Bucknell student helps map Limestone Run restoration in Milton

Mason Klotz spent his summer ankle-deep in Milton’s Limestone Run, gathering the kind of field data that can turn a park concept into a working restoration plan. The Bucknell University psychology major from Charlotte, North Carolina, studied the stretch that runs through Brown Avenue Park for 10 weeks, documenting water quality, surveying habitat, taking drone footage and collecting water samples from late June through August.

Klotz worked with Sean Reese and Benjamin Hayes of Bucknell’s Watershed Sciences and Engineering program to develop a restoration plan for the stream corridor. Bucknell said the effort was aimed at reimagining Limestone Run as a healthier ecosystem and a stronger community asset, with the work centered in Brown Avenue Park rather than on campus. That makes the project unusually local for a university research effort: the creek, the park and the borough all sit in the same public landscape that residents use and see every day.

The immediate value of the research is the on-the-ground record it creates. The drone imagery, photographs and water-quality assessments give Milton and Bucknell a baseline for comparing future changes in the stream, whether the next steps focus on erosion control, habitat recovery or the way the park connects to the waterway. Limestone Run is a limestone-fed stream that could support native trout and environmental education opportunities, giving the restoration work a broader purpose than simple cleanup.

The project also fits inside a longer borough planning effort. Milton Borough has been pursuing a Brown Avenue Park Master Site Plan since at least 2024, when council sought planning funding from the Pennsylvania Department of Conservation and Natural Resources and later received $42,100 for the master site plan. Borough minutes show council was still working through consultant quotes in March 2024, and by August 2025 council approved advertising the request for proposals for a master site plan consultant.

For Milton residents, that means the student research is not a stand-alone exercise. It is part of a multi-year process that could shape how Brown Avenue Park is restored, how the stream corridor is handled and how the borough presents the site as public green space. Pennsylvania’s Department of Environmental Protection classifies streams by protected uses, including warm water, trout stocking, cold water, high quality and exceptional value designations, so the fieldwork in Brown Avenue Park sits inside a regulatory framework that can influence how the stream is managed next.