CrfldFOWComServ

=Friends of the Wissahickon*=


 * Although the Crefeld School calls this Community Service placement "Friends of the Wissahickon", and the school often works with the 501C3 organization by that name, this Community Service is not a direct function or program of The Friends of the Wissahickon. More information about the Friends of the Wissahickon organization can be found here: [|FOW]

=**It's amazing the amount of work we have to do to keep this place looking natural. --James H. Welch, 1952-1998**=

Goals
By working in this community service placement students :

• develop knowledge about environmental degradation and environmental conservation including: erosion and storm water management, exotic invasive plant species, the water cycle and watersheds, interdependence of species including humans. • develop working knowledge of Philadelphia, and Wissahickon History, particularly early industrialization and land use. • learn to use hand tools effectively and safely and to work together towards common goals. • see and appreciate the good they do for the approximately one million people who visit the Wissahickon each year. The work is tangible so the students can experience the improvements they make. Additionally public passers by often comment on the work and thank them right on the spot. • recognize that it is relatively easy to have a positive impact right in their community simply by pitching in. A simple phone call or email to volunteer leaders can put each of them in a position to make a real difference in their fellow citizen's lives as often as they want. • are encouraged weekly to consider the nature and importance of their work. At the beginning and end of each project the work is discussed and evaluated both from a micro perspective of the project at hand, and a macro perspective of how each individual project is part of larger efforts to maintain and improve the park, and how the park is so very importantl both environmentally and socially. During inclement weather long periods are given over to reflection through interviews and discussion.

Activities
Every Wednesday throughout the school year, 10-20 Crefeld students work in various areas of the Wissahickon. The work consists of a wide range maintenance and improvement projects. These have included: litter removal, fish stocking, clean out of blocked culverts and gutters, mulching, trail repair, trail closure, trail building, storm clean-up, tree and herbaceous plant installation, erosion mat installation, cleaning of debris from creeks, fence repair and installation, leaf raking.

About the Wissahickon
The Wissahickon area of Philadelphia's Fairmount Park consists of roughly 1800 acres of forest gorge through which runs the lower section of the Wissahickon Creek. Several of the Wissahickon's important tributaries lie wholly within this section of park. The park has close to 60 miles of natural surface trails. Approximately a million people visit the Wissahickon every year to fish,mountain bike, jog, ride horses, rock climb, bird watch, and pursue other outdoor activities. During the 19th Century the Wissahickon was an important industrial valley, supporting 53 different mill operations (35 within what is now the Philadelphia City limit) powered by the water of the Wissahickon Creek and its tributaries. In the late 19th century, the City of Philadelphia gained ownership of the land surrounding the creek to create a park ostensibly to protect the watershed that still supplies over 30% of the city's drinking water. For more information about the Wissahickon or to volunteer to work in the park, see: [|Friends of the Wissahickon], [|Fairmount Park]

**Subject:** **Fw: Carpenter's Woods - Greene Street Planting** Hi Dave - You're probably on the FOCW email list but I wanted to send this to you personally. Please share with the students and teachers who helped with this project. The work they did was challenging but they did a fine job under difficult circumstances and contributed greatly to the success of this huge project. I appreciate their work and your leadership and look forward to working together with Crefeld on many more such projects in the future. Thank you! David B David S. Bower, Volunteer Coordinator, Fairmount Park Commission

9/23/09
A beautiful day to work in the woods.

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THE PROJECT

Today we were tasked with primarily with clearing the culvert that allows the Cathedral Road tributary to pass beneath a low concrete bridge on the trail just west of Forbidden Drive. An intense storm in August had brought tens of tons of rock and other debris down from the direction of Roxborough. The debris had thoroughly clogged the 3' diameter culvert as well and had choked the creek above and below the concrete bridge.

Previous to our visit the Philadelphia Water Department had come with heavy equipment and cleared the entrance to another culvert that passes beneath Forbidden Drive, as well as clearing Forbidden Drive itself. As a result of the PWD work as well as the flood itself rock was strewn all over the site. Our secondary task was to recover several loads of rock for use in projects in the Wissahickon in the future. This rock was hauled in a tracked dumper owned by the Friends of the Wissahickon.

By the end of the day we had succeeded in opening up the culvert and removing about 8 tons of usable building stone.

THE SOURCE OF THE PROBLEM Flooding and subsequent blockage of this creek occurs periodically as development upstream in Roxborough has created acres of impermeable surfaces--roads, parking lots, roofs--that allow rain water to sluice downhill, onto Cathedral Road, and then into the tributary. Historically much of that storm water would have percolated into the ground to recharge the water table, some of it later emerging at the surface as springs which would have discharged into the tributary more gradually. Now, because the aquifer is starved of rain water that would recharge it, the tributary runs relatively dry much of the time. Then during and following major precipitation events the tributary is flooded well beyond capacity. As a result, the tributary has been scoured down to bedrock in many places, the banks have become steep and wide, and in addition to water many tens of tons of debris wash down to block culverts and trails and to add silt and sediment into the Wissahickon--the source of 30% of Philadelphia's drinking water. A similar situation occurs on many tributaries of the Wissahickon. Fairmount Park, PWD, and FOW all have programs and projects under way to address some of these problems in various places throughout the Wissahickon park.

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9/30/09

THE PROJECT Today we spent the day planting plugs of herbaceous material along the "Early Implementation Trail" (EIT) that runs along the Wissahickon Creek from Bells Mills road to Thomas Mill Road.

THE PROBLEM

Last summer that trail was extensively reconstructed and reforestation efforts along the trail corridor continue. As in much of the Wissahickon gorge, the forest along the EIT has suffered the ravages of over-browse by white tailed deer, erosion, consumption of the duff litter by exotic earth worms, and opportunistic colonization by exotic invasive plant species. An important aspect of FOW's Sustainable Trails Initiative (STI) is an attempt to re-establish ribbons of native forest along the trail corridors as the trails system is rebuilt. It is hoped that these ribbons of habitat will serve as bases from which healthy native forest will expand.

A base layer of herbaceous material and decaying plant matter is fundamental to a healthy forest ecosystem. As well as providing cover and organic material for the germination of various seeds, this layer supports and shelters the many insects and small animals that form the base of the food chain. The plugs we planted are intended, when they grow and propagate, to comprise a key component of this base layer.

Re-establishing healthy forest presents a large challenge because the elements that have degraded the forest--storm water, deer, earthworms-- are still present. Therefore species that are desirable yet resistant to these scourages must be found and other strategies employed. In order to help prevent the deer from eating the newly planted plugs, today we planted each desirable plug right next to a plug of plant that deer enjoy but is not particularly desirable otherwise. It is hoped that the deer will consume the latter allowing the former to thrive.



10/7/09

THE PROJECTS We worked on the trail that begins at the eastern terminus of Cathedral Road as well as the Yellow trail into which the Cathedral Road trail Ts. We filled in low spots on the Cathedral trail with previously deposited millings from a PWD tunneling project along Kelly Drive. Along the Yellow Trail one group removed an obsolete 6x6 water bar and installed a steep rolling grade dip to channel water off the trail while another group cleared accumulated dirt from the deck of a wooden bridge. A third group worked as we had on September 9th at the junction of Cathedral Run and Forbidden Drive to collect and load several more tons of rock to be stored for later projects.

THE PROBLEM Several roads drain a large area of Roxborough and converge at the base of Cathedral Road, pouring all storm water onto the top of the trail and the headwaters of Cathedral Run. Additionally there are many fairly new housing with associated roofs, driveways and other impermeable surfaces that increase the volume of water sluicing into the park (see above, 9/30 project).

Photos below depict loading and movement of material to the trail and removal and carrying of old (heavy) 6x6.



10/14 Today we worked at [|Thomas Mansion]. We mulched shrubs, removed invasive species and other weeds, and created raw materials for temporary fencing from a fallen tree. Unfortunately we did not have a camera with us today.

10/21 Today we worked at the [|Wissahickon Environmental Center], located at the north end of the Wissahickon park. WEC is located on the remenants of the Andorra Nursery, once the largest nursery on the east coast, stretching from Bells Mills road to Butler Pike, and from Germantown Pike to Ridge Pike. WEC is located near the bottom of a steep slope and suffers severe erosion from the storm water runoff that originates up hill in paved and roofed over Roxborough. Our task today was to use gravel to fill in stairs and trail sections that had eroded away, and to protect areas of trail with wood chip mulch. Some of this work was intended to prepare the area for [|Whispers Along the Wissahickon] event that is to occur on Friday night.





10/28 Today it rained. We stayed at school and watched and discussed a presentation about the history of the Wissahickon, the Friends of the Wissahckon (FOW), and FOW's Sustainable Trails Initiative.

11/4 Today we worked on the periphery of Carpenter's Woods. This section of the Wissahickon park is just barely contiguous with the main Wissahickon along a narrow area where the tributary that flows out of Carpenter's Woods flows beneath Wissahickon Avenue. Otherwise Wissahickon Avenue and private land separate Carpenter's Woods from the main gorge. Notwithstanding its peninsular nature, the 35 acre Carpenters Woods is one of the most ecologically and socially important areas of the park. Carpenters Woods provides bird habitat so good to so many species that bird watchers from several states make regular pilgrimages to Carpenters Woods to observe bird life. Additionally, hundreds of neighbors visit Carpenters Woods to walk dogs, visit with others, and just enjoy being out of doors. In winter, when it snows, a couple of the trails in Carpenters Woods are very popular sledding places for young children.

The problem In the past the leaves form trees along the perimeter of Carpenters Woods were simply raked into the street for pick-up by the city. However, the city of Philadelphia will no longer provide mechanical leaf pick-up.

The solution Crefeld Students raked leaves from the sidewalk and street either directly into the woods, or onto tarps which were then dragged deeper into the woods, their contents then dumped and dispersed. The project was begun earlier in the day by students from the Friends Central School. We also carried fencing and posts down to the meadow to be used on next week's project (see below).

Photos pending.

11/11 Today, cool and overcast with threatening rain, we returned to Carpenters Woods, this time to the meadow in the middle of the woods. This area had once been extensively denuded of vegetation primarily due to over use and abuse by dogs off leash. About 10 years ago the area was restored to a naturalized meadow: the packed earth was scarified, seeds and plugs were planted, and the area was fenced such that much of it remained off limits to dogs and people and a wide trail down the center was reserved for use by people and their 4 legged companions.

The Problem The fence separating the trail area from the rest of the meadow had deteriorated.

The Solution David Bower of Fairmount Park had obtained used snow fencing to replace the deteriorated fence and partially installed it. He also obtained 2" x 2" black deer fencing, fence posts, and zip ties. Our job was to add posts as needed, and sandwich the snowfence with deer fence secured with zip ties. We also cleared the area on each side of the fence and removed multiflora rose and tulip trees that were growing in the meadow but which are undesirable there.

Photos pending

November 18

The Problem A large oak tree had fallen in Fernhill Park; newly planted trees needed protection and delineation from lawn.

The Solutions Teacher with chainsaw, and students with hand tools, cut up the tree and used the larger branches to make corales around beds of recently planted trees.

December 2, 2009: Carpenter's Wood's

The Problem: A meadow had been destroyed by over use by off-leash dogs, then restored. Fencing that protected this restoration had deteriorated.

The Solution: Comprehensive meadow restoration by professionals including the installation of fencing to keep people and dogs confined within a reasonable corridor. Repair of this fence

Using "zip ties" and ingenuity, students backed deteriorating snow fence with black plastic mesh that is strong and has minimum visual impact.

December 16

The Problem: At Thomas Mansion, invasive exotic plant species beginning to dominate parkland on property that was landscaped garden and is now used among other things for sledding.

The Solution: Remove plants, primarily "Devil's Walking Stick" [|Aralia spinosa] from areas where it is pervelant, especially areas children are like to encounter it at high speed while sledding. The thorny stalks were cut down and cut into small pieces to facilitate faster decomposition and minimize visual impact. This project is of particular importance as "snow season" begins. The hill below the mansion, commonly known as "Tommie's Hill" is among the best and most popular for sledding in the entire city.

January 6, 2010 The Problem

Short dumped landscape waste on the road to the Wissahickon Environmental Center[|(WEC)]

The Solution As the dumped material consisted of leaves and shrubs, it was acceptable to simply break up the half-frozen pile and distribute it in the understory of the surrounding woods.

January 13

The Problem Invasive species, particularly "Devil's Walking Stick" [|Aralia spinosa], beginning to dominate an otherwise intact area of wooded hillside near Valley Green.

The Solution Remove the plants by clipping or sawing them to the ground. Winter is the best time to access these plants as there is no interfering foliage.

January 20

The Problem Park users were "short-cutting" between two trails--walking down and causing erosion to a steep hill side between two trails rather than walking the trails along the slope to the trail intersection.

The Solution Debris consisting of logs and branches was placed on the hill between the two trails to make the short cuts less attractive for walking than the trails. Additionally, "fantasy fencing", consisting of posts and rails of natural branches, was installed along the edge of one trail to further impede off trail access. Fantasy fences are intended to serve long enough to establish better user-patterns before rotting away.

January 27

The Problem Leaves blown all over the sidewalk by Carpenters Woods.

The solution

Rake the leaves back into the woods.

February 3 Summet and Old Line Road, vines

February 17 The Poblem Too much snow on the ground to work safely and effectively

The Solution Visited the [|The Philadelphia Water Works Interpretive Center] to learn about the history of water distribution in Philadelphia, the importance of watersheds (of which the Wissahickon is a key example).

Feb 24

The Poblem Too much snow on the ground to work safely and effectivelyfilm "Earth" The Solution Viewed the movie "Earth" to gain a greater appreciation of ecosystems outside of and bigger than the Wissahickon's temperate biome.

3/3 The Problem Trees down across trails, snow covering public right-of-ways. and around Carpenter's Woods.

The Solution Clear the sidewalks of snow with shovels; cut out sections of logs that cross trails.

STUDENT REFLECTIONS

- Do you find the work gratifying? //Yes, I always feel very satisfied after finishing a project. I feel happy that we helped the environment in some way.// //Yes. I find a great deal of gratification in the work I do in Wissahickon park.//

- Which project have you enjoyed the most? Least? //My favorite project was working in the meadow as well as the Early Implementation Trail. I had a lot of fun planting the plants and working in the beautiful surroundings of the meadow.// //I enjoyed repelling down a steep, muddy, 50 plus foot, hillside in order to haul 8-foot sections of fence post back up from where they had been thrown by some vandals the previous weekend. I enjoyed this because it involved some of my favorite activities such as playing in the mud, hanging from steep high-up places, an heavy lifting.//

- Do you feel like manual labor and physically applying yourself to something to achieve a goal is necessary to become a well rounded human being and beneficial to your character development? //Yeah, I think that in many ways it helps us be a better person so we’re not just sitting around doing nothing – it’s definitely a good experience, especially as a teenager, to work hard and feel satisfaction from that.// //Yes. I always enjoy a chance to whack about in the woods.//

- Do you have fun doing this community service? //Yeah, I enjoy it a lot, except for when we’re working on a project that bores me. I really enjoy being out in nature and working with nature…//

- What is our greater good? //Well, all of the work we do benefits the natural surroundings in the city of Philadelphia. People can walk in the Wissahickon and be like, “Oh wow, this is pretty!” What we are doing is helping the environment near Philadelphia as well as making it a more enjoyable area for people.// //In a nutshell I would say it is to preserve a culture of conservation and volunteerism.//

- Is this community service is more about the environment or manual labor? //I think that this is a community service about both. However, I think for me, it’s more about the environment, because this world has so many problems and the environment is one of them. Everything we do helps, no matter how little we do in the grand scheme of things…// //Yes, it feels good doing my part. Unplugging the tunnel was my favert one. Yes, having a goals is an important thing to have. Yes, I enjoy this work. Our grater good is to help the environment.// //Being that the manual labor is done in order to serve and environmental cause, I would say it is leaning towards the environment.//