Fry's Run Watershed Association
June 1, 2010 Minutes


Members present included Matt Powers, Bob Schmidt, Jeff McGuire, Jim Wilson, Linda Heindel, and Polly Clark.

         We spent the meeting stuffing envelopes to go out to township residents from the Northampton County Conservation District in conjunction with our Fry's Run Coldwater Heritage Plan and brochure about the Rain Garden Workshop on June 12, 2010, at the Williams Township Elementary School, 2660 Morgan Hill Rd, from 11:00am-12:00pm. Residents should receive them later this week.

         The roof is being installed in the area inside the school courtyard near the rain garden later this week by Jim's brother. Jim is also meeting with Wendy Gloffke re:the siting of the rain garden across from that so that the water drains into it. The garden will be planted after that so that it's ready for observers on 06.12.2010 during the workshop at the school.

         Items that are still pending from previous meetings include the tabletop display, farmers' best practices review with Pete Zakanycz, the Saldo review, and the Fry's Run Park riparian buffer plan.

         The next meeting of the Fry's Run Watershed Association will be 07.06.10 at 7:00 pm.


                                   Submitted by,

                                   Polly Clark  



Fry's Run Watershed Association
June12, 2010 Minutes

             About 25 people attended the Rain Garden Workshop held today at the Williams Twsp. Elementary School, which was presented by Jim Wilson, Northampton County Conservation District, and Dr. Wendy Gloffke, Master Gardener, from the Penn State Cooperative Extension of the Lehigh Valley, in conjunction with the Fry's Run Watershed Association. Jim gave an overview of Lehigh and Northampton counties' interest in controlling run-off, pollution, and erosion problems with water. Then Wendy gave a PowerPoint presentation entitled, "Who'll Stop the Rain? Harvesting Rain Water Using Rain Gardens." The workshop was given under a WREN (Water Resources Educational Network) grant.

             The presentation explained the problems that can happen when natural depressions are filled in, permeable surfaces are leveled or paved, and the water has to be directed into storm drains. With natural ground covers, most of the water gets infiltrated both shallowly and deeply into the ground due to the grass, trees, and bushes that buffer the ground; a lot also evaporates, and often only about 10% ends up as run-off, versus hard surfaces, where most of it runs off, which can cause problems with erosion, flooding, surface pollution being washed into streams, and temperature increases that can affect fish and other aquatic life.

             Rain gardens are helpful because they allow run-off to soak into the ground, help control flooding, reduce erosion, and reduce pollution into streams. This type of garden consists basically of a bowl-shaped area (either a natural depression or dug-out area), in line with the water flow from run-off areas, such as a roof, with permeable gravel on the bottom, permeable soil above that, and perennial plants that can tolerate both wet and dry soil, since the garden dries out during the periods that it's not raining. The plants, usually native perennials, are arranged in the sloping garden with those preferring the wettest areas toward the downhill slope of it, and the plants tolerating drier areas closer to the uphill side of the slope. If a lot of water is collected in the garden and there is a danger of the rainwater overflowing it, then either a berm should be placed at the bottom edge to avoid any further run-off or a French drain could be added to further slow down the water. 

            The flowers used in the rain garden at the elementary school included coneflowers, dragonhead, joe-pye weed, sneezeweed, swamp milkweed, and switchgrass. Other bog plants could be used in areas that are wetter. Wendy suggested Googling the subject to get more suggestions. There are also sites that will suggest plants based on your annual rainfall average, etc. The reference sites she used will be available on the Fry's Run Watershed Assoc. site.

            Wendy and Jim also had a rain barrel available for viewing and briefly discussed what is needed to make one: a 50-gallon food-grade drum of heavy-grade plastic that will not let in light, because otherwise algae would be a problem. Openings are cut in the top of the barrel for the downspout entry and overflow valve and a hose spigot opening is cut toward the bottom of the barrel for attaching a hose for watering a garden or other usage. The barrel can either be set up on cement blocks or on drainage gravel up off the ground. FRWA will be having a rain barrel workshop later in July or August at Country Lawnscape. The date and time will be available on our website when that's decided.

           The next FRWA meeting will be held at the Williams Twsp Municipal Bldg. on July 6, 2010, at 7:00pm.

                                Submitted by,

                                 Polly Clark