Washington County Watershed Alliance is in the process of starting its own live stake nursery to provide a reliable source of plants for the development or enhancement of riparian buffers along our county's streams. This nursery will also serve as an opportunity to educate the public on the benefits of riparian buffers.

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Much of the erosion taking place on private property is caused by the typical practice of mowing turf grasses or field grasses up to the waters edge. These shallow rooted grasses do little to hold the bank’s soil in place. A stand of unmowen deeply rooted native grasses will better protect the banks.  A stand of densely rooted flowering & fruiting shrubs will protect the banks and improve the wildlife habitat & the properties appearance.

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Live stake planting is a simple, low cost, technique that will protect the stream bank from erosion and remediate a moderately eroded stream bank. It takes advantage of the fact that some woody trees & shrubs take root so readily that a properly prepared branch cutting can root in moist soils & develop into a new plant. 

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Plants such as Willows, shrubby Dogwoods, Elderberry, Ninebark, and Buttonbush will readily propagate by this technique and will tolerate the wet soils found at waters edge, so they are ideally suited for this project.

Starting a live stake nursery requires suitable starter plants, a planting area in full sun with moist to wet soils, and willing hands to do the work. Recognition, and thanks, are due to several organizations:

* The Keystone 10 Million Trees Partnership donated 68 shrubs of the type listed above.

• The Washington County Conservation District coordinated all tree & shrub orders from the Keystone Partnership.

* The Pennsylvania Trolley Museum in Washington, PA, generously donated the use of two sites on their property for planting the shrubs that will form the live stake nursery.

* WCCD and WCWA provided volunteers for planting and future maintenance work.