HARRISBURG – Senator David G. Argall (R-Schuylkill/Berks) and Representative Mike Tobash (R-Schuylkill/Dauphin) announced two Department of Environmental Protection Growing Greener grants today that will support flood control in the Swatara Creek Watershed in Tremont Township and Pine Grove Borough.
The Schuylkill County Conservation District will be awarded $230,000 to begin phase 1 of the Good Spring Creek Floodplain restoration project and $2,991,000 for a flood remediation project that will help the Borough of Pine Grove. The Pine Grove project will supplement the $2,000,000 announced recently from the Department of Community and Economic Development’s Disaster Recovery program.
“The Swatara Floodplain Restoration project is listed as a priority by the Upper Swatara Flood Recovery workgroup to mitigate high water events in the watershed. The project will create floodplains to reduce flooding and the impact of high water events enabling our community to be more sustainable. Since the 2011 floods the workgroup, consisting of members from all the communities located within the watershed, have been working to mitigate future high water events. The workgroup is excited to see this project moving one step closer to reality as we continue to work on this project and other priority sites, stated Wayne Lehman, Schuylkill Conservation District County Natural Resource Specialist and Bill Reichert, Watershed Maintenance Technician/Flood Recovery Manager.
“As a co-sponsor of the original Growing Greener grant program, I am pleased to see the efforts of the Swatara Creek Watershed groups be recognized for their planning efforts to reduce future flooding in the region through the creation of a natural floodplain on undeveloped lands. These projects will keep a major employer in the community by slowing the flow of the Swatara Creek, while reducing the stress of residents every time a storm rolls through region. These projects are exactly the kinds of projects I envisioned when initially supporting the Growing Greener funding.”
“This grant is an example of how communities, individuals and stakeholders can work together to achieve positive results,” Tobash said. “After the flooding in 2011, coordinated efforts and hard work led to obtaining the resources to get these projects completed. I am glad we were able to work together to support the citizens and businesses in the entire Pine Grove area.”