With a presidential order pressing down on them, officials are looking for better ways to stop soil, manure, sewage and suburban runoff of fertilizers from getting into local streams and eventually the Chesapeake Bay.

One buzzword coming out of the brainstorming: partnerships of public agencies and grassroots private groups.

Kind of what the men and women of the Donegal Chapter of Trout Unlimited have been doing for years.

The group has deftly orchestrated alliances with a range of state and federal agencies and private sources, tapping funds to fix streams. That benefits water quality, sportsmen, wildlife and the Chesapeake Bay.

The Donegal TU's stream-restoration work on Lititz Run has won state and national awards.

They've been working on Conowingo Creek, a wild trout stream in southern Lancaster County, since 2006 and just got funding for a new phase.

And now they're branching out to two more Solanco streams: Fishing Creek and Climbers Run.

Armed with a $10,000 check from Exelon Power and assistance from the Pennsylvania Fish and Boat Commission, work will begin in June on a quarter-mile section of Fishing Creek in Drumore Township.

Both sides of the stream will be improved on the property of the Valley Lea Riding Club, which readily agreed to the project and to allow public fishing for at least 10 years.

Friends of Fishing Creek, a grassroots watershed association started by Donegal TU, also helped secure the project.

Fishing Creek is one of the few high-quality streams in Lancaster County. But it has problems with badly eroding banks.

Under the upcoming project, banks will be stabilized and fish-habitat structures added.

The section is stocked with trout by the Fish and Boat Commission, but wild trout also have been found and the improvements can only boost the wild stock.

Donegal TU was fishing around for possible funding partners when Ted Downs, noticing the site was near the Muddy Run pumped storage facility, decided what the heck and placed a call to Exelon.

"They were more than willing to sit down with us and help us by getting involved," says Downs.

"The restoration efforts by Trout Unlimited to Fishing Creek are important in addressing the root cause of the sediment issue in the Susquehanna River, which is sediment coming into the river from its many tributaries," says Mary Helen Marsh, Exelon Power's director of environmental operations.

Sediment flowing down the Susquehanna has piled up behind the Conowingo Dam to the point that in another 10 or 20 years storms could flush large amounts into the Chesapeake Bay.

"All the erosion we can stop in our streams keeps the Conowingo Pond from filling up. It was just a hand-in-glove fit," observes Bob Kutz, Donegal TU's conservation projects chairman.

The upcoming project may be just one of a swirl of efforts to improve Fishing Creek.

The Lancaster County Conservancy, whose detailed stream survey of the Fishing Creek watershed helps secure funding interest, is looking at three improvement projects along land it owns.

And Donegal TU has persuaded Drumore Township supervisors to work on the stream at its Drumore Township Park.

Also on tap next year is an ambitious mending of a badly eroded section of Climbers Run on both sides of Route 324 near Marticville.

This time, Donegal TU is teaming up with the Fish and Boat Commission and the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service.

Five property owners have signed on to the project, estimated to cost about $25,000.

It came about when a Plain Sect farmer who was losing his tobacco field and a stream-crossing road to runaway erosion approached the Lancaster County Conservation District, which contacted Donegal TU.

The erosion was so bad that the stream has split into different fingers. The restoration along a half-mile will rechannel the stream back to its original bed, involve streambank fencing to keep livestock out and a more environmentally friendly place for cattle and farm equipment to cross.

The stream section is stocked by the Pennsylvania Fish and Boat Commission and will stay that way.

In yet another successful courtship, Donegal TU will continue new projects on its ambitious ongoing restoration of Conowingo Creek.

A sixth project, biggest of all, will involve restoration of 3,000 feet along the main stem and two tributaries in the headwaters of the stream below the Tanglewood Golf Course.

About $380,000 has been secured in federal funds routed through the state Department of Environmental Protection for use in fixing impaired streams.

Work will involve streambank stabilization, fish enhancement structures for wild trout, improvements to an adjacent wetlands and a buffer of trees and vegetation along the banks.

Ironically, work on three different streams will be going on concurrently under Donegal TU's "One Stream at a Time" initiative.

Observes Downs, "If you do a Google search on impaired streams in Lancaster County you will find over 120 listed. So restoration of one stream at a time is no longer a realistic goal if we want to make an impact for clean water and make a meaningful contribution to the Chesapeake Bay restoration."

Mark Metzler, a watershed specialist with the Rettew Associates consulting firm, praises Donegal TU for its recruiting skills.

"Those guys are pretty good with working with private landowners and not being obnoxious in the process, and getting some stuff done.

"It's a good example of what partnerships and voluntary compliance can do, when you approach it right."

acrable@lnpnews.com