(9/2019) In the beginning there was a garden. No matter your personal belief or your religion’s origin story, it is fair to say that the start of civilization and gardening go hand in hand. When our gardens are successful, so are we. Fast-forward to today and you will still find gardens wherever people live. From vegetable gardens and ornamental landscaping to houseplants, we like to surround ourselves with plants. In every place people live, you will find plants. We even have a garden at our local jail. Hopefully, soon that garden will get a significant meaningful boost in Adams County.

I’ve been working with some local experts to create an Adams County Jail Nursery. Our intention is not to just have inmates tend a pretty garden. Our plan is to create a multifaceted educational program, wherein inmates are taught marketable horticultural skills, learn basic gardening, and work towards improving our local and regional environment. Along the way I hope inmates and our community learn that through the act of gardening, life grows and improves. It is a lesson still with us from the dawn of civilization.

With the help of Penn State Extension, the Conservation District, the Adams County Adult Detention Center, local horticultural and environmental groups, we are developing an action plan and funding plan to create four unique nursery programs, each with its own benefit to the inmates and our community.

Before I get too far along, I want to make clear that all of these projects are predicated on receiving funding. We are currently in the planning phase and have yet to sit down and research funding opportunities. Once we have an approved plan, then we will seek local, state, and federal funds to get the project off the ground. We still have a ways to go before asking the prison board for approval. This article is intended to give you a heads up on an idea that may grow roots.

The first and most basic nursery will be to improve the existing jail vegetable garden. Anyone who gardens knows that even an average vegetable garden can produce a fair amount of food. A well-run garden can be a cornucopia. With the assistance of our local Penn State Extension we will design a course on basic vegetable gardening, the produce from which will be used in the prison. If this project is successful, it may also help to reduce the cost of food in the prison, as well as improve the quality and nutritional content of the meals.

The second nursery will house flowers for pollinator and rain gardens. Three-fourths of the world’s flowering plants and about 35 percent of the world’s food crops depend on animal pollinators to reproduce. Based upon the 2016 Adams County Fruitbelt Economic Impact Analysis our fruit industry represents $580,000,000 in annual impact to Adams County. Our fruit industry no longer relies solely on native pollinators, instead orchard owners must import honey bees to make sure fruit trees are pollinated. There are even state and federally funded programs to create pollinator habitat and plant native flowers to attract pollinators. Hopefully, we can tap into some of those funds for this project.

Growing plants for rain gardens will also have practical local effects on our community. Many of you have heard about efforts to clean up the Chesapeake Bay. Since we are within the Chesapeake Bay watershed, we have a part to play in these efforts. While it seems a small thing, making sure our rainwater has adequate time to absorb into the soil is critical to keeping the bay clean. This is why we have retention ponds at all newer housing developments and beside large parking lots. Growing the right plants within these areas and along our waterways can further enhance our efforts to keep phosphorus, nitrogen, and sediments from reaching the bay. In working with the Adams County Conservation District and local garden clubs, we will create a curriculum that both educates inmates on the environmental efforts of storm water and nutrient run-off and teaches inmates the skills necessary to design, grow, and plant rain gardens.

Just as rain gardens help protect the bay, so too does the fourth nursery program, Riparian Buffer plants. This nursery will focus on the growth of trees and shrubs intended to improve riparian buffers along Adams County creeks and waterways. A riparian buffer (or stream buffer) is a vegetated area near a stream, which helps shade and partially protect the stream from the impact of adjacent land uses, such as homes and farms. Riparian buffers play a key role in improving water quality. For the past few years Pennsylvania, Maryland, Virginia, West Virginia, New York, and Washington DC have been engaged in efforts to improve the Chesapeake Bay. Engaged may be a bit of a watered down expression, the Environmental Protection Agency has ordered these states to create plans to improve the water quality of the bay. In fact if we don’t clean up our act by 2025, we can expect some hefty fines from the federal government.

Each state is creating a plan to address their effects on bay water quality. In Pennsylvania and Adams County our efforts are focused on created wooded riparian buffers. These have proven to be the most cost effective way to improve water quality. This aspect of the jail nursery project is perhaps the most exciting and impactful. We will work with the PA Department of Conservation and Natural Resources and the Conservation District to create an educational plan that includes learning about watersheds, land use practices, water quality, and a practical component of learning to grow, design, plant, and maintain riparian buffers.

A program that helps inmates and our local environment is a win-win for all of us. Over the coming months I will continue to meet with state and local stakeholders to create a program for full review by the Adams County Prison Board. For now I am just planted the seed.

If you have any questions about this project or any other county business, do not hesitate to contact me at mqually@adamscounty.us or give me a call at 717-339-6514.