What’s Up, Watershed, April Edition
“Live staking” offers a free and easy way to protect our streams from pollution, create wildlife habitat, and ease flooding in our communities
My favorite thing about springtime is getting back outside after months of winter cold! Early last month, I had the pleasure of getting out on a crisp morning to host a workshop in a local stream. Over the past year, I’ve been training to be a Master Watershed Steward with the Penn State Extension. As part of our final project, my fellow trainees and I hosted a workshop in Delaware County on something called “live staking.” In this post, I’ll teach you all about live staking and explain how YOU can help in repairing our state’s streams today!
Chris Bunn
Environmental Program Coordinator
Live staking is a method of repairing streams that involves planting live cuttings of native trees and shrubs into stream banks for the purpose of stabilizing
soil and preventing erosion.
But why would a stream need to be repaired in the first place? Through human activities, our state’s native streamside vegetation including trees, shrubs, and herbaceous plants have been removed, replaced, or outcompeted by invasive plants in many places. This leaves many stream banks without much native vegetation, meaning that there aren’t enough roots to hold the soil in place.
Without a network of roots to hold stream banks together, intense stream flows during storm events can cause stream banks to erode away. This erosion causes banks to become very steep, cutting off the stream’s access to its natural floodplain and worsening flash flooding downstream. In addition, the soils and sediments from the stream bank are carried downstream, contributing to water pollution and habitat degradation.
Though the issues facing our streams are large, live staking offers a free, easy, and satisfying solution!
Live cuttings from certain species shrubs and trees — red-twig dogwood, pussy willow, and elderberry to name a few — have the remarkable ability to sprout roots when planted in wet soils. This means that when planted in the right location, these stakes can create new plants within a matter of a few years!
When planted in groups, these new plants create a network of roots that act as a net, holding soil in place and providing habitat value for native wildlife.
Anyone can get involved in live staking, whether you have a stream on your property that needs repair or just want to help protect local waterways in your area.
To learn more about live staking, be sure to check out this how-to video created by the Penn State Extension.
To get involved with others who care about protecting local waterways, consider becoming a Master Watershed Steward. And for more information on tools and techniques for making your community greener, be sure to check out www.growinggreenercommunities.org.
Thanks so much for reading — we’ll see you next month here at “What’s Up, Watershed?”
Photos shown above (top to bottom): Chris Bunn, Chris Bunn, Washington State Department of Transportation, Matt Lavin, Varina Crisfield.
CLICK HERE to read March 2025 blog: Become an Environmental Steward This Spring with the Help of Our New Website
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CLICK HERE to read January 2025 blog: Winter Sowing: A Cheap, Easy, and Efficient Way to Start Seeds
CLICK HERE to read November 2024 blog: Fireflies — A Magical Reason to Leave Your Leaves
CLICK HERE to read October 2024 blog: Trees Big and Small to Plant This Fall — Three Magnificent Tree Species to Spruce Up Your Yard
CLICK HERE to read September 2024 blog: Beautify Your Yard with These Three Native Plants
CLICK HERE to read August 2024 blog: Cool Waters: How Trees Help to Protect Pennsylvania’s State Fish
CLICK HERE to read July 2024 blog: Do YOU Know What an Immature Dragonfly Looks Like?
CLICK HERE to read June 2024 blog: Rain Gardens: An Upstream Solution to Pollution
CLICK HERE to read May 2024 blog: How to Plant a Nature-Friendly Landscape in 3 Easy Steps!
CLICK HERE to read April 2024 blog: April Showers: The Journey of a Spring Raindrop
CLICK HERE to learn more about watershed protection
MEET PRC ENVIRONMENTAL PROGRAM COORDINATOR CHRIS BUNN
On a day-to-day basis, Chris’ work includes creating watershed-focused educational content and supporting the implementation of nature-based solutions to residential stormwater pollution. In his free time, Chris enjoys writing and performing original music, growing food, and nerding out about native plants.
