‘Clean, renewable energy’: Lehigh Gap Nature Center hailed for sustainability

WASHINGTON TWP., Pa. — Two decades ago, when the Lehigh Gap Nature Center was founded, the landscape was barren, stripped of vegetation after years of industrial activity.

“There were different emissions that killed off the vegetation, the soil eroded and we were left with a landscape that looked very barren, and it was kind of a sad scene back at this time,” said Chad Schwartz, executive director of the Lehigh Gap Nature Center. “But, we worked with surrounding communities, many different partners in our region, to bring this back to life.

“ … We're now about 20 years into this process, but it's a thriving ecosystem these days. We established this beautiful native grassland on what was formerly a moonscape here in the Lehigh Gap area, and we now have hundreds of species of native, wildlife living on this land.”

The only nature center in the U.S. to call a Superfund site home, center officials on Thursday opened the doors of its visitor and education center to highlight the building’s sustainable features. An offshoot of PennEnvironment’s “Voices for Clean Energy” project, the Osprey House, 8844 Paint Mill Road, is an example of the opportunities nonprofit organizations can realize when it comes to energy efficiency, officials said.

“I'm so excited to be on this tour with you all to highlight how nonprofits from across Pennsylvania are increasingly powered by clean, renewable energy like solar and geothermal," said Madeleine Hepting, an organizer with PennEnvironment. "And how even more nonprofits can go solar or buy heat pumps right now, with all of the great rebates and incentives available for Pennsylvania homeowners, businesses, schools and nonprofits.

“There are so many benefits for Pennsylvanians that want to go solar. It allows them to do their part to reduce air and climate pollution by tapping into cleaner sources of energy.

"It improves grid reliability by adding more diverse sources of energy flowing into the grid, and it can even help them keep the lights on and energies flowing when their neighbors lose power, so they can have energy independence separate from the grid.”

‘The result of our work’

Blue Mountain, and about 3,000 acres around it, was unintentionally stripped of vegetation over about 100 years by the New Jersey Zinc Co., which set up a zinc smelting operation in nearby Palmerton in 1898, damaging the environment slowly over time.

Less than five years after the zinc smelting operation shuttered in the 1980s, the site was added to the EPA’s Superfund National Priorities List — a catalog of sites that have been polluted or contaminated with hazardous chemicals.

And the cleanup began.

“We used all kinds of very standard yard methods at the time, including crop duster airplanes and these tractors with spreaders to reintroduce native vegetation to this mountainside,” Shwartz said. “And here is the result of our work.”

Now, the area boasts 756 acres of preserved land and 13 multi-use trails.

“We see people out here year round using our trails for different purposes,” Schwartz said. “We couldn't have these trails if we didn't have the ecosystem restored to the level it is today.”

The center recently celebrated its 20th anniversary, marking the milestone with a panel called “Lehigh Gap Nature Center: A Conservation Success Story.”

Lehigh Gap Nature Center

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‘As green as possible’

Part of the transformation included the late 1800s farm house on the property. Instead of ripping it down and building a new structure, officials decided to retain what they could.

“We basically took advantage of that situation to make this building as green as possible,” Schwartz said. “… We implemented all kinds of different technologies to make this green building as green as possible here.”

Officials fifteen years ago expanded on the existing building, using sustainable and environmentally-conscious practices. They included using local building materials, installing heavy insulation made from recycled newspapers and bird-safe windows, as well as energy-efficient lighting and a mini sewage treatment system that filters wastewater.

The newly-improved Osprey House, named for a native bird known to hunt fish out of the Lehigh River, was dedicated in 2010.

Outside the house is a series of wells, about 270-feet deep, for geothermal heating and cooling.

“What we do is we pump water into the ground, and the ground regulates the temperature of our building when that water is piped back through,” Schwartz said. “In the winter time, it provides heat. In the summertime, it provides cooling.

“And, it helps to save a lot of money. We don't have to pull as much electricity, even from the solar panels or the grid, to power our electricity, because the Earth is helping to regulate the temperature of the building here.”

In 2018, the center added a 65-panel solar array to the Osprey House roof.

The 23.4 kilowatt system “has made a huge difference on our carbon footprint — also saved us money,” Schwartz said.

“Total production as of this month — over 160,000 kilowatt hours produced by our solar panels,” he said. “That equals over 120 tons of carbon dioxide avoided, and over $15,000 saved in electricity costs since these panels went up.

“So, it is saving us money year after year, and that money can be invested back into the other things that we do here at the nature center.”

The center has so far received nearly $5,000 in solar renewable energy credits.

“Every summer, this is always exciting to see when we look at our electricity bills, we meet 100% of our energy needs, usually every June, July, August, at least, sometimes, May, sometimes into September, too,” Schwartz said. “So these panels and the warmer, sunnier months of the year help to really reduce our carbon footprint significantly here at the nature center.

“And the rest of the year, when we do need to pull from the grid, we make sure we go with green energy suppliers, so suppliers who pull from other renewable sources.”

‘A visible difference’

The solar array was funded through a $87,048 grant from Green Mountain Energy’s Sun Club Project.

“This is just one of a number of projects that we support through Green Mountain that support solar energy,” said Dan McCunney, spokesperson for Green Mountain Energy Sun Club. “Projects like this one are not only helping Lehigh Gap Nature Center reduce their carbon footprint, but also allowing them to put money back into the community and the work that they do.

“It's projects like this one that really get us up, out of bed in the morning and doing what we do.”

Evoke Solar, a family-run small business in Hellertown, installed the panels.

“I’ve been doing solar for 21 years,” said Wes Checkeye, co-owner of Evoke Solar. “And it’s pretty cool to see things like this happen at the Lehigh Gap Nature Center here, because when I started doing solar we were one of three installers in the tri-state area.

“Now I’m a small fish in a large sea of solar installers in the nation, and we’ve seen this thing actually develop into something that’s making a visible difference.”