Lehigh Valley Greenways

Bushkill Stream Restoration Tour – September 12th, 2024 – 9am-11am

Join the LV Greenways Partnership on September 12, 2024, for a Bushkill Stream Restoration Tour with Wildlands Conservancy.

This tour will highlight the impacts of dam removal on the Bushkill Stream, as well as insights gained from monitoring efforts conducted by Lafayette College.

September 12 Bushkill Stream Restoration Tour Itinerary, 9am-11am

9am: Meet at Dam 2 

• Parking Location:  City of Easton Recycling Center. Address: 500 Bushkill Dr, Easton, PA 18042
• Speaker: Kristie Fach, Director of Ecological Restoration, Wildlands Conservancy
• Highlights: Example of recent construction and stream improvements with small viewing area. This latest endeavor holds immense significance in facilitating the passage of migratory fish species, such as alewife and American shad, to vital upstream spawning grounds. It contributes to the recovery of ecologically-beneficial freshwater mussels and the bolstering of populations of trout and other resident fish species.

9:15am: Walk to Dam 1 (from Dam 2)

• Guided walk to Dam 1 with highlights of habitat features created.

9:30am: Water Quality Insights presented at Dam 1 by Megan Rothenberger, Ph.D. Professor of Environmental Science and Studies, Lafayette College

• Work began in July 2023 to remove Dam #1, which is owned by Lafayette College and is the closest to the Delaware River. Lafayette College served as a critical partner in the dam removal process and has created academic connections to the Bushkill Stream with a years-long stream monitoring program.

9:45am: Walk back to Dam 2 / Drive to Dam 3

10am: Meet at Dam 3

• Parking Location: Simon Silk Mill at 671 N. 13th Street Easton, PA 18042
• Walk to pedestrian bridge (and slightly beyond, time permitting)
• Highlights: Safety issues presented by dams. Karl Stirner Arts Trail connections.
• Speakers: Kristie Fach, Director of Ecological Restoration, Wildlands Conservancy, Brit Kondravy, Conservation Coordinator/LVG Co-Lead, DLNHC

10:20am drive to Binney and Smith  Site

10:30am: Meet at Binney and Smith Dam Site

• Parking Location: GPS Coordinates: 40.701742, -75.244049  (Parking lot off of Edgewood).
  • (Parking lot across from 2025 Edgewood Ave, Easton, PA 18045)
• Speaker: Kate Ebel, Senior Restoration Ecologist, Wildlands Conservancy.
• Highlights: Preserve and habitat restoration work upstream.

11am: Program End

*Times Approximate

About

The Bushkill Creek begins at the foot of Blue Mountain in Bushkill Township and flows approximately 16 miles south to its confluence with the Delaware River, surrounded primarily by agricultural and suburban areas before entering the City of Easton. It is a high quality coldwater fishery that supports large populations of wild brown trout. However, stressors from land-use practices, urban development, and stormwater have severely degraded this section over the past 15 years, limiting its recreation value for the community, as well as suitability for native fish and wildlife habitat.

To address the stream’s widening, channelization and shallowness, along with the negative impacts of impacts of erosion and siltation that are impacting habitat and recreation, Wildlands and partners are regrading and stabilizing the streambank, planting and expanding riparian buffers, strips of native trees and shrubs that root the soil and filter runoff before it enters the waterway, and installing in-stream structures to restore fish habitat.

The removal of dams in a three-mile stretch in Easton, is meant to break up aquatic barriers first installed in the 18th, 19th and early 20th centuries, that harnessed water to power Easton’s mills.

Questions? Contact Brit Kondravy, LV Greenways Co-Lead at conservation@delawareandlehigh.org, (484) 215-6227