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Marian E. McKeown Elementary School assists WRWMG with Riparian Restoration Project for the Paulins Kill Watershed

As a way to further enhance the ongoing restoration work for the Paulins Kill Watershed and involve additional members of the local community, the SCMUA-WRWMG, in partnership with TNC, NJDEP, the William Penn Foundation, the USFWS – Partners for Fish and Wildlife Program, and NJ Division of Fish and Wildlife coordinated a unique conservation initiative with all of the students and faculty of Marian E. McKeown Elementary School in Hampton Township on Monday, May 19^th, 2014. On this day each class of students, grades K-6, took to plant bare root trees, provided by the USFWS – Partners for Fish and Wildlife Program, in 2 gallon pots using soil provided by Cerbo’s Nursery of Hampton Township. The potted trees were then transported by the SCMUA-WRWMG to the SCMUA Solid Waste Facility in Lafayette where they are now being stored, protected, watered, and allowed to grow in an on-site “nursery” area until spring 2015. This will allow the trees, including such species as pin oaks, swamp white oaks, tulip poplar, black gum, and black cherry, to grow and strengthen to a size more suitable for successful planting in the Paulins Kill restoration corridor at a future time.  

In spring 2015, in celebration of Earth Day, the SCMUA-WRWMG and TNC, with assistance from the same list of project partners, plans to coordinate plans with the administration and faculty of Marian E. McKeown School to allow a group of students to plant these potted trees throughout areas within the three mile Paulins Kill Riparian and Floodplain Restoration Corridor.  

As part of this overall community watershed restoration and conservation effort, the students of Marian E. McKeown Elementary School were provided an educational lesson that incorporated topics such as watersheds, water quality, fish and wildlife habitat, biodiversity, riparian restoration, and community stewardship. An important message that that was delivered to the students is that they were actively helping to restore and protect the same watershed within which they live and go to school. In fact, the mainstem of the Paulins Kill borders and runs directly parallel to the property upon which the elementary school is located. 

The following is the front page article that appeared in the NJ Herald on May 20, 2014. McKeownSchool_treeplantingProject_may2014.PDF