Cocalico Creek Floodplain Restoration

LandStudies staff recently took members of the Cocalico Creek Watershed Association, neighboring landowners, and scientists from The Nature Conservancy on a tour of the Cocalico Creek Floodplain Restoration project in West Cocalico Township, Lancaster County, to highlight the benefits of floodplain restoration and discuss opportunities for similar efforts to improve water quality and restore natural ecosystems in the Cocalico Creek watershed.

This project was completed in the spring of 2022 and was funded by both a DEP Growing Greener and National Fish and Wildlife Foundation (NFWF) Chesapeake Bay Stewardship Fund grant awarded to the Conservation Foundation of Lancaster County. LandStudies restored 3,867 linear feet of degraded stream channel to as close to historical ecological conditions as possible, removed 18,000 cubic yards of legacy sediment, restored more than eight acres of floodplain, and planted nearly 13 acres of riparian buffer. The floodplain restoration work will reduce sediment pollutant loads by 709,241 pounds per year (lbs./yr.), nitrogen loads by 809 lbs./yr., and phosphorus loads by 372 lbs./yr., helping to improve water quality in the Cocalico Creek watershed and downstream.

LandStudies will continue routine maintenance of the planted vegetation and management of any invasive species, as needed, to ensure the project’s long-term viability.

Learn more about the related Cocalico Creek Watershed Restoration Plan here.