Agriculture

With 75 acres of high-quality wetlands and seven stream buffer acres onsite, the pristine Dreibelbis farm offered a unique opportunity to proactively protect the Maiden Creek and three smaller tributaries from future agricultural runoff. 

The Guntz Farm, located in the Manatawny Watershed, was able to restore approximately 1,350 feet of eroded streambank through the efforts of the Berks Nature. Phase 2 of the project included installing a concrete manure storage facility. 

On the Luft Farm, best management practices, including stormwater controls and a cattle walkway were installed. 

On the Rabenold Farm in Mill Creek a number of best management practices were installed, including streambank fencing, cattle crossing, and rain gutters. In addition, the farm received an updated Conservation Plan. 

Commonly grouped in clusters, family farms are ideal locations for Best Management Practice installations.  With over 300 acres of land, the Seidel Farms provided multiple opportunities to protect the very springs that form the headwaters of the Maiden Creek. 

The Berks County Conservation District installed stream bank and exclusion fencing, planted native trees and shrubs, and installed stormwater controls and a manure storage facilitiy on the Woolf Farm.