Riparian Forest Buffers
Riparian forest buffers provide substantial water quality and wildlife benefits if designed and constructed properly. Leverage our restoration capabilities to recreate beautiful, functional, durable buffers.
Explore and document the unique soil composition, hydrologic profile, and existing vegetation of each riparian buffer.
Use our models to choose an optimal set of species attuned to the site. Decide shrub/tree composition and species proportions.
Decide the most effective plant forms for the project. Choose an ideal mix of live stakes, bare root, Containerless™, restoration gallons, or air-pruned plants.
Ecologists perform meticulous layouts to optimize long-term survival and natural aesthetics. Our planters achieve 95% establishment success.
ArcheWild is Pennsylvania’s premier riparian forest buffer contractor. One phone call mobilizes our team to walk you through the entire process to get the job done right. Our project and nursery teams collaborate to deliver outstanding designs and high-quality yet affordable native plants for successful results.
Ecologists design the planting, choosing the correct species and performing the layout. Our nursery grows the plants in multiple forms including our “containerless” process. We can plant hundreds of trees and shrubs – grown in-house, caged and staked – in just a few days.
Contact a Riparian Buffer Specialist
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Riparian Buffer Portfolio Examples
Frozen Camp WMA in-lieu fee
ArcheWild won the multi-year contract to custom grow and plant nearly 15,000 trees and shrubs along a three-mile riparian buffer and wildlife habitat in WV.
Ecologist-driven planting design and layout, local ecotype seed collection and growing, and professionally planted.
Our riparian buffers perform much better than the industry expectation due to our experience, capable restoration nursery, and outstanding ecologists and professional planters.
We commonly achieve a first-time success rate of over 95%.
Morgan Creek MS4 Headwater
ArcheWild works with Township managers to find, design, and implement watershed protection projects to satisfy their MS4 requirements.
Here, ArcheWild designed and restored the headwaters to Morgan Creek, which originates on a Township-owned agricultural field. The deeply incised gulley was filled and reshaped to provide good sheet flow and then planted with local ecotypes of native shrubs to create a dense, habitat-friendly riparian buffer.
French Creek C2P2 Buffer
French Creek is an exceptional quality (EQ1) stream in southeastern Pennsylvania. ArcheWild was awarded the project after a competitive bidding process under the C2P2 grant program.
This project involved extensive invasive control and streambank protection along a 1/2-mile section prior to planting the buffer, which was composed of custom-grown shrubs and trees.
The project also included establishing a 5-acre riparian meadow.
Clarion River Buffer
ArcheWild was called in by a large private landowner to assess and start repairing over 30 acres of tornado damage along the Clarion River in north central PA.
An initial species test proved highly successful and informative. Historically-present trees performed excellently while species from further south in PA did not, a testament to our species selection tools.
Note performance of 1g seedlings of American chestnut, sugar maple, and red spruce after just three years in the ground.
Campbelltown MS4 Buffer
ArcheWild helped South Londonderry Township achieve its MS4 goals by installing a site-specific riparian buffer at Campbelltown Park.
This riparian buffer was tree-dominated and included about 40 street trees scattered through the park to lend some much-needed summertime shade.
Excellent initial and long-term survivability was achieved by using the correct species and plant forms grown especially for riparian buffers of this type.
Tinicum Riparian Buffer
Reinforcement of a riparian buffer along a tributary of Tinicum Creek was a crucial part of a larger 65-acre reforestation program.
Liberal use of coir fabrics, custom cutting of local live stakes, and containerized trees all contributed to holding soils and shading/cooling the stream.
Occasional flooding requires periodic inspection and maintenance.
