Susquehanna River Initiative
Bucknell University Environmental Center
Restoring the riparian corridor and terrestrial environment
Improving the aesthetics and ecology of the watershed
Duane Griffin, Associate Professor of Geography
Vegetation plays a key role in hydrological processes through its influence on physical and chemical watershed processes. Restoring well-functioning plant communities is, therefore, a critical component of the Miller Run Watershed Restoration Project.
While the primary purpose of the project is to improve watershed function, it also represents an opportunity to further some of the goals set out in the Campus Environmental Assessment, including the establishment of on-campus natural areas and promoting environmental sustainability.
To take advantage of this unique opportunity, I completely redesigned GEOG 332 (Evolution, Ecology, and Human Impact) turning the first half of the semester into a crash-course on basic ecological principals and ecological restoration and devoting the second half to carrying out the actual project.
The specific project goals for the restoration project are to:
While the primary purpose of the project is to improve watershed function, it also represents an opportunity to further some of the goals set out in the Campus Environmental Assessment, including the establishment of on-campus natural areas and promoting environmental sustainability.
To take advantage of this unique opportunity, I completely redesigned GEOG 332 (Evolution, Ecology, and Human Impact) turning the first half of the semester into a crash-course on basic ecological principals and ecological restoration and devoting the second half to carrying out the actual project.
The specific project goals for the restoration project are to:
- Reduce runoff and increase infiltration by restoring more natural vegetation to upland sites and creating wetlands to enhance water quality and hydrologic function;
- Maximize plant and animal diversity, create teaching, research, and recreational opportunities, and enhance aesthetic values; and
- Minimize material and energy inputs and costs and offset increased demands on Facilities staff as campus maintenance requirements expand to include the 13-acre Abbey Lane site.
The original idea was to create restoration plans for the Abbey Lane and Miller Run sites, as per the Growing Greener grant proposal. Goal #3, however, calls for reducing maintenance elsewhere on campus. Bill Kuntz, Bucknell’s arborist, provided a perfect opportunity for such an offset: converting areas currently maintained as lawn in the Presidential Grove to more natural forest ground layer conditions to improve the health of the oldest trees on campus. The Grove became our third restoration site.
I split the class into three groups of six students, each of which was tasked with creating a restoration plan for all three sites using guidelines published by the Society for Ecological Restoration International (SER). Sheila Lintott, whose research focuses on ecological restoration, presented a lecture on aesthetic issues related to restoration, and Ben Hayes and Cathy Myers led a field trip to the Miller Run and upstream sites. We were also fortunate enough to have have SER’s Northeastern North America Regional Representative visit our classroom.
I split the class into three groups of six students, each of which was tasked with creating a restoration plan for all three sites using guidelines published by the Society for Ecological Restoration International (SER). Sheila Lintott, whose research focuses on ecological restoration, presented a lecture on aesthetic issues related to restoration, and Ben Hayes and Cathy Myers led a field trip to the Miller Run and upstream sites. We were also fortunate enough to have have SER’s Northeastern North America Regional Representative visit our classroom.
Based on database and literature research as well as site visits and field research, the GEOG 332 students have pulled together plans that include a combination of riparian buffer and wetland vegetation for sites with various degrees and durations of inundation, together with upland terrestrial plant communities that include some woodlands but primarily focus on prairie and savanna vegetation. Surprisingly for “Penn’s Woods,” it seems that oak savannas occupied much of Buffalo Valley prior to European settlement.
Most students in the course are Geography and BA Environmental Studies majors with little background in ecology, and yet I have asked them to become ecologists, placing them about as far out of their academic comfort zones as possible. I’m enormously proud of the effort they’ve expended on the project and their results thus far. My fondest hope is that they will return to Bucknell for their 50th reunions and be able to enjoy the fruits of their labors.
Most students in the course are Geography and BA Environmental Studies majors with little background in ecology, and yet I have asked them to become ecologists, placing them about as far out of their academic comfort zones as possible. I’m enormously proud of the effort they’ve expended on the project and their results thus far. My fondest hope is that they will return to Bucknell for their 50th reunions and be able to enjoy the fruits of their labors.
