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<p>LUZERNE &#8212; A group working to beautify and develop the banks of Toby&#8217;s Creek in the borough and transform the area into an urban park is moving forward after receiving some suggestions and guidance from a watershed specialist.</p><p>John Levitsky, of the Luzerne Conservation District, commended the volunteers who have been working with the Luzerne Merchants Association at a recent meeting hosted by the association and Mayor Jim Keller.</p><p>The volunteers picked up trash and cut out a huge amount of Japanese knotweed &#8212; an invasive species that made accessing the creek banks difficult if not impossible without a machete &#8212; on two recent cleanup days.</p><p>Levitsky said the group&#8217;s first priority now that the knotweed has been removed should be getting temporary vegetation planted, such as rye grass, to prevent soil erosion. Then, herbicide should be applied to prevent return of the knotweed.</p><p>Levitsky noted he&#8217;s working on projects throughout the Toby&#8217;s Creek watershed, such as stormwater basins in Dallas Township, stream bank stabilization in Kingston Township and other work throughout the headwaters of the creek. The hope is it will eventually reduce the flood peaks in Luzerne.</p><p>He said he wants to form a Toby&#8217;s Creek watershed association &#8220;so all of the municipalities and all of the people who are interested in the creek can work on joint-venture ideas.&#8221;</p><p>The creek is approximately 10.5 miles long. Besides Luzerne, it flows through Dallas Township, Dallas, Kingston Township, Courtdale, Pringle, Kingston, Edwardsville and Larksville.</p><p>But the focus at Monday&#8217;s meeting was work on the section of creek that runs through Luzerne Borough.</p><p>&#8220;You folks are a key component &#8212; a piece of the puzzle &#8212; to restoring the water quality and turning it into your beautiful urban park. And by us doing work upstream of you, we reduce temperatures, so there&#8217;s more likelihood that cold-water fish &#8230; or native trout that are in parts of Toby&#8217;s Creek, can use the stream year-round, so it makes it a better recreational facility,&#8221; said Levitsky.</p><p><ins>&#8220;As we chip away at every part, including your town park right here, we benefit. You&#8217;ll see water quality improve, you&#8217;ll see better aquatic insects, better fish numbers, you&#8217;ll see a cleaner stream,&#8221; he said.</ins></p><p><strong>Funding is drying up</strong></p><p>Levitsky said he can facilitate working with state agencies and organizations to get funding to plant shrubs and trees &#8220;that are beautiful, that fit into the niche along the creek.&#8221; He recommended sycamores, pin oaks and some other native species that would provide &#8220;good shade, good coloration and good looks for the park.&#8221;</p><p>Jim Reisinger, a member of the Seneca Nation, recommended incorporating medicinal plants and herbs when planting new vegetation. He said federal funding might be available to assist with some aspects of the project because the area of Toby&#8217;s Creek in Luzerne is a Native American site.</p><p>Levitsky said any such funding source would be welcome because &#8220;the federal money pot for environmental projects if the political climate continues &#8212; and I&#8217;m not going to get into a political discussion, but &#8212; we&#8217;re going to lose a lot of funding.&#8221;</p><p><ins> &#8220;There are major cuts for all environmental programs at the present time,&#8221; Levitsky said. &#8220;There&#8217;s even discussion of abolishing the (U.S. Environmental Protection Agency), and a major chunk of our funding comes from EPA 319 grants for restoration of streams and protection of all the waterways.&#8221;</ins></p><p>An audience member asked the best way to address creek bank erosion behind the firehouse. Levitsky said a minor engineering study might be necessary to determine how best to address that problem. That&#8217;s because restriction of the stream caused by a bridge and overhead pipeline are likely contributing to the problem.</p><p>Jim Lane, owner of Main Bean coffee shop on Main Street, asked if they had to wait for state or federal money to become available or if merchants and residents could raise money through their own fundraisers. Levitsky said they absolutely could.</p><style>
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<div class="neCaption">John Levitsky, a watershed specialist with the Luzerne Conservation District, offers advice this week at a community meeting hosted by the Luzerne Merchants Association about continuing efforts to clean up and develop the banks of Toby&#8217;s Creek in Luzerne Borough. Seated at the table is association president Jeff Mullen. </div></div><div class="metaInfo"><photo0>https://www.timesleader.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/08/web1_Creek7.jpg</photo0><caption0>John Levitsky, a watershed specialist with the Luzerne Conservation District, offers advice this week at a community meeting hosted by the Luzerne Merchants Association about continuing efforts to clean up and develop the banks of Toby&#8217;s Creek in Luzerne Borough. Seated at the table is association president Jeff Mullen. </caption0><photoCredit0></photoCredit0></div></div>
<div class="metaInfo"><bylineMeta><p>By Steve Mocarsky</p><p>smocarsky@www.timesleader.com</p></bylineMeta></div><div class="metaInfo"><factboxMeta><p><strong>WHAT&#8217;S NEXT</strong></p><p>The Luzerne Merchants Association is hosting another cleanup along Toby&#8217;s Creek from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. Sunday, which will include soil preparation and some seeding. Volunteers from the community are welcome to assist between 10 a.m. and 2 p.m. in the area behind Luzerne Bank and along the creek side of Union Street.</p></factboxMeta></div><div class="metaInfo"><shirttailMeta><p>Reach Steve Mocarsky at 570-991-6386 or on Twitter @TLSteveMocarsky.</p></shirttailMeta></div>

Toby’s Creek project in Luzerne advances with aid of watershed expert