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Cleaning Up: Involving Community and Ecology in Remediation Projects
Citation:
Newcomer-Johnson, T. Cleaning Up: Involving Community and Ecology in Remediation Projects. East Mount Zion Landfill Site Community Workshop, Virtual, November 18, 2020.
Impact/Purpose:
East Mount Zion landfill is a Superfund Site located in Springettsbury, York County, Pennsylvania. Capping of the Site was completed in 1999. Presently the Site is protective of human health and the environment. However, the landfill vegetation cover is currently dominated by weeds and non-PA native species, thereby providing negligible value to the local community and nearby area. Consequently, we are advancing novel, real-world application of existing ecosystem goods and services (EGS) tools to help promote community revitalization in a new decision context. This presentation includes results from the following EcoService Models Library (ESML) models: Ecosystem Services Identification & Inventory (ESII) Tool, Grassland bird abundance models, InVEST: Integrated Valuation of Ecosystem Services and Tradeoffs models for carbon and pollination.
Description:
East Mount Zion landfill is a Superfund Site located in Springettsbury, York County, Pennsylvania. Capping of the Site was completed in 1999. Presently the Site is protective of human health and the environment. However, the landfill vegetation cover is currently dominated by weeds and non-PA native species, thereby providing negligible value to the local community and nearby area. Consequently, we are advancing novel, real-world application of existing ecosystem goods and services (EGS) tools to help promote community revitalization in a new decision context. Revegetation of a Superfund landfill cap with sustainable and low maintenance PA-native grasses and forbs will be used to provide opportunities for creating and enhancing EGS. A technical workshop was held to determine the technical boundaries for what restoration actions are possible based on site constraints and a community workshop will be held to determine what EGS and associated benefits would be most relevant to, and favored by, the community. Existing ORD tools that evaluate EGS will be used to facilitate implementation of the project, establish baseline conditions, and document anticipated increases in the site’s EGS. By identifying how best to utilize this site for the benefit of the community, this revegetation project leads to the site providing the community with increased recreational, educational, and aesthetic benefits thereby helping to stimulate local human community revitalization. Applying these ORD tools to this smaller, simpler situation allows greater likelihood for success and establishment of a foothold for future larger, more complex efforts. This project will inform future approaches and help develop guidelines for employing these ORD tools. Correspondingly, this project serves to demonstrate the potential efficacy of using an EGS approach and available ORD EGS tools to undertake successful restoration actions.