The Kidder Township Environmental Advisory Council (KTEAC) will host an educational workshop open to the public on June 19 for Kidder Township. The focus of the workshop will be on Marcellus shale and there will be a master gardener speaker from Penn State to talk about non-native species of plants and dealing with insect infestations. The program will last from 9 a.m. until noon. Each speaker will have approximately 40 minutes to speak on their topic.

The topic of Marcellus shale and hydraulic fracturing drilling is something many people will be facing in the near future. While there are no deposits of Marcellus shale in the immediate area of Kidder Township, the process used to drill for the natural gas deposits can dramatically affect the water table which will affect the drinking water for local residents.The process of drilling takes millions of gallons of water from local bodies of water such as the Delaware River and pumps the water in the group to force out the natural gas. They are able to recover 90 percent of the water used which then has to go through a purification process. Even with the purification there is still a chance that unwanted byproducts are attached to the water.The topic of native species of plants for landscaping is an important topic of discussion for Kidder Township residents. It not only gives natural beauty that is similar to the original landscape of the area, but it also ensures that what is planted will survive in the area. Often people plant trees or shrubs that are not native to the area and can be invasive causing problems for the native population of plants in the area.Previous workshops held by the Kidder Township Environmental Advisory Council were on rain gardens and trees in 2008 and then storm water in 2009. They decided to move it to June to try and capture a larger audience and not interfere with other public events in the area. The KTEAC will continue to set up free educational workshops to educate the public on environmentally friendly ways to care for their homes and protect the natural beauty of the local environment.