On October 23, Tri-County Conewago Creek Association partnered with Elizabethtown Rotary and Penn State’s “Greening the Lower Susquehanna” volunteers to plant trees along the Little Conewago Creek at the Hess Farm. In just two hours of work on a fall afternoon, Volunteers successfully planted over 100 trees and spread stone mulch around the tree tubes to help maintain the young planting.

Conservation partnerships with the Hess family began in the early 2000s with their enrollment in USDA’s Conservation Reserve Enhancement Program (CREP) to install stream bank fencing and plant a forest riparian buffer. Shortly after, TCCCA installed livestakes to complement the buffer planting. The buffer has now matured into a young streamside forest. The planting in October helped to fill some gaps in the established buffer. Other recent conservation work included working with the Lebanon County Conservation District and Penn State Agriculture and Environment Center to improve equine manure management by constructing a roofed manure stacking facility and converting cropland to pasture to address existing rill and gully erosion, projects funded by the Agricultural Conservation Assistance Program (ACAP), Lebanon Countywide Action Plan (CAP) implementation funds from DEP, and a National Fish and Wildlife Foundation program funding the Lower Susquehanna Regional Partnership.

Thanks to all of the volunteers who helped make this the latest successful chapter in this long term conservation project!