Park News, October 2016

A couple of news items:

p1000219Tree Safety.  A number of our members have expressed concern  about the erosion under the large tree across the stream at the beach area.  We asked the Township to take a look, and the Township Arborist and Parks Supervisor evaluated the tree.  The Arborist says the tree has enough healthy root system so that it does not present an immediate danger.  The township will continue to monitor the situation and will deal with the tree if it becomes hazardous.

New Kiosk October 2016

New Kiosk October 2016

New Kiosk.  The Township kindly offered us a new kiosk paid for from special Township funds dedicated to park improvements.  In addition to Township postings relevant to our Park, we will be permitted to use part of the space for Friends of West Mill Creek postings.  The new kiosk also has space for brochures, off-leash permit application forms, and other useful information.  Thanks as always to Lower Merion Department of Parks & Recreation!!!

Fencing Across the Creek by Old Gulph Road.  No picture because  it’s hard to see, but fyi the safety fence across the creek on Old Gulph Road is complete and doing its job!  Thanks to the gracious cooperation of our neighbor, The Courts, we were able to install this fence to keep our dogs from running onto the Courts parking lot or the busy street.  (More info about the safety fence appears in the previous What’s New post, if you missed it.)

Park News, Summer 2016

Lots of news this summer. . .

New Safety Fence!  Our biggest news item is the soon-to-be-installed s

canstockphoto thank you

afety fence that will run along Old Gulph Road and along the bank of the creek opposite the beach area.  This  black wire fence  should be almost invisible to preserve the natural aesthetics of our park. It is intended to stop dogs who cross the creek in the beach area from running directly out onto Old Gulph Road.  (Sorry, we cannot fence the entire park, but we believe the placement of the new fence will provide a significant safety improvement.)  Thanks to your generous donations, Friends of West Mill Creek Park will pay for the 100% of the fence.   Another big thank you is due to our neighbor, The Courts, the tennis club that owns the property on the other side of the creek.  The Courts graciously cooperated in this project by allowing the fence to be placed on their property.

New park sign 2016New Sign.  If you’ve been to the park recently, you will have noticed our spiffy new “Welcome to West Mill Creek” sign.  It has received lots of positive feedback.  Thanks Lower Merion Department of Parks & Rec!  You may be interested to know that the sign results from a  job skills training program in our Montgomery County prison system.  The prisoners designed and manufactured the sign and we think it shows that they have a lot of artistic talent and know-how.  Great job guys!

Trash can corral made by Paul Lewis, Eagle Scout candidate, for our park

New Trash Can Corrals.  Many thanks, once again, to the Boy Scouts for our handsome new trash can corrals.  The corrals will keep the cans from tipping over and also provide an aesthetic upgrade.  They come to us courtesy of Paul Lewis of Boy Scout Troop 71 (Merion Liberty Troop).  Paul worked with Parks Supervisor Dave Deangelis to design, build and install the corrals as his Eagle Scout project.  Thanks Paul and Dave!

We Love Your Input.  If you have an idea for a future project or event, please let us know.  You can either speak to someone on the Steering Committee or send us an email via the Contact Us tab on the website.  Our projects have frequently originated from member suggestions, or received a boost up the priority list based on your feedback, so please participate!

Want to Support the Friends of WMC?  We hope that you are pleased with all our progress this year.  If you would like to support the new safety fence and  future projects, it’s not too late to make a donation and become an official 2016 Contributing Member of Friends of West Mill Creek Park.   See the “Get Involved!” tab on this website for  information.

Spring 2016 Park News

We have lots of news, big and small, since our last newsletter.

Trail improvements under construction

Trail improvements under construction

TRAIL IMPROVEMENTS!  The most exciting news is, improvements to the final muddy section of our trail are under way.  Soon we will have dry footing on the entire loop trail.  Many, many thanks to Lower Merion’s Dept of Parks & Recreation for addressing the Number One project on our members’ wish list.

Our Little Herb Garden -- Help yourself to some leaves on your way home!

Our Little Herb Garden — Help yourself to some leaves on your way home!

FREE FRESH HERBS.  If, as you head home from the park to fix dinner, you’d like a bit of basil, parsley, dill, or oregano, help yourself from the herb pot in the Wildlife Garden, just inside the garden gate.  Just remember to leave enough on the plant so it can keep on growing through the summer.  And there are gallon jugs of water next to it, so if the pot is looking dry, feel free to water it.

KNOTWEED WORK DAY REPORT.  During 3 work days in early June (two scheduled and one ad hoc to finish up), 11 Friends of WMC members spent 58 hours pulling out Japanese Knotweed, an invasive plant that increases stream erosion and crowds out wildlife friendly plants.  A big thank you to Julian and Paul Brenman, Ellen and Stephen Briggs, Paula Burns, Michelle Detwiler, Mary Field, Karen Hinckley, Hazel Murphy, Ellen Reese, and Elaine Stern.  We cleared the fenced off riparian area from the park gate all the way down to the second stream access point.  There’s more to do in the final fenced section from the second stream access trail to the end of the park (and elsewhere).  Email us (use the Contact Us tab on this website)  for instructions if you would like to continue this work.

The Ellens, with Lizzie, victorious on a knotweed pile

WEEDING WEDNESDAYS.  We scheduled three garden workdays to weed and cut back overgrown sedge.  We got lots of work done at the first one but there are two more, on June 22 and June 29,  if you’d like to help.  We are sending notices about this only to those who have expressed interest in working as a garden volunteer.  If you would like to be included on that list, just shoot us an email.  Also, garden workdays are always listed on the website so you can check for details there if you’d like to join in.

Weeding Wednesday

Join us to subdue the weeds in the Wildlife and Respite Garden!  Bring work gloves and your favorite weeding tool if you have one.  Come and go as you please; water and light refreshments are provided.

Organizational Supporters 2016

Many thanks to the organizations that have supported us this year:

Beth David Reform Congregation for providing facilities and other support for our Third Annual Meeting and annual newsletter.

Ricklins Hardware, Narberth PA for donating supplies and advice for the the construction of our Knotweed Penitentiary.

Giant supermarket for generously donating the doughnuts for our Santa Paws event that raises funds for the Pennsylvania S.P.C.A.

Weeding Wednesday

garden boot clip artThere’s a lot to do in the garden — weeding and cutting our unexpectedly tall blue wood sedge down to size.  Bring work gloves, come and go as you please, and help make our garden great again!

Knotweed Two

Friends of WMC workers carry a tarp full of knotweed

Friends of WMC workers carry a tarp full of knotweed

Our recent June 5 Knotweed Day was a great success–we had 13 people devote a total of 44 hours to removing this invasive plant.  However, some knotweed remains, so if you missed the first day here is your chance to join the battle.  We will be working from 9 to noon tomorrow, Wednesday June 8.  Wear long pants and long sleeve shirt, and bring work gloves; come and go as you please.  There is also a lot of work to be done in the garden if you prefer that.

NO kNOTweed Work Day

Japanese Knotweed

Japanese Knotweed

Japanese knotweed is an invasive plant — and experts tell us that if nothing is done the knotweed will eventually take over, contributing to stream bank erosion and killing  native plants that offer better food and habitat to the birds, frogs  and beneficial insects that live in our park.  One important step in controlling its spread is to cut the stalks in early June.  Please turn out for our work day — we will cut and safely dispose of as many stems as we can!  Come and go as you please,  Refreshments will be provided.

Knotweed Penitentiary

Knotweed Penitentiary

By the way you may have noticed this wire-and-pallet pen at the far end of the park.  This will be used to stack knotweed stalks, because if any part of the plant — even a piece as small as 1/2″– touches the ground or enters the stream, it will send down roots and make a new plant.

Go for the Green Award

The Friends of West Mill Creek Park has won a Go for the Green Award!  Lower Merion Township’s Environmental Advisory Council has given us this award to recognize the ecological and educational benefits of our Wildlife and Respite Garden to the Township and our work in creating and maintaining the garden.  If you haven’t seen Appleford, it’s a lovely historic house and garden, well worth a visit in its own right.  Anyone who would like to attend is welcome to come and cheer us on.

Garden Award and Volunteer Opportunity

The Ellens accept the Friends of West Mill Creek Park "Go for the Green" award from Brian Hoppy of EAC

The Ellens accept the Friends of West Mill Creek Park “Go for the Green” award from Brian Hoppy of EAC

The Friends of West Mill Creek Park has won a Go for the Green Award!  Lower Merion Township’s Environmental Advisory Council has given us this award to recognize the ecological and educational benefits of our Wildlife and Respite Garden to the Township and our work in creating and maintaining the garden.  The Go for the Green Awards program will be held on Thursday, May 12, 2016 at the Appleford Estate, located at 770 Mt. Moro Road in
Villanova, beginning at 6 p.m. If you haven’t seen Appleford, it’s a lovely historic house and garden, well worth a visit in its own right.  Anyone who would like to attend is welcome to come and cheer us on.

And that brings to mind that gardening season is here!  If you are interested in being on the Wildlife Garden watering team or garden team, please send an email to briggs505@verizon.net and  specify watering, gardening, or both.  This will not commit you to anything—it will just put you on the list of people who will receive email regarding appeals for watering, weeding or planting help in the garden.  This way, we will not be bothering people who don’t want to participate in ongoing maintenance with garden-related email.

Note:  When the need arises for a big work day, such as an invasive plant removal project on the stream bank, we will notify the entire membership.