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Episode 1 with Monique Dykman · Clean Water Conversations

• 0:15
  SPEAKER_01: Hello everyone and welcome to Clean Water Conversations, the podcast where we have casual discussions about creating clean and clear waterways right here in Lancaster County.
• 0:24
  SPEAKER_01: I'm Ken.
• 0:24
  SPEAKER_01: And I'm Alison.
• 0:25
  SPEAKER_01: Allison, we're back.
• 0:27
  SPEAKER_02: We're back.
• 0:27
  SPEAKER_01: We're back.
• 0:28
  SPEAKER_01: Let's do it.
• 0:29
  SPEAKER_01: This is episode one of the podcast.
• 0:32
  SPEAKER_01: Yes, and we are talking with Monique Dykman, who is the MS4 environmental specialist for London Dairy Township.
• 0:41
  SPEAKER_02: She's a pretty fantastic lady.
• 0:43
  SPEAKER_01: She is.
• 0:44
  SPEAKER_01: She is.
• 0:44
  SPEAKER_01: And a great interview and very relaxed and very informative.
• 0:49
  SPEAKER_01: I learned a lot.
• 0:50
  SPEAKER_01: Definitely.
• 0:51
  SPEAKER_01: I learned a lot.
• 0:52
  SPEAKER_01: And one interesting thing the we now we have, if you're listening for the first time, we have a rule against unexplained acronyms.
• 1:02
  SPEAKER_01: And if one of the guests or even one of us for that matter were to say an acronym and not explain what those letters mean, you hear this?
• 1:14
  SPEAKER_01: We did not hear that at all with Monique.
• 1:16
  SPEAKER_01: Not at all.
• 1:17
  SPEAKER_01: She was very was very conscious about not getting that.
• 1:20
  SPEAKER_01: So that's right.
• 1:21
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah.
• 1:22
  SPEAKER_02: She's aware of how many times she has to explain what MS4 is.
• 1:25
  SPEAKER_01: Yes.
• 1:26
  SPEAKER_01: And she explained it on multiple occasions.
• 1:28
  SPEAKER_01: So that was yeah, it was very good.
• 1:29
  SPEAKER_01: You know what?
• 1:30
  SPEAKER_01: Let's get right into it.
• 1:31
  SPEAKER_01: Let's do it.
• 1:31
  SPEAKER_01: Here we go.
• 1:32
  SPEAKER_01: Our interview, episode one with Monique Dykman.
• 1:35
  SPEAKER_01: We're sitting here talking with uh Monique Dykman, who is the MS4 environmental specialist at London Dairy Township.
• 1:43
  SPEAKER_01: Thank you for uh for coming in and talking to us.
• 1:45
  SPEAKER_00: Thanks for having me, kinda now.
• 1:47
  SPEAKER_01: Um so we always start these conversations with an icebreaker just to kind of get to know you a little bit better.
• 1:54
  SPEAKER_01: So your question is what was your favorite item you bought in 2023 and why?
• 2:02
  SPEAKER_02: Wow.
• 2:03
  SPEAKER_01: That's a tough one, I know.
• 2:05
  SPEAKER_02: It is.
• 2:06
  SPEAKER_02: It could be a favorite item, maybe not me.
• 2:09
  SPEAKER_02: Right.
• 2:11
  SPEAKER_00: Um Do you get new sports toys, or are you a gardener?
• 2:15
  SPEAKER_00: I do garden, but I didn't buy anything for myself to garden with.
• 2:20
  SPEAKER_00: I I have everything I needed.
• 2:22
  SPEAKER_00: Did you take a trip?
• 2:24
  SPEAKER_00: Did you buy a plane ticket?
• 2:25
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, I went down uh over the Christmas holiday.
• 2:28
  SPEAKER_00: I went down and saw my parents there in Florida.
• 2:30
  SPEAKER_00: So I bought a plane ticket down there.
• 2:33
  SPEAKER_00: So that was a nice trip.
• 2:34
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, thank you.
• 2:35
  SPEAKER_01: Oh, nice, nice.
• 2:36
  SPEAKER_01: Do you get down to see them very often?
• 2:38
  SPEAKER_00: Uh no, once a year.
• 2:39
  SPEAKER_01: Oh wow.
• 2:39
  SPEAKER_00: But they'll come, they'll come up too.
• 2:41
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
• 2:42
  SPEAKER_01: Oh, that's nice.
• 2:42
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
• 2:43
  SPEAKER_01: That's nice.
• 2:44
  SPEAKER_01: That's that's a pretty good uh purchase for for 2023.
• 2:48
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, yeah, yeah.
• 2:48
  SPEAKER_00: It's not too bad when you fly out of uh Harrisburg Airport.
• 2:51
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
• 2:51
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, it's a pretty easy flight.
• 2:53
  SPEAKER_00: But um, yeah.
• 2:54
  SPEAKER_01: So um tell us a little bit about you.
• 2:57
  SPEAKER_01: Uh uh were you always interested in conservation?
• 3:00
  SPEAKER_00: Did grow up in Yeah, I did grow up uh interested in conservation.
• 3:06
  SPEAKER_00: I spent a lot of time outside.
• 3:08
  SPEAKER_00: I uh did grow up in a sailing family in Annapolis, Maryland.
• 3:12
  SPEAKER_00: So we spent our summers on the Chesapeake Bay, which is ultimately the connection to the MS-4 world that I'm in now.
• 3:18
  SPEAKER_00: Uh municipal separate storm sewer systems is what MS-4 stands for.
• 3:24
  SPEAKER_00: Um so I grew up on the Chesapeake Bay, and when it ultimately came time to choose what I wanted to spend 40 hours a week doing, the only thing I could think about was being outdoors and connecting people with the outdoors.
• 3:37
  SPEAKER_00: So that's my intro to conservation and needing to be involved.
• 3:43
  SPEAKER_00: I didn't think of anything else I would be passionate about.
• 3:47
  SPEAKER_00: What brought you from Annapolis to Lancaster?
• 3:50
  SPEAKER_00: Oh, I had a little um travel.
• 3:53
  SPEAKER_00: So uh right after college, I went to college in southern Maryland, and right after college, I worked at an outdoor center in uh western Massachusetts, and from there I worked on a river cleanup barge in Illinois.
• 4:05
  SPEAKER_00: So that was pretty cool.
• 4:06
  SPEAKER_00: Oh, what is that guy's name?
• 4:07
  SPEAKER_00: Uh Living Lands and Waters had progression.
• 4:10
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, yeah, yeah.
• 4:11
  SPEAKER_00: Fascinating.
• 4:12
  SPEAKER_00: Inspiration.
• 4:13
  SPEAKER_00: It was so great to work on the river, but um I wanted to be closer to home and I got a job at the Chesapeake Bay Foundation in Pennsylvania and Harrisburg.
• 4:21
  SPEAKER_00: And so I moved to Harrisburg and then ultimately from Harrisburg came to Londonderry.
• 4:26
  SPEAKER_00: Got it.
• 4:26
  SPEAKER_00: And then moved to Lancaster subsequently.
• 4:28
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, yeah.
• 4:29
  SPEAKER_01: Oh, very cool.
• 4:30
  SPEAKER_01: The two of you know everybody.
• 4:31
  SPEAKER_01: What is that?
• 4:32
  SPEAKER_00: It is a small world.
• 4:34
  SPEAKER_00: The longer I'm in the conservation field, the smaller of a world it gets.
• 4:38
  SPEAKER_00: Oh, yeah, for sure.
• 4:39
  SPEAKER_01: For sure.
• 4:39
  SPEAKER_01: Well, Allison and I were just talking off mic yesterday, and I I know how you and I met.
• 4:44
  SPEAKER_01: We met at MS Forum back in September.
• 4:46
  SPEAKER_01: In fact, Allison introduced us.
• 4:48
  SPEAKER_01: How do the two of you meet?
• 4:50
  SPEAKER_00: Uh, through when I was at the Chesapeake Bay Foundation, I think Lane and I, my former boss at um the Chesapeake Bay Foundation, came to Lancaster, and it was one of my first three trips to Lancaster of my whole life.
• 5:04
  SPEAKER_00: And uh I think we met and talked about the Keystone 10 Million Trees Project.
• 5:08
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah.
• 5:09
  SPEAKER_02: Okay, so through Lane.
• 5:10
  SPEAKER_02: I knew it was when you were with CBF.
• 5:13
  SPEAKER_02: And uh I was with CBF before that.
• 5:15
  SPEAKER_02: You were, yes.
• 5:15
  SPEAKER_02: But okay, that makes more sense now.
• 5:17
  SPEAKER_00: You know, and thinking about it, did we meet in person though?
• 5:20
  SPEAKER_02: Ooh, I don't know.
• 5:21
  SPEAKER_00: Because we might have just been connected via email.
• 5:23
  SPEAKER_02: Maybe.
• 5:24
  SPEAKER_00: I I don't remember actually the first time I would have met you.
• 5:27
  SPEAKER_00: I probably would have come to like an MS forum or an initial meeting that you had.
• 5:32
  SPEAKER_02: Action team meetings or something.
• 5:34
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, yeah.
• 5:34
  SPEAKER_00: I I think that would be it.
• 5:35
  SPEAKER_00: So it was after Jespeak Bay Foundation.
• 5:37
  SPEAKER_00: But again, we're very insular community.
• 5:41
  SPEAKER_00: Well, it feels so natural that we've known each other for longer.
• 5:45
  SPEAKER_01: It is a tiny, tiny little conservation world.
• 5:48
  SPEAKER_02: With massive impacts and a reach that needs to go further.
• 5:51
  SPEAKER_02: So part of our importance of storytelling here, we're glad that you're here, Monique, to help us.
• 5:57
  SPEAKER_01: You said it and a great segue, by the way.
• 5:59
  SPEAKER_02: Okay, thanks.
• 6:01
  SPEAKER_01: So you you mentioned how you came to Lancaster.
• 6:04
  SPEAKER_01: I how how what got you to Londonderry Township?
• 6:08
  SPEAKER_00: I had worked in a number of nonprofits before I considered working in the municipal world.
• 6:15
  SPEAKER_00: And as I was working at the Chesapeake Bay Foundation, I was coordinating partners, and one of the partners actually had this role, so I was interested in a change and wanted to see what the municipal world had to offer and what impacts I could make in the municipal world.
• 6:29
  SPEAKER_02: Wow, and how you have.
• 6:31
  SPEAKER_02: It's been amazing what you have accomplished there.
• 6:33
  SPEAKER_02: Congratulations.
• 6:34
  SPEAKER_02: And obviously, bringing skill sets and connections to that work too.
• 6:38
  SPEAKER_00: Thank you.
• 6:38
  SPEAKER_00: I have really enjoyed it.
• 6:40
  SPEAKER_00: And uh the partnerships and the connections are probably my favorite part of these jobs.
• 6:44
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
• 6:45
  SPEAKER_01: Very cool.
• 6:46
  SPEAKER_01: And so let's talk about one of those projects.
• 6:50
  SPEAKER_01: Um, the the Stream and Wetlands Restoration right there in Londonderry Township.
• 6:56
  SPEAKER_01: Um, can you tell us like what got that started?
• 6:59
  SPEAKER_00: Sure.
• 7:00
  SPEAKER_00: So we call that the Conwago Flood Plan Restoration.
• 7:03
  SPEAKER_00: And that idea um I can't take credit for it.
• 7:06
  SPEAKER_00: It's been 10 or 15 years, probably 15 years in the making at this point in time.
• 7:11
  SPEAKER_00: Uh, my former boss, Steve Latavik, had a huge role in getting it up off the ground and handed it to me about five years ago.
• 7:19
  SPEAKER_00: It's a large, almost 25-acre restoration site with an additional 33 acres of native meadows, and it handles 125,000 uh cubic yards of flood water, so it reduces flooding onto nearby roads.
• 7:34
  SPEAKER_00: It um is fulfilling our MS-4, again, municipal separate storm sewer system, uh, pollutant reduction plan.
• 7:41
  SPEAKER_00: So we are not only getting credits, but uh other municipalities in Dolphin County, as well as Mount Joy Township, are also getting their pollutant reduction credits to fulfill the MS-4 program.
• 7:55
  SPEAKER_00: So it it's a multi-part project.
• 8:00
  SPEAKER_02: Those are some big numbers.
• 8:01
  SPEAKER_02: I didn't realize how many acres and how many cubic feet of water.
• 8:05
  SPEAKER_02: That's crazy.
• 8:06
  SPEAKER_00: It and it is a mile of stream restoration as well, just under point.98 uh is the stream restoration where it started?
• 8:14
  SPEAKER_00: Yes, and the scope of the project has changed over the years as well.
• 8:17
  SPEAKER_00: When I started five years ago, it was meant to be a stream restoration with uh you know the span of 50 feet, um including a 30-foot riparian buffer.
• 8:29
  SPEAKER_00: But in the uh pre-construction assessments of the site, uh it was understood that the uh historic floodplain was actually much larger and it was impaired with legacy sediment.
• 8:42
  SPEAKER_00: So that really expanded our project and then included the legacy sediment removal and um then created the flood storage by removing the legacy sediment.
• 8:53
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, we uh you were kind enough to kind of give us a a tour around around that project in in September.
• 9:00
  SPEAKER_01: It's absolutely gorgeous, by the way.
• 9:01
  SPEAKER_01: It is it is a neat place to be.
• 9:03
  SPEAKER_02: And there's public walking trails, and so anybody can go visit.
• 9:06
  SPEAKER_01: Yes, yes.
• 9:07
  SPEAKER_00: It is right off of the Connewago Recreation Trail, so there's easy access.
• 9:11
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, and I'm waiting for the meadow to come up in the spring.
• 9:14
  SPEAKER_01: That's gonna be I I love a good meadow.
• 9:16
  SPEAKER_02: So it'll be beautiful.
• 9:21
  SPEAKER_02: I love a good meadow.
• 9:22
  SPEAKER_02: That's a new line.
• 9:23
  SPEAKER_02: There you go.
• 9:24
  SPEAKER_01: There you go.
• 9:24
  SPEAKER_01: But you mentioned the legacy sediment.
• 9:26
  SPEAKER_01: When we were out there, there was like a mountain of of legacy sediment that had been pulled out of this area.
• 9:32
  SPEAKER_01: I mean, how much how much sediment did you did you pull out?
• 9:36
  SPEAKER_00: So we call it uh Mount London Derry.
• 9:38
  SPEAKER_00: We actually have two mountains of sediment.
• 9:40
  SPEAKER_00: It is 125,000 cubic yards.
• 9:43
  SPEAKER_00: So the same amount of sediment that we removed is the flood storage that we gained.
• 9:48
  SPEAKER_00: And uh we're working with deals.
• 9:50
  SPEAKER_00: We've given away some of the um made deals to give away some of the sediment, but we are still working um with organizations to um coordinate sediment removal.
• 10:02
  SPEAKER_01: Now, uh kind of our dynamic is that I'm the newbie in the conservation world.
• 10:08
  SPEAKER_01: So uh so this is gonna be kind of a newbie type of question, but you know, there might be people out there that are wondering what can you use legacy sediment for?
• 10:18
  SPEAKER_00: That's a really great question.
• 10:20
  SPEAKER_00: I'll take it a step back even further and describe legacy sediment because it was a term I was unfamiliar with um previously.
• 10:28
  SPEAKER_00: So legacy sediment is uh set topsoil that has eroded from farmlands and um from our um landscapes, and it has slowly over a hundred years, two hundred years with deforestation and uh building and farming practices um eroded soil into our wetlands and it actually this the sediment got got trapped behind historic dams and then the the sediment filtered out of the water and it stayed as the water went past the dam.
• 11:06
  SPEAKER_00: So then over these hundred, two hundred years, the sediment levels rose to uh really high levels, making our streams really incised.
• 11:17
  SPEAKER_00: Um, and it it's very fine sediment particles, so they don't have much structural integrity.
• 11:23
  SPEAKER_00: So, what can you do with this legacy sediment?
• 11:27
  SPEAKER_00: It's really nutrient-rich rich.
• 11:29
  SPEAKER_00: It is our original topsoil.
• 11:31
  SPEAKER_00: So originally we did look into giving it to local farmers, but it actually became a much harder task because the farmers would need to take a year off of the growing season to truck in a large amount of legacy sediment and then incorporate it into their soil.
• 11:45
  SPEAKER_00: They would lose virtually a whole growing season.
• 11:48
  SPEAKER_00: So at this point, we're coordinating with partners such as landfills to use as top soil, as well as um municipalities who need fill, or uh another municipality is looking into the possibility of bringing the soil and to raise a park to uh be above water level.
• 12:07
  SPEAKER_00: Wow.
• 12:07
  SPEAKER_00: So there's a lot of different municipality, a lot of different uses for the legacy sediment.
• 12:14
  SPEAKER_01: You have educated me.
• 12:16
  SPEAKER_01: I'm so glad.
• 12:18
  SPEAKER_02: For a newbie, you're picking up all kinds of stuff real quick.
• 12:21
  SPEAKER_01: I am, my brain is full already.
• 12:27
  SPEAKER_01: Uh tell me about the the how that helps the the wildlife and the bugs.
• 12:33
  SPEAKER_01: We keep going back to the bugs.
• 12:35
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, the ecosystem, yeah.
• 12:36
  SPEAKER_00: It's an immense ecosystem.
• 12:38
  SPEAKER_00: Uh by removing the uh legacy sediment, I I again I said the streams historically are impaired and the banks are very incise.
• 12:48
  SPEAKER_00: So by removing the legacy sediment, we've created wetlands, and so there's a whole different type of habitat created in expanding the wetlands and um uh planting native plants, installing meadow grasses to buffer the project.
• 13:06
  SPEAKER_00: Um so we are actually hosting a bio blitz uh this summer uh as part of Lancaster Water Week, and we'll be bringing out volunteers and we will be monitoring to take a first-year assessment.
• 13:18
  SPEAKER_00: The project was only completed in summer 2023.
• 13:22
  SPEAKER_00: So in summer 2024, we'll look and see what animals are on site we'll be looking at.
• 13:28
  SPEAKER_00: Um mammals, birds, trees, plants, reptiles, and amphibians.
• 13:36
  SPEAKER_01: Nice.
• 13:37
  SPEAKER_02: That sounds great.
• 13:38
  SPEAKER_02: You guys have done so much to engage the public in this project along the way.
• 13:42
  SPEAKER_02: I mean, it came from uh the municipal drive, but then the way that you've included the community during that whole process.
• 13:50
  SPEAKER_02: Tell us about some of the ways that you've already done outreach to educate people about what this is, and you can get real science-y real quick with this kind of project.
• 13:59
  SPEAKER_02: Yes.
• 14:00
  SPEAKER_02: And so, yeah, tell us about some of the ways you've continued to educate all of us.
• 14:04
  SPEAKER_00: Yes, and I I think that's the coolest part of this project is there are so many aspects.
• 14:08
  SPEAKER_00: There are ways to relate it to recreation, and there are ways to bring people outside and connect them with the environment.
• 14:15
  SPEAKER_00: So um the Bio Blitz will be a really great way to get the public involved.
• 14:20
  SPEAKER_00: But um, we also had a 5K and field day.
• 14:24
  SPEAKER_00: It was called the Conewalgo uh Darter.
• 14:27
  SPEAKER_00: And um it was April 2023.
• 14:29
  SPEAKER_00: The next Conewago Darter will actually change to be um October 12th of 2024.
• 14:36
  SPEAKER_00: Okay.
• 14:36
  SPEAKER_00: So avoiding the Earth Day um mass.
• 14:40
  SPEAKER_00: Yes, and we're changing it to uh celebrate riparian buffer month.
• 14:44
  SPEAKER_00: Wonderful.
• 14:44
  SPEAKER_00: So yeah, and as part of the 5K, uh we end in a the field, which we've just planted 33 acres of meadow.
• 14:52
  SPEAKER_00: And um we have a field day where uh last year we had 14 partners set up table booths, we planted 50 trees, and it was a really great way to engage um with the the local residents with other conservation groups.
• 15:07
  SPEAKER_00: So, in all of these ways, I've offered uh tours in our newsletters to all the residents in Londonderry Township.
• 15:13
  SPEAKER_00: I do try and bring people out because I believe people won't care about our environment unless they're connected to our environment.
• 15:21
  SPEAKER_00: So I try and show them what we're doing in our township and the resources available to them and why they should care.
• 15:29
  SPEAKER_02: Amazing.
• 15:29
  SPEAKER_02: It's really inspirational and the way that you've made the connections.
• 15:33
  SPEAKER_02: Um, this is part of the project itself, obviously has wide-reaching implications and a couple different audiences.
• 15:41
  SPEAKER_02: What is the um what's the way that you see this as a connection point or maybe an anchor point for some of the work that's happening in the whole entire watershed?
• 15:51
  SPEAKER_00: I think our partners are doing some really amazing monitoring work in the watershed.
• 15:56
  SPEAKER_00: So I think once we analyze the water quality monitoring um both uh pre-project and post-project installation and above stream and below uh upstream and then below the project, we will see the effectiveness and if it is enough, if if it is effective, which we believe this total floodplain restoration should be effective, but we'll have real numbers and real statistics to be able to show to partners and other people doing this sort of work.
• 16:24
  SPEAKER_00: Um if if the effort and the money in the initial um start of the project uh justifies the ends to the means to the end.
• 16:37
  SPEAKER_02: And this kind of project, uh like you said, it's it's really unique and the scale of it has such a big impact.
• 16:42
  SPEAKER_02: It's not the only one of its kind in Lancaster County.
• 16:45
  SPEAKER_02: We're really fortunate to have a number of these types of projects that have been in place for years and have been like you're describing that pre and post and being able to see the effectiveness of it.
• 16:55
  SPEAKER_02: Have you connected with any of those other partner organizations and kind of swap stories?
• 16:59
  SPEAKER_00: Not particularly in that exact uh trading situation.
• 17:04
  SPEAKER_00: I I am actually not super in touch.
• 17:06
  SPEAKER_00: I you know, I do take that back.
• 17:08
  SPEAKER_00: I have I have been on many site tours of yeah, I I take that back a hundred percent.
• 17:14
  SPEAKER_00: Um I have been on many site tours of different restorations, and I think every every restoration site you go to is different because the the surroundings are different, the the um watershed is different, uh the Conwaga watershed is a smaller watershed comparatively.
• 17:32
  SPEAKER_00: Um, but we are actually doing this on the mainstem, whereas a lot of these projects happen on the tributaries.
• 17:38
  SPEAKER_00: Um so we do have a 53-acre watershed um up to the point of the project, I believe.
• 17:46
  SPEAKER_00: Um so I I have toured a lot of the restoration sites.
• 17:52
  SPEAKER_00: I think they are really interesting.
• 17:54
  SPEAKER_00: Um, however, I don't know of any uh monitoring efforts that are as um intensive as what our partners are doing.
• 18:02
  SPEAKER_00: We have really great partners who are monitoring the project, and um we hope to see really great results.
• 18:08
  SPEAKER_00: The Conewaga watershed is unique in that it's a uh 319 watershed uh three nine section 319 watershed.
• 18:17
  SPEAKER_00: So it's an impaired body of water that has a watershed implementation plan.
• 18:21
  SPEAKER_00: So we are really lucky to have a strong group of partners who have been working together for 15 years and are very active in the watershed.
• 18:29
  SPEAKER_00: And so um those partners are very involved in both the BioBlades and the water quality monitoring and the uh field day.
• 18:41
  SPEAKER_01: Kind of off on a different uh tangent of that.
• 18:44
  SPEAKER_01: Uh there may be people or municipalities or landowners or what have you that would love to do this kind of project, but they're looking at it and going, oh my gosh, what must that cost?
• 18:57
  SPEAKER_01: Uh but there's funding available.
• 19:00
  SPEAKER_01: We've we've uh mentioned that certainly a lot off mic.
• 19:04
  SPEAKER_01: But uh what what funding did you guys uh use to uh make this project happen?
• 19:10
  SPEAKER_00: We uh pursued a lot of different funding sources, and we're very fortunate to be well positioned to receive a lot of funding.
• 19:17
  SPEAKER_00: We uh received funding from both the Dolphin and Lancaster County Wide Action Plans, um, as well as uh money from uh Susquehanna River Basin Commission, um DEP's uh Growing Greener programs and uh ME2 programs, as well as uh National Fish and Wildlife, two National Fish and Wildlife Um grants.
• 19:41
  SPEAKER_00: So we have been very fortunate.
• 19:44
  SPEAKER_00: And to those people who don't have access to grants, I I think that the advice I would give to anyone wanting to make an improvement in their backyard is to contact their local conservation district or a local watershed organization because uh we are always looking to connect with landowners and educate them and um often have funding sources to plant a riparian buffer or do a larger stream restoration, depending on um the resources.
• 20:14
  SPEAKER_01: Well, that is like an amazing project.
• 20:16
  SPEAKER_01: And and I am you know definitely glad to have experienced it myself, looking forward to going back out in the spring when you know when it starts to to get its buds and and and looking all pretty and taking a walk out there on the walking path.
• 20:30
  SPEAKER_01: So good stuff.
• 20:32
  SPEAKER_02: Thanks for hosting us for the media event too.
• 20:35
  SPEAKER_02: We got the County American Rescue Plan Act funding award.
• 20:40
  SPEAKER_02: The Connawago Project is the one that hosted us for the media and had people out in the stream for a walking tour.
• 20:47
  SPEAKER_02: What part or what phase was that?
• 20:50
  SPEAKER_00: It was a few years ago, but it it was a few years ago, I believe.
• 20:55
  SPEAKER_00: So early in the process.
• 20:56
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, that was early in the process.
• 20:57
  SPEAKER_00: I believe that went towards phase three.
• 20:59
  SPEAKER_02: Okay.
• 21:00
  SPEAKER_00: Yes.
• 21:00
  SPEAKER_00: So it is a three-page, uh three-phase project uh that we were able to actually complete in uh one year from summer to summer, basically.
• 21:10
  SPEAKER_00: Wow.
• 21:10
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, yeah.
• 21:11
  SPEAKER_00: We didn't expect that, but we were so lucky that this funding came became available.
• 21:15
  SPEAKER_00: Both the the Rescue Act dollars and the CAP dollars were monies that we didn't think would become available.
• 21:21
  SPEAKER_00: We thought it would be a much longer construction process.
• 21:24
  SPEAKER_00: And then we were so thrilled to be able to complete it in uh one year.
• 21:27
  SPEAKER_02: Well, what a great example of when the funding and the resources and all the capacity is there in place, and there's a champion like you all driving that.
• 21:35
  SPEAKER_02: It's possible for three phases to happen in one calendar year.
• 21:39
  SPEAKER_00: Yes.
• 21:39
  SPEAKER_00: And we have been so well positioned, but our mantra is to plan in so far in advance you can be so ready to accept money as it becomes available.
• 21:48
  SPEAKER_00: And I think that that has really benefited uh both this project and our program.
• 21:54
  SPEAKER_00: Fantastic.
• 21:55
  SPEAKER_00: Yes, thank you.
• 21:56
  SPEAKER_01: Very nice.
• 21:57
  SPEAKER_01: Well, let's move on to.
• 22:00
  SPEAKER_01: Conservation trivia lightning round.
• 22:02
  SPEAKER_01: Uh we did this in the first the first episode.
• 22:06
  SPEAKER_01: Well this is the yeah in the origins episode.
• 22:08
  SPEAKER_01: Uh and it went all right, I guess.
• 22:10
  SPEAKER_01: You know, we're so we're gonna we're gonna keep trying it.
• 22:13
  SPEAKER_01: Now you did mention that you had hosted a tree via, which I thought was really clever.
• 22:20
  SPEAKER_01: I love a good play on words.
• 22:22
  SPEAKER_01: So I am giving you some questions about trees.
• 22:25
  SPEAKER_00: Okay, so wish me luck.
• 22:27
  SPEAKER_00: Wish me luck.
• 22:29
  SPEAKER_01: Um, so uh I'm gonna put 30 seconds on the clock, answer as many of them as you can.
• 22:34
  SPEAKER_01: Uh, don't take too long to think about them because you know then it slows it up.
• 22:37
  SPEAKER_01: So you know how that goes.
• 22:38
  SPEAKER_01: So here we go.
• 22:45
  SPEAKER_01: A mature tree can absorb how many pounds of carbon dioxide a year?
• 22:51
  SPEAKER_00: 125.
• 22:53
  SPEAKER_01: 48, at least according to what I get.
• 22:55
  SPEAKER_01: Uh name one of the three countries that have the highest number of native tree species.
• 23:01
  SPEAKER_01: One of the top three.
• 23:07
  SPEAKER_00: Next.
• 23:09
  SPEAKER_01: How many tree species are there in the world?
• 23:14
  SPEAKER_00: 3,000.
• 23:15
  SPEAKER_01: Even bigger.
• 23:16
  SPEAKER_01: More than 60,000.
• 23:19
  SPEAKER_01: I know, I know.
• 23:20
  SPEAKER_01: We ran out of time, but we'll keep going because these are interesting things.
• 23:24
  SPEAKER_01: Different parts of a tree grow in different times of the year.
• 23:27
  SPEAKER_01: Most of the foliage grows in the spring.
• 23:30
  SPEAKER_01: What part grows in the summer?
• 23:33
  SPEAKER_01: The trunk.
• 23:34
  SPEAKER_01: That is correct.
• 23:35
  SPEAKER_01: Give you the ding for that.
• 23:37
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
• 23:38
  SPEAKER_01: How old is the current oldest living tree?
• 23:42
  SPEAKER_00: 225 years.
• 23:45
  SPEAKER_01: It is at least 4,600 years old.
• 23:49
  SPEAKER_00: Wow.
• 23:49
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
• 23:50
  SPEAKER_01: Do you have any idea where it's growing?
• 23:52
  SPEAKER_00: India.
• 23:53
  SPEAKER_01: It is actually growing on the Methuselah Trail in the White Mountains of Inyo National Forest in California.
• 24:00
  SPEAKER_01: Wow.
• 24:00
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
• 24:01
  SPEAKER_02: You didn't have that on the tip of your tongue?
• 24:03
  SPEAKER_02: We are.
• 24:04
  SPEAKER_01: I'm so shocked.
• 24:07
  SPEAKER_01: But just to answer that, uh the name one of the three countries that have the highest number of native tree species.
• 24:14
  SPEAKER_01: They are Brazil, Colombia, and Indonesia.
• 24:17
  SPEAKER_02: Oh, interesting.
• 24:18
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah.
• 24:18
  SPEAKER_01: Interesting.
• 24:19
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
• 24:19
  SPEAKER_01: So good.
• 24:20
  SPEAKER_02: I think Lancaster County's getting up there.
• 24:22
  SPEAKER_02: With the amount of trees that are going in and the focus on native habitat, we are we are climbing.
• 24:26
  SPEAKER_00: We can only hope.
• 24:28
  SPEAKER_01: Keep planting native trees.
• 24:30
  SPEAKER_01: Yes, yes.
• 24:31
  SPEAKER_01: They were they were designed to be here.
• 24:33
  SPEAKER_01: So keep planting those native trees.
• 24:35
  SPEAKER_02: Well, like Monique said, there's Riparian Buffer Month coming up in October.
• 24:39
  SPEAKER_02: There's Lancaster Water Week happening in June.
• 24:41
  SPEAKER_02: So many, many opportunities coming to volunteer and be part of that native native tree planting effort.
• 24:47
  SPEAKER_02: I love the shameless plugs.
• 24:49
  SPEAKER_02: That is beautiful.
• 24:50
  SPEAKER_02: 100%.
• 24:52
  SPEAKER_01: Well, that is our show.
• 24:54
  SPEAKER_01: I want to thank you, Monique, for coming and sitting and chatting with us.
• 24:59
  SPEAKER_01: Uh looking forward to uh to coming out and and seeing the the wetlands again.
• 25:04
  SPEAKER_01: And um just grateful that you know you you spent your time with us here.
• 25:08
  SPEAKER_00: Yes, thank you so much for having me.
• 25:10
  SPEAKER_00: And um, please come out to the site anytime.
• 25:12
  SPEAKER_00: I would love to host you, love to give you a tour, and I'll put in my own shameless plug if you don't mind.
• 25:18
  SPEAKER_00: June 9th, we are having the Bio Blitz and we are having a call for volunteers to come out and help us survey for the animals and plants and critters on the site, as well as October 12th is the 5K and field day, the Conwago 5K and field day.
• 25:34
  SPEAKER_00: And please come and participate in the field day or just participate in the 5K or just come for the field day and talk to our local conservation partners about what you can do in your backyard.
• 25:43
  SPEAKER_02: Monique, you are inspiring many.
• 25:45
  SPEAKER_02: Thank you for your leadership here in Lancaster and being part of this collaborative effort.
• 25:48
  SPEAKER_00: Thank you for having me.
• 25:49
  SPEAKER_00: Thank you for including me.
• 25:52
  SPEAKER_01: We will be back in a couple of weeks.
• 25:54
  SPEAKER_01: Until then, take care.
• 25:56
  SPEAKER_01: Bye-bye.com.
• 26:15
  SPEAKER_01: Thank you for listening.