Restoring Paxton Creek

The  Paxton Creek project  is part of the largest (to date) water-quality collaboration between PennDOT and several MS4 permittees in the Harrisburg metro area, including  RES  and the members of the Paxton Creek Collaborative - Capital Region Water, Lower Paxton Township, and Susquehanna Township. This partnership exemplifies the excellent opportunity for communities to partner with each other and PennDOT in funding and siting  water-quality improvement  projects, both to address regulatory compliance for their constituents but also drive meaningful restoration projects that improve the health of their local watershed, improve the downstream Susquehanna River and Chesapeake Bay, and bring critical ecosystem benefits to their communities. 

 A key driver of the initial Collaborative was balancing the water-quality objectives of both urban and suburban landscapes, strategically locating restoration work in public spaces to benefit the larger community to access restored, ecologically diverse green spaces. Project sites were vetted to maximize their cost efficiencies to generate water quality benefits at the lowest cost possible for the communities and PennDOT. 

The project followed the concept pioneered by PennDOT through a pilot project in York County; the concept of a sediment reduction “credit”, within the context of addressing federal and state pollutant reduction mandates. These credits are contracted through innovative ‘design-build-operate-maintain’ procurement, a new set of contracting terms that uses an outcomes-based contracting system well-suited for nature-based infrastructure. 

RES is the solution to regulatory risk and compliance liability for both private and public customers. Our team provides a comprehensive and guaranteed solution for fixed, upfront pricing, simplifying complex regulatory compliance into a single contract and reducing our customer’s costs and administrative burden.

Nature-based infrastructure includes techniques, like stream restoration and native plantings around stream banks, to better equip the floodplain to absorb the rapid increase in rainwater. It helps alleviate the stressors on existing “built infrastructure” - gray concrete piping systems constructed over the decades – and improves the combined system’s ability to keep harmful sediment out of area streams and rivers.

The restoration sites include a combination of public land owned by the PA Fish and Boat Commission, two of the municipalities, and private land, which all contained degraded streams and overflowing channels that ultimately flow into the Chesapeake Bay.

With a long history of using nature-based solutions for mitigation projects in the state of Pennsylvania, RES was able to lean into cooperation with the municipalities, the PA Fish and Boat Commission, and  private landowners  to secure the most desirable land to restore the watershed back to health. The location of its headquarters is located directly next to Veteran’s Park, part of the Paxton Creek watershed, which was desperately in need of help to control extreme water flows happening during times of increased water quantity – heavy rains and subsequent flooding – which caused unhealthy volumes of nutrient-laden sediment to be carried downstream and into the Chesapeake Bay.

Scroll through the gallery to learn more about the restoration.

The RES team will make sure that all the great native species and biodiversity coming won’t be overtaken by invasive species. We will be diligent to make sure that doesn’t happen as we monitor the land for several years.

Pre-Restoration Gallery

During Restoration Gallery

Post-Restoration Monitoring Gallery

The restoration of this large site has immediate positive effects on the community (watch Tim Schaeffer elaborate in the video below). It improves water quality and manages stormwater in the headwaters of the Paxton Creek watershed, which eventually drains into the Susquehanna River and the Chesapeake Bay. Additionally, it enhances outdoor recreation and educational opportunities in the park and the larger Greenbelt area.

The restoration involves creating new wetland and riparian habitats and planting thousands of native trees, shrubs, and emergent plants. By removing invasive plants and re-establishing the right native species, a thriving ecosystem is established in the restored park, supporting pollinators and other wildlife. Access to healthy native ecosystems has been shown to provide numerous mental and public health benefits, which are currently being studied and better understood by society. Restored sites, particularly publicly accessible ones like Veterans Park and Shutt Mill Park, create natural green spaces for the community to enjoy together, thereby increasing the overall value of what the community offers its residents.

Veteran's Park was chosen to host the first Pennsylvania Native Species Day celebration on June 17, 2022, when Pennsylvania Governor Tom Wolf declared its first-ever Native Species Day to raise awareness about the importance and impact of native species on the state. The coalition of partners contributing to the many diverse projects helping to clean up Dauphin County’s waterways held a press conference to commemorate the milestone and chose the RES BMP restoration site at Veteran’s Park to host the event.

Click through the gallery to watch clips from the press event.