuylkill River Watershed. For this reason, the way we use our land and treat our water has a major impact downstream all the way to Philadelphia. As a result, the Philadelphia Water Department (a SAN partner) developed an innovative approach to addressing their drinking water supply. They’ve discovered it makes better economic sense to invest dollars into Berks County to correct and repair water problems upstream than to face the increasing costs of treating drinking water problems downstream in Philadelphia.
This investment into Berks County from Philadelphia should send a clear message to all of us: Our water supplies in this county are valuable and important not only to our residents, visitors, and businesses - but to millions of people downstream. It is our hope that those of us in Berks begin to appreciate our water resources that others have already recognized as valuable.
What has SAN done for Berks so far?
To date, the partnership has resulted in repairs and protection of streams on more than 10 farms in Berks - all clustered strategically in northern Berks (Maiden Creek Watershed) to make a greater impact in one region. SAN projects involve:
- Installation of stream bank fencing;
- Addressing eroded areas through grading and seeding;
- Installation of cattle crossings;
- Planting of mature, native trees to establish a healthy riparian buffer;
- Protection of wetlands and stream banks; and
- Broadcasting of native grass seed onto disturbed project areas.
- As a result, the nutrients and sediment entering the streams and drinking water supplies is greatly reduced - which results in healthier water for people and wildlife! Current SAN partners include:
- Berks Conservancy
- Berks County Conservation District
- Landowners & other valuable stakeholders
- Lehigh Valley Conservation District
- Natural Resource Conservation Service
- PA Department of Environmental Protection
- Partnership for the Delaware Estuary
- Penn State Cooperative Extension
- Philadelphia Water Department
- Reading Area Water Authority
- Spotts, Stevens & McCoy
- US Environmental Protection Agency
- Western Berks Water Authority
- Berks Conservancy
For more information visit www.schuylkillactionnetwork.org
Schuylkill Watershed Priority Lands Strategy
A new model that recognizes the Land-Water Connection and identifies the highest priority lands to protect is called The Schuylkill Watershed Priority Lands Strategy. This project uses GIS modeling to identify areas within the Schuylkill Watershed that are the most important to preserve for both ecological and drinking water source protection, further defined by development threat over the next 20 years.
The Schuylkill Watershed Priority Lands Strategy website is designed to make the data, methodology, results and maps of the Schuylkill Watershed Priority Lands Strategy easily accessible to open space planners, land trust staff, municipal officials, funders and others for use in making strategic open space protection decisions.
For more information, visit www.schuylkillprioritylands.org
