Thomas Macagno, left, program director of sustainability at Chatham University, leads graduate students in a discussion on Breakneck Creek at Stick City Brewing.

Graduate students at Chatham University are working with Mars borough to collect local input on Municipal Separate Storm Sewer System (MS4) improvements in the borough for future reports and projects.

The group of students and their professors held community listening and discussion sessions Oct. 28 and Nov. 4 at Penn Mar Plaza Senior Center and Stick City Brewing, respectively. A previous session took place at Mars Applefest earlier in the fall, where students had the chance to get to know the local community.

A third listening session will take place at 6:30 p.m. Nov. 11 in the large conference room in the Mars Area Public Library.

“The whole idea is to support Mars, and it gives our students a chance to learn,” said Thomas Macagno, program director of Sustainability at Chatham.

“What we're doing in this class is basically doing sort of listening sessions with the residents, trying to make sure their voices are heard, and seeing the different solutions that we've come up with for addressing MS4, asking what residents think about it to input that in how solutions come about.”

Mars, by mandate from the federal and state governments, is moving forward with MS4 restoration work along Breakneck Creek and in the borough, Mayor Gregg Hartung explained in a message on the borough's website.“The purpose is to make Breakneck Creek a natural channel to become a regenerative storm water conveyance to remove legacy sediment, to make possible stream modifications intended to restore natural forms and processes that reduce streambank or streambed erosion, and to capture pollutants,” Hartung said in the statement.Future work on the creek will address sediment pollution and clogging in the stream, and may involve aiming for other conservation goals, including the possibility of a conservation group being formed for the Breakneck Watershed.“The goal is to apply a comprehensive approach that may employ different aspects to plan for community awareness and involvement, and appropriate work on one or more site(s), creating long-term stability of the stream,” Hartung wrote.The Chatham graduate students, who attend the Eden Hall campus close to Mars, are one of a number of different classes of Chatham students who have worked with Mars on projects over the past several years.The class is working on three different approaches, Macagno explained: First, giving suggestions on how Mars might form a governance body for MS4 projects; second, giving out educational material and doing interviews with local residents to see how they think about Breakneck Creek in their daily lives; and third, aggregating the collected information from interviews into a report that will be delivered to the Mars Borough Council and Hartung.This class, which began in August, will finish Dec. 10. However, a graduate assistant will continue to work with Mars and its engineering firm between semesters.“The idea is, instead of trying to work just to our semesters, are there ways we can fill in the gaps? Are there projects we can do instead of coming in for 15 weeks and saying 'hello' and then saying 'bye?'” Macagno said.

At the meeting at Stick City, students set up a display with a map of the Breakneck Creek region with stickers and pictures of different possible improvements: walking paths, wildlife surveys, clean-up projects and more.They asked visitors to place stickers on the cards for the project ideas they found interesting or encouraging for the creek area.“We're looking for input on, if the stream was restored to a pristine condition, what sort of activities you might want in this stream, versus what sorts of infrastructure you'd be willing to pay for to help get that stream to that pristine condition,” said sustainability graduate student Alex Clark. “Then, we'll give that information to the borough to say, 'This is what people want to see the stream looking like.'”Clark said the project is a way to connect helping the borough with the areas of study that the students in the class are already pursuing.“It's something that many of us are passionate about,” he said. “That's why we came to get degrees in sustainability. We can help give them capacity to explore a lot of these environmental issues that could potentially have a financial consequence.”Roy Weitzell, aquatic laboratory director at Chatham, explained that improvements along Breakneck Creek could have large positive impacts.“If we could restore that area and stabilize those banks, we could very easily cut down on the amount of sediment that's getting into the stream,” he said. “That affects everything all the way to Zelienople.”He said that when students spoke to residents during their first listening session, they received a variety of different feedback on what people would like to see.“They would like more connectivity with the stream and pathways and benches, and plantings and flowers and trees for their own enjoyment,” he said. “And all of that could directly improve the conditions on the stream.”