A thoughtful partnership between business, nonprofit and educational institutions is helping preserve the Montandon Marsh in Northumberland County.
The collaborative benefits the local environment and Susquehanna River, expands knowledge of the environment, and preserves the plant and animal kingdom.
“The way we treat some of the diversity that exists in nature destroys it,” said Dr. Warren "Abe" Abrahamson, professor of biology emeritus at Bucknell University. “It’s a little like burning a library before you’ve read the books. It gives you pause when you think about it. We’re only one of the fellow voyagers on planet Earth. There’s a lot of other voyagers we need to look out for. What we do in terms of habitat preservation is very important.”
In 1985, when Central Builders Supply purchased 148.5 acres that included Montandon Marsh, and an additional 164 acres in 1995, only 7% of the original wetlands still existed. The company, a supplier of concrete block, ready-mix concrete, and sand and gravel, had been owned and operated by the Markunas family since 1932. Central Builders Supply intended to mine the property for sand and gravel.
Those intentions sparked concern: what would be the fate of the delicate natural balance that has existed there for three quarters of a million years?
Remnants of mining pits exist throughout Pennsylvania. Sheer vertical walls of 25 to 30 feet of solid bedrock that fill in with water largely devoid of plant and animal life are typically left behind when land is drained for dry-mining.
Central Builders’ owner at the time, Tony Markunas II, was eager to find a solution.
“Clearly, they were interested in extracting sand and gravel but they also cared about what happened to the property,” said Abrahamson.
There is a great sense of community surrounding the wetlands portion of the company’s property for study by Bucknell and Susquehanna universities, said Matt Markunas, third generation owner and president of Central Builders.
“My father and brother, both Bucknell graduates and engineers, were heavily involved in making this work,” he said. “What it came down to is a bunch of people who were willing to collaborate.”
Unique attributes
The value of wetlands, like Montandon, cannot be overstated, said Abrahamson.
“Privately owned tracts, north and south of Route 45 and Montandon, contain the only examples of upland dunes and the best examples of wet forest and open marsh in Central Pennsylvania,” he said.
The ecosystem supports wildlife habitats, flood control and water quality. It adds to a healthy environment and aids humans. Around 48% of all the threatened, endangered or rare species in the United States are associated with wetlands. In the marsh, those species possibly facing extinction flourish. The animals live and raise their young in these habitats. Abrahamson emphasized the variety of wetland attributes, including the wet environment, coupled with large amounts of nutrients, result in a variety of vegetation; wetlands also filter water and help buffer the impact of extreme weather events, especially in the Susquehanna Valley where flooding is a recurring threat.
The riparian buffer – the area adjacent to the wetlands – reduces sediment in streams and rivers. The ecosystem is also an important recreational resource for hunting, bird watching, and other outdoor activities, said Abrahamson. And, he added, wetlands serve as carbon-capture devices which are important to mitigate the effects of global climate change.
“Wetlands provide for lots of good ecological function,” Abrahamson said.
The Montandon Marsh is important and unique. It contains vegetation with elements of both glacial wetlands and an ocean coastal plain, including a half-dozen rare plant species, including shrub and sedge marsh, hardwood swamp, riverine forests, and moist and dry upland hardwoods.
Geologically, the marsh’s sand dunes are highly unusual for a non-coastal area. In 1973, Abrahamson, who is also a research associate at the Archbold Biological Station, first embarked on field studies with his students at Montandon Marsh.
“Geologists and physical geographers from Bucknell and Penn State universities have identified these dunes as the best-developed, well-preserved riverine dune system south of the Pleistocene glacial boundary in the U.S.,” he said.
Breeding bird surveys undertaken at the site, including one by Bucknell students overseen by Abrahamson and Dr. Allen Schweinsburg and another by The Nature Conservancy, have identified 76 bird species breeding on the property. Nine species were found only in the northern wetlands; 10 species were exclusively in the southern wetlands.
“This speaks to the uniqueness of the two sites,” said Abrahamson.
Among the birds observed are the state-threatened least bittern and American bittern, the rare marsh wren, Virginia rail, and species of other shorebirds, raptors and land birds.
“Autumn and spring bring migrating waterfowl,” said Abrahamson. “Also, the sandy, wet soils make the Montandon wetlands one of the few sites in Pennsylvania where the rare spadefoot toad can be spotted.”
Finding a way
The Markunas family and Central Builders plant manager Karl Bettleyon worked with a team of scientists, including biologist, the late Dr. John G. Clark, to answer the question: can a mining operation exist without displacing wetland flora and fauna?
Traditional mining operations pump a site dry to excavate sand and gravel, potentially negatively impacting water tables and water quality, and displacing plants and animals. Bettleyon proposed an innovative wet dredge technique.
The mining occurs in a wet environment, allowing for minimal upheaval and post-mining site restoration wherein sediments finer than mason sand — a product for which there is no market — is pumped back into the wetlands. The technique is more expensive, said Bettleyon.
“It involves an extra step and another set of costs,” he said. “And this [wet] mining method relies on very good, skilled operators who know what they’re doing, because they can’t see the bottom where they’re dredging.”
Today 29 people own land in and around wetlands on the Markunas property. Two years after mining operations began in 1995, the Merrill Linn Conservancy purchased a 34-acre tract of land owned by one such owner, the Bellis family. The conservancy was making an effort to protect the Montandon ecosystem. That tract of land is unique, said Abrahamson. It’s one of the few areas that contain the range of Montandon habits.
“The hope is that the acquisition and full protection of this tract will facilitate protection of adjacent privately held tracts to conserve unusual swamp forest, upland forest, and paleo-sand dunes for generations to come,” he said.
In 2003, with the Linn Conservancy, the Markunas family conserved 77 acres of their land, which includes the marsh and a hundred-foot buffer. That move transferred development rights to the nonprofit. The conservancy works to ensure that the terms of the easement – which dictate no development can occur on this portion of the property – are met.
Matt Markunas estimates the Central Builders property is more than halfway mined.
“Once we have completed mining operations, we will look into all the options of potentially setting the land aside for the future and allowing it to continue to be an area where people can study,” he said. “It would certainly behoove us to discuss possibilities with the Linn Conservancy.”Back story
In Montandon, east of Lewisburg, Native Americans and later settlers relied on the nearby wetlands abutting the Susquehanna River for food and water.
Scientists, including the late Dr. Louis Peltier, began studying the Montandon Marsh in the 1940s to map the Susquehanna Valley’s soil stratas. The Bucknell University physical geographer's work culminated in a landmark publication: "The Pleistocene Terraces of the Susquehanna.”
His work also yielded an important finding – the west branch of the Susquehanna River and its offshoots are bordered by tiered sand and gravel deposits, some as much as 35-feet deep. Those deposits are left behind not by floods but glaciers that receded at the end of the ice age.
“Vast amounts of melt water and sediment scoured out the bedrock and deposited sand and gravel across the valley floor,” said Dr. Benjamin Hayes, program director of Watershed Sciences and Engineering at Bucknell University. “Winds created sand dunes that are still visible in the landscape near Montandon, and former side channels of the braided Susquehanna River were left high and dry after the meltwater floods receded. Over time, shallow wetlands were formed in these side channels, supporting emergent vegetation and animal life.”
The site has further matured as a learning laboratory, attracting national recognition to the location. Amphibian plants, restoration ecology, and geology are among the disciplines studied at the marsh.
Bucknell faculty was awarded a National Science Foundation grant and erected a slurry wall on the site to further sustain environmental remediation.
Engineers from across the country monitor instruments on the wall.
The impacts on the environment are equally inspiring.
Hydrologist Hayes returns to the site regularly with Bucknell engineering students to conduct water testing of surface water and groundwater collected at a number of different points. The results are provided to the PA Department of Environmental Protection.
“We make sure the water coming into and leaving the marsh is either the same [quality] or better,” said Hayes. “I’m proud to admit it’s actually improved every year. That’s just testimony to so much vegetation. They are the kidneys of the operation.”
In the future, the site could be developed into a public recreation area.
The Linn Conservancy has permission from Markunas to offer public hikes to the wetlands to alert the community to the value and importance of the bionetwork.
“There’s room for a trail,” said Hayes, “and a dock for kayaking and boating.”
He cautions that those projects cost money, incur liability and require a commitment from somebody who’s willing to take it over.
“Ultimately, we consider it a privilege to have a company like Central Builders allow us to continue our research interests here, and appreciate their commitment to restoration and conservation,” he said.
Hayes said there’s a lot to be grateful for.
“The word generations comes to mind,” he concluded. “There are multiple generations involved in Central Builders — a grandfather, father, and sons. There are multiple generations of Bucknell faculty, long retired, that left a legacy. Both passed down a shared sense of values: one, do what’s right; two, work well with other people; and three, be a catalyst for positive change in our area. Private industry really isn’t required to do this. This is very, very unusual. It’s a heartwarming story.”
