Project Title: Watershed Restoration: Re-liming Meadow Run

Project Purpose: to evaluate the management impact of a re-liming treatment on the entirety of the aquatic habitat in Meadow Run

Project Goals:

• to collect, analyze, and evaluate water quality data across the Meadow Run watershed.
• to provide information that will help managers evaluate and implement liming projects.

Project Impact: Conservation of the park’s natural resources has become increasingly complex as regional and global issues such as acid deposition and climate change manifest. The park’s success in fulfilling its mission to preserve these resources unimpaired for the enjoyment of current and future generations depends on our ability to develop and implement effective local solutions to counteract the effects of these regional and global issues. By providing a more detailed assessment of the effectiveness of liming to restore water quality across the Meadow Run watershed, this project will help resource managers within and outside the park better design and implement actions to efficiently restore ecological integrity in the face of stressors that are beyond park managers’ control. 

This project will greatly expand the water quality monitoring effort associated with the Meadow Run restoration and understanding the efficacy of the liming is essential for guiding stewardship of the park’s streams more broadly. One of the primary goals of the restoration project is to increase pH to improve suitability for brook trout. Offsetting the negative effects of acid deposition on streams is one of the few interventions that can improve ecological integrity within SHEN’s streams and increase resiliency to other stressors such as climate change. This project capitalizes on the opportunity to learn from the Meadow Run liming and adapt future efforts based on the results. 

Project Funding: $47,000