Key Project:
Support Chiques Creek Alternative Restoration Plan
Support Restoration of the Chesapeake Bay & Local Impaired Waterways
Chiques Creek Watershed, Lancaster County, Pennsylvania
The Chiques Creek Watershed is in the midst of Pennsylvania’s richest and most productive agricultural region and includes several
historic, yet burgeoning population centers. In partnership with Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection (PADEP), Penn
State University agriculture and Environment Center, and other technical assistance resources, SRBC is part of a team committed to
empowering local stakeholders to reduce sediment and nutrient pollution in manners that foster stream recovery. The
partnership
is finalizing an Alternative Restoration Plan (ARP); that is, a flexible blueprint with multiple pathways to reduce
sediment and nutrient
loads to levels consistent with healthy waters, both locally and downstream. Critical to the ARP is a dynamic database with more than 550 specific
Best Management Practices and Projects identified and vetted so far in the watershed that, following implementation, are expected to dramatically
improve waterway integrity. SRBC and our partners also are committed to a long‐term aquatic resource monitoring program to track the progression of recovery.
- Securing resources for the amount of work needed to implement “on‐the‐ground” measures needed to achieve reductions
- Securing vested partnerships with local stakeholders for implementation
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• Complete watershed model development(July 2018)
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• Complete watershed implementation strategy(September 2018)
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• Select and begin a large‐scale pilot implementation project(June 2019)
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• Support ongoing local stakeholder project implementation(June 2021)