A day in my life as a Muhlenberg Student @ Raker Reserve

Trust me, I count my lucky stars everyday when I walk to campus and go to class.  After spending three years in dire financial straits and sickness, each day I spend as a Muhlenberg student is a genuine gift and I try to make certain that I love every second of it.

The education I am receiving at Muhlenberg is incredible.  Nearly every subject covered in every class I have taken since becoming a Muhlenberg student has been directly applicable to the world outside of campus.  My education has made me a much better environmental blogger and has afforded me the needed learning and experience to offer a genuine and informed voice regarding the environmental issues the Lehigh Valley is facing.

Yesterday, my Environmental Science class headed to the Conrad W Raker Reserve.  The reserve is described on Muhlenberg’s website as: “The Conrad W. Raker Biological Field Station and Wildlife Sanctuary, a 40-acre wooded tract situated 15 miles north of the campus, in Germansville, PA, is used by biology classes for field study. A section of Jordan Creek within the preserve provides added opportunity for aquatic biology studies. Students and staff also conduct research on varied aspects of plant and animal biology.” This reserve is not open to the public.  It exists solely for study and observation for the science department at the college.

My class is taught by Dr.Jason Kelsey. 

I consider myself extremely fortunate to be taught by a man as informed and knowledgeable as Dr. Kelsey.  He is a man I afford the highest respect to and his education has helped me make Remember better.

In addition to Dr. Kelsey, we were joined on our field trip by Dr. David Mcguire. Some of you may know Doc from his work at all levels of local government, his work on Allentown’s EAC and his work for the local chapter of The Sierra Club which I coincidentally finally just joined myself. You should join to, click here to check out the website. If you join now you can get an awesome John Muir rucksack.

Doc is another man who I am lucky to know.  The conversations I have shared with him, and the journeys we have taken together into the wild places of the Lehigh Valley have been some of the most intellectually refreshing trips of my life.  I have an incredible amount of respect for Dr. McGuire, and he more than deserves it.
(Amanda took that one, as I am obviously in it)

We began our journey into the Raker Reserve with the intention of conducting an environmental survey of the area for the hypothetical creation of a strip mall in an open space of land at the heart of the Reserve.

Around our feet, we were able to see an incredible variety of habitats.  Near to the creek were wetlands, farther up the forest grew slightly thicker and bore the tell-tale sings of a recent succesional deciduous forest.  In addition, meadows preserved for research, offered another large swath of habitat for observation.

My classmates tromped around the forest scribbling observations on notebook paper. Dr. Kelsey pointed out some fantastic fungus and suspected lichen population on the bark of a tree.
 
Spring was awakening all across the Reserve.
 
At the top of a ridge, the boundaries of the Reserve are buffeted by farmland.  The nearby town of Germansville (apparently pronounced gur-mansville not ger-mansville), is a typical, bucolic country town with actual farmers still farming!

We made our way back down towards the Jordan Creek, following an incredibly slippery and almost steep slope.  Initially my classmate Chelsea was less than keen to attempt the journey.  Eventually, she found another route and joined us creekside.

Dr. Kelsey continued informing us about the complexities of the things we were viewing as we began to head back to the van. 

We found a dead groundhog. Kit poked it with a stick to see if it was in fact dead.

Amanda was really interested in dissecting it. (Or she was masking mourning with biology)

A year ago, I was most likely beginning my usual closing shift at the worst job I have had yet in my life.  Today, I was able to step into a 40 acre piece of wilderness and learn from two of the smartest men I have known with a group of engaged and engaging scientists-in- training that I am glad to call colleagues.  

Things certainly have changed folks, I can’t even begin to grasp how greatly.

April 17th: Hike on South Mountain

I feel like I announced 2010’s first gathering months ago but the date is drawing near. I wanted to remind everyone to come, invite friends and family and bring your cameras. I would love to post pictures you take on the blog. 

It should be a really fantastic day and a great way for all of us who love the remaining wild places in Allentown to come together and celebrate biodiversity and history. I want to organize carpools for those who don’t have a ride (I’m looking at you Muhlenberg students) and anyone who would like to save some gas and spare some pollution.

Again, there is an event page on Facebook. Click Here.

Also, become a fan of Remember on Facebook for daily updates of the blog and event information.  This is just the beginning folks, I’m looking forward to an active and wild summer.

I hope to see you on the 17th. 

(I’ll be posting one more update close to the day of the event, I’ll include directions, meeting spot, etc… Stay Tuned!)

Spring-Part One: Cedar Beach Gardens (Major Contrasts)

I must confess the difficulty which this post gave me.  At present, the season of spring has begun to unleash itself across the parks in Allentown and in a short time, spring will become summer.  Before that happens though, we are in for a beautiful ride.

Thing is, there are some serious environmental hazards occurring down at Cedar Beach right now.  We have discussed the paving already, and we know it isn’t good.  There is more going on.

First, the “silt fence” has been breached by water.  The breach occurred two weeks ago during a high water event that fell short of an all out flood.

Deep ruts in the wet soil and barren patches of grass have developed along the “silt fence”.  I hope that given the proclivity of high water events in this area, that a now mow zone is implemented from the buffer’s edge (the present location of the “silt fence”) to the edge of the paved path by the mirror ponds.  It is a common sense decision and will provide increased habitat for an already developing wildlife population.

A pile of gravel and excess construction materials lies right next to the drainage stream from the mirror ponds.  This is in direct violation of all kinds of environmental guidelines including the DCNR’s and the LCCD’s.

The dried remains of sediment in run off are present on the new asphalt paths.

So, you must now see my dilemma because at the same moment in time when such problems exist the massive renewal and birth of spring is occurring.  The entirety of nature becomes picturesque, and everything feels familiar again.  The voice of the new season sounds in an ear like a memory refreshed; it is a conversation you’d always knew you would have again but waited for it impatiently through the long cold months.

As the season deepens, every step outside feels closer to home. 

An endless serenade of change, of beginnings, of the moment a chest tightens when it becomes too full of breath and then, the chest relaxes as it heaves carbon dioxide from your body.

Relief.

Check out the video below, it is the first in a series I will be doing highlighting spring as it matures in the coming weeks.  There are some good pictures of birds in the video, thanks new camera.

From the Archives: Picture Post

Some pictures I haven’t had the chance to post and have wanted to. 

A story: The Parkway to Trexler Park

Yesterday, I went to document a situation that has developed near the pedestrian bridge in the Parkway.  Truthfully, I have no idea what the intent of this project was nor do I know who is responsible for it.  I do know that it looks terrible, will dramatically increase erosion and will eventually kill the trees buried under the loose concrete fill.

Walking back to the car, I genuinely felt dejected.  The parks in the city of Allentown mean a great deal to me and have without question, been one of the most inspiring things I have encountered in my 26 years of life.

As of late, I have felt enlivened by the possibility of spearheading volunteer projects that I see as the beginning of a real albeit slow change in our parks.  Yesterday, that spirit fell slightly sullen on the sickeningly eroded banks of the Little Lehigh Creek.

I wanted to go to Jordan Park to take some new photography for a Save the Parks: Jordan Park post I have been intent on doing but I honestly couldn’t stomach it.  I told Chris, who was driving, to skip Jordan Park and go to the lot of the Home Depot in Whitehall.

I wanted to see the creek here because a long time ago, around the time I was in eighth grade, I used to bowl at Jordan Lanes.  After my youth league ended I would walk down to the “waterfall” and take pictures using my parent’s camera. 

The pictures I took as a child are affixed to a poster board in my bedroom that my mother assembled back then so that the shots could be preserved.  I look at the pictures everyday.  The park here, maintained by the municipality of Whitehall was horrid.  Litter was present in a greater display of diversity than plant life was.  It was simply disgusting.

Man, was I bummed. 

Later yesterday evening, I stopped in the lot of Trexler Park.  Chris had gotten for himself a brand new fancy pants $600 dollar camera and he wanted to experiment with night photography.  

What a feeling it is to stare into the infinite without the ability to comprehend it being of a finite mind.  I stood and stared at the sky  as every human as done for thousands of years.  These stares into the night sky have elicited countless reactions from  humans across the ages.  Some created gods, others mystical beings that are outlined by the orbs of light we recognize as stars.  Some people looked to see nothing.  Some people looked to see exactly what they wanted to when they turned their heads to an eyeful of eternity.

Beyond the light pollution, we can ruin nothing.  There are no islands sinking into the sea of space on account of the poor decisions of an arrogant species.  There are no eroded creek banks.  The entropy developing as the galaxies unfurl themselves across the fabric of universe is more civilized than we are. 

The consideration of the night sky, of the universe, leaves the true observer in humbled silence.

It reaffirms the wealth of spirit that is required for an inspiration and in turn it reminded me of the value of one plant that wasn’t planted before I came along. 

Last night, at Trexler Park, the truest meaning of a city park came to fruition through me and now, I tell you about it.  I found my needed refuge.  I found my missing inspiration.  It’s why I want to save them.  It’s why I want you to save them to.

For Chris

Save Our Parks: The First Step

Yesterday, I posted ideas.  Today, I am going to offer a strategy for moving forward.

The strategy I am proposing is a simple one. It is to take one step at a time, and those steps will be small steps.  The point is that we will be walking and after 30 years of standing still, a crawl would be better than nothing.

I make no assumptions regarding an epic sea change of idealism in the minds of every citizen of Allentown.  I do not expect the construction at Cedar Beach to stop. I do however expect to plant a seed.  It may be one, it may be a few.  I expect to begin the growth of a rain garden in the Parkway.  I expect to announce plans regarding that project in the coming days.

That’s it, that is our first step.

You cannot change the world in moments readers, and I certainly do not intend to.  I do mean to begin the long haul of slow progress and hard fought gains. I expect to encounter adversaries, road blocks and unending difficulties.

For now, I am focusing on a rain garden.

When the rain garden is planted, I will think about the next step.

I am asking all of you, whether you agree with me all the time or not, if you care about the future of the parks in Allentown, please take this step with me.  Even a small step can make a noise that everyone can hear.

Help me begin beginning and maybe, as one anonymous commenter suggested yesterday, one day the big ideas and big plans can be the next step.

Today, as Frank said yesterday, as CJ said yesterday, as Katie said, as Bucky said, “Go for it.”

We’re going.  Come along.  Give up a few hours of your time for this first project when I have the details ready. We’re going to go out there on days when it is hot or cold, on days you’d rather watch a baseball game or football game, on days when you would rather take it easy because easy is hard to come by, I am asking you to help me do the work that can and will begin to make a difference.  In the end, in a world of competing intentions, let these intentions be priority.  The city has to back us up on this before we can move forward as well.  The work is about to begin. 

I have emailed Greg Weitzel to ask about the feasibility of performing this first project.  I’ll post a response when i get one.

Seed by seed,
Save the Parks. 

“Always bear in mind that your own resolution to succeed is more important than any other.” –Abraham Lincoln

Save Our Parks: The Call to Action

I have spent the last few days detailing, and describing at length the extent to which environmental issues exist in our parks and in the Lehigh Parkway in particular.  The issues are clear.  It is the solutions that remain murky, and today I will be focusing on those.
The pictures accompanying this post were taken at the time of the Vernal Equinox on South Mountain and in Canal Park. I have chosen to include these pictures because despite the environmental negligence in our parks, there is still an extraordinary amount of beauty that remains.  It is that beauty that needs to be preserved and expanded in the immediate future.

I have received a lot of comments regarding the monetary issues that environmental remediation would bring to the pockets of folks living in the city of Allentown.  This is a legitimate and serious concern, but it is my belief that with community outreach and a little outside of the box thinking, some projects can happen at no cost to the taxpayer and can set the ball rolling.

First, an outreach to existing community organizations like the Allentown Garden Club should begin.  These folks can tackle numerous small scale projects, like rain gardens around storm drains.  I am sure small amounts of plant donations can be secured from local nurseries (native, appropriate plants by the way).  I would like to see Friends of the Parks really spearhead that sort of activity.

Second, it is time for the city of Allentown to reach out to the science departments at Muhlenberg and Cedar Crest College.  I know for a fact, considering that I am an Environmental Science major at Muhlenberg College, that students are itching to be able to make a difference.  The parks can use that difference.  These students can do the sort of environmental survey work that would typically cost the city a lot of money, for free.  I will be attempting to spearhead some efforts along these lines in the near future.

Getting organizations like the Boys and Girls Clubs, local boy scout and girl scout troops and The West and East Side youth centers involved in these kinds of projects can reconnect an entire new generation of Allentonians, to the parks, the history of the parks and of the city and most importantly, establish a real bond with nature.

Using only these examples, it becomes crystal clear how easy it is to get the ball rolling as soon as people are willing to push it.  I’m pushing it folks and I will continue to do so until such a time when there are no environmental issues left in our open spaces.

The Mayor, Greg Weitzel and City Council have the opportunity to get the ball rolling as well and if they show the leadership skills to begin the real work of building a better future, change can be achieved. The city needs to be behind every potential project 100%.

Let’s do it. Let’s get involved.  Let us rebuild the community spirit of the city of Allentown and in doing so, revitalize the park system and begin to set right the last three decades of environmental wrongs that are currently begging for help.

I’m on it.  I’ll be on it.  Get on it with me.

“Society speaks and all men listen, mountains speak and wise men listen” – John Muir

Save the Parks.

If anyone has any suggestions or ideas, PLEASE comment!

Save Our Parks: The Long History of Allentown and Environmental Negligence

On Saturday I posted a piece referencing what turns out to be legitimately terrible conditions in the exalted Lehigh Parkway.   As it turns out, a park so often lauded as the standard of standards in the grandest city park system in the state of Pennsylvania is a complete mess.
 
During my visit and a subsequent further exploration on Sunday, I had the chance to speak with an elderly fisherman as well as a man named Ted who told me stories of the Parkway during the height of hippiedom.  Both of these men lamented the current conditions that the Parkway finds itself in.  The fly-fisherman said he had been coming there for decades.  He watches the banks of the creek erode further by the season, says unless they release, “ There aren’t much fish to catch in here anymore.” 

So, why now?  Why after eighty years should the parks department suddenly up and change the maintenance strategy they have successfully employed since the inception of the park system?  Are the parks going to suddenly just up and disappear into ruin?

To address these frequently asked questions, let me first say that the proof as always is usually found in the pudding.  The pictures accompanying this post were taken yesterday afternoon.  Each picture shows the effect of the long history of environmental negligence in the park system.  The pictures(taken in the Parkway) show eroded banks, dead and dying trees, exposed roots, the effects of soil compaction, etc. etc. etc.

The reason this has become such a prescient issue is due to an increase of runoff over the last few decades from paved suburbs.  The Parkway and most city parks are at low points in the city of Allentown.  The forests and vegetation that once surrounded the city have been replaced by asphalt and development.  In turn, run off (once absorbed into the soil by the now missing vegetation) has increased in our parks during high water events which have also increased for the same reason.

The problems will not resolve themselves. As time goes by, if things continue as they are, the problems will worsen.

These problems were not just recently recognized readers.  On Saturday, I mentioned the existence of an E.P.A commissioned study of Allentown’s waterways that called attention to what were dire circumstances in 1998.  As it turns out, a little research can go a heck of a long way back.  I have found two documents that show a history of scientific ignorance and environmental negligence that surprised and disappointed me. 

The first study, done by the Bureau of Environmental Planning-Department of Environmental Resources – Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, is titled “Environmental Concerns in Local Floodplain Management”. The study was published in APRIL 1979!

While I would love to retype all fifty pages of the study on here, in the interest of saving you and me all that time, I will share a  key passage and a picture.

-“Floodplain vegetation can:
-trap sediment from upland surface run-off
-stabilize stream banks thereby retarding soil erosion
-provide fish and wildlife habitat”

The study continues by going into great detail about how to accomplish such feats on a municipal level. So, 1979!?
This study means that the environmental issues in our parks would not currently exist had the guidelines published therein been adhered to 31 years ago.

The existence of such a study also means that every mayoral administration, city council, park director, recreation director and so on has been acting directly against the accepted scientific guidelines established by the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania for three decades.

Mayor Pawlowski, Parks and Recreation Director Greg Weitzel, and current City Council members did not create these problems, nor are they responsible for increased upstream development.  They are however, as our current officials, the inheritors of the problems and in turn are responsible for the remediation of them.

It is a tough job to take and it is a tough solution to reach.  As of this posting, the guidelines from as long ago as 31 years and as recently as last year by the DCNR are not being met.  Current construction projects and future projects are not designed to meet said goals and in some cases run the risk of perpetuating or furthering the issues in our park system designed to be combated by said guidelines. 

The Mayor, Mr. Weitzel and City Council must see these decade old standards met, as soon as possible.  To do otherwise would continue the long history of environmental negligence in the city of Allentown and in turn would put our park system in danger of changes that it will never recover from.

Check back tomorrow for the results of the second study I discovered, this time, from 1981 and a look at the conditions of the waterway in Fountain Park.  The tip of the iceberg is getting a little bigger, so are the issues.

Save the Parks. 


*All photographs taken by Bryan Kleiner
 
Related Posts:

Save our Parks: Lehigh Parkway
Cedar Beach Construction 2010: Part One

Save Our Parks: Lehigh Parkway

Sometimes, you really do not see the forest for the trees. In the Parkway, you don’t see the stream because of them. When one enters the Lehigh Parkway, they have made an intentional and deliberate slip from the urban setting of Allentown into the realm of nature. The Parkway is legitimately majestic and instantaneously impressive and awe inspiring. It is a wonder what awe can do. In the case of the Lehigh Parkway, it has blinded me to the real circumstances going on.

For as long as I have written Remember, I have ascribed the maintenance, setting, and feel of the Parkway as the ideal here in Allentown. In doing so, I have unfortunately allowed myself to write while seemingly asleep. The Parkway I wrote about turns out in reality to be only a place in dreams. It is certainly not the ideal park. It isn’t even close to it.

I have contended numerous times that people in Allentown ignore the problems in Trout Creek Parkway and Jordan Park while fighting against the construction projects at Cedar Beach. The environmental problems in those two parks are serious and need real fixing. As it turns out, upon closer inspection, I can now include the Lehigh Parkway in the same category. (and Canal Park, and South Mountain and, well, you get the idea…)

Let me begin discussing the issues at the Lehigh Parkway by stating that the current buffer rating the main stretch of stream in the park has earned is a 2 out of a possible 10. Nearly every tree is compromised alongside the Little Lehigh and the creek bank itself is eroded into cliff like structures that bear only the signs of a compromised ecosystem.



Those pictures demonstrate the scenes not usually associated with the Lehigh Parkway. Trees on creek banks destined only for death. It is a mess folks, and I have just scratched the surface. Take a look at the picture below, it shows a hollowed out dead willow tree that was planted at the same time as the others alongside the creek farther downstream. The difference here is that, this tree was not hydroponic and certainly couldn’t be planted in mid air above water. The bank on which this tree once lived has long been washed away as sediment.

Why hasn’t the thin patch of grass here on this side of the creek been turned into a proper riparian buffer? The DCNR guidelines say it should. With access points mowed and maintained for fly fishermen, this should have been done years ago.

In 1998 a study of our watershed was commissioned by the United States Environmental Protection Agency. The study was done by The Cadmus Group and the findings of the twelve year old document are hard to believe when applied to the current circumstances in our park system. According to this study, nearly every waterway in our parks is comprised. All of our creeks need immediate attention. Remember, this is twelve years ago. The study concluded that the city of Allentown needs to begin dramatically reducing the sediment load of our streams. They offered the following nine strategies to help achieve that goal:
“1. Fit the activity to the soil, climate and terrain.
2. Minimize the area and duration of soil disturbance.
3. Protect denuded soils.
4. Maximize vegetative cover.
5. Maximize infiltration.
6. Manage slopes to prevent flow concentration.
7. Prepare drainage ways to handle concentrated flows.
8. Trap sediment before it leaves site.
9. Protect and preserve vegetation in natural riparian buffers.”

What do you imagine has been the result of another negligent decade of poor environmental practice? More money will be required to fix the problem, and the problem itself is far worse now. A trusted source on the Parkway has informed me that in the last ten years the creek has widened at least three feet. The water is shallower, warmer, with less biomass and more turbidity.

Walking across the pedestrian bridge, I was surprised to see running water on the path considering it had not rained in days. As it would turn out, a natural spring, once filled in during the administration of Mayor Heydt and reemerged and in turn been dug back out and fenced in with orange construction fencing. Electrical supplies for Lights in the Parkway are perilously close to the standing water.




This entire area of the Parkway should be wetlands, not open space. A perfectly healthy tree fell here a few days back for no reason other than poor soil conditions. The closer I looked at the Parkway, the more ridiculous the state of the ecosystem began to appear.




The path on the way back towards Robin Hood is an abomination. It is literally hanging above the creek on one side and exposed completely to eroded hillside on the other. Where it has fallen in to the creek, large amounts of gravel and rock have been poured in as some sort of engineering solution from environmental hell. This path should not exist. The hillside needs to be restored. This entire side of the Parkway is one heavy rain event away from a mudslide that none of us will soon forget.

Here, in another low lying swath of open grass, a perfect setting for a naturally occurring wetland goes to waste.

A storm water drainage pipe offers an excellent opportunity for a rain garden. None present.

With every glance, another problem became glaringly apparent. Trout Creek Parkway and Jordan Park are not alone in disgrace readers. Our grandest park is on the edge of environmental ruin and if something is not done soon, the cost of future calamity will be astronomical. The current issues in the park become all the more dire when new wells seem certain to be arriving in Macungie and agricultural/ upstream run off only increases.

We have been warned as early as 1998 and probably earlier. Nothing has been done. The fledgling no mow zones growing in places down there are band-aids on bullet wounds. Currently, as our parks lie in these unforgivable states, ongoing construction is happening at Cedar Beach that will (and is) leading only to further environmental degradation. It is time to wake up folks. I sure did yesterday as I walked around the Parkway.

The trails plan must be implemented only after the issues are addressed. If I had my way, and the damage had not been inflicted upon Cedar beach, I would like to see all park improvement/construction projects halted until such a time when the environmental issues described in this post were remedied. As it stands, it is my opinion that the glaring environmental issues in every single park in the city of Allentown be attended to and fixed before any further park or trail construction anywhere within city limits. These environmental restoration projects need to be conducted by specialists in creek bank restoration, soil science, environmental toxicology, freshwater ecology, and riparian buffer science. The time for action is now. The best possible solution offered by current leading research needs to be implemented yesterday.

This situation is bad. These pictures prove it. Twelve years of studies prove it. These conditions should not exist. All of us need to do something to make these changes happen. I am afraid that if we fail to achieve such a goal, even our Parkway will become a green desert and we will lose the greatest thing our city offers us: our park system.

I’m awake readers. Shake the sleep out of your eyes and join me.

Save the parks.