GGC Publishes New Live Staking Video!

Live staking offers a free and easy way to protect our streams from pollution, create wildlife habitat, and ease flooding in our communities.

This past February, I followed Stephen Lockard of the Tree Tenders of Upper Darby as he led a live staking workshop in Smedley Park, Delaware County. What is live staking, you may ask? 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 like trees, shrubs, and herbaceous plants have been removed, replaced, or out-competed 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.

Eroded stream bank. Photo credit: Washington State Department of Transportation

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 stakes planted in a stream bank.

Live cuttings from certain species shrubs and trees - red-twig dogwood, pussy willow, and elderberry to name a few - have the remarkable ability of growing 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!

As shown here, live stakes planted along a stream bank can grow into new plants within just a few years! Photo credit: Matt Lavin.

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. Check out our new video to learn more about this exciting method!

Thanks for reading,

Chris Bunn

Environmental Program Coordinator

Pennsylvania Resources Council