Cedar Beach Construction 2010: Part 2- Playground, Paved Paths, Buffers and The Great Blue Heron

The easiest idea missing from the Master Plan for Phase One of Cedar Beach renovations is the common sense environmental decision.  That is, don’t pave with impermeable surfaces next to water bodies.  Don’t mow grass to creek edges.  Don’t do, pretty much everything that is currently being done at Cedar Beach.

Let’s start with the addition of rocky soil and hay on top of the paved area of buffer planted last October. This is not a common sense environmental decision.  This will exacerbate ecological degradation and lead to more maintenance cost in the future.

The widening holes near the large mirror pond have been filled.  

A curious mixture of grass seed has been placed haphazardly on top of soil fill in the spaces cleared to make room for the paving of paths near the mirror ponds.  This seed mixture has, in places, left a trail as it flows into Cedar Creek.  I am pleased to see the spaces filled, but I have reservations about what they have sprayed. 


The gouging of the land and paving of the paths continue.  New mounds of loose soil and grass stand on one side of asphalt paths while the same new cliffs developed on the other side of Cedar Creek
have appeared here.

What looks to be a new access point into Cedar Beach has been dug up and chalk outlines indicate where the new paving will connect Ott Street to the new asphalt path.

Despite this, there is beauty. Spring is still in season at Cedar Beach; they haven’t yet paved it under.

The red maples, the winterberry and many of the other plants we introduced to Cedar Beach last October have begun growing alongside Cedar Creek.

A Great Blue Heron found refuge in the developing buffer.

An easy beauty, but beauty nonetheless and in such contrast to the recreational bent the new construction at Cedar Beach has taken.  Still, despite the fact that this project is now beyond changing, serious environmental questions remain.  In addition to what I have documented thus far, I found the red flags which mark the beginnings of the “grow zones” quite curious.

Next to the foot of the pedestrian bridge an area remains designated for mowing despite limiting a buffer zone to an ineffective scant amount of feet.  Here, from the base of a nearby tree to the pedestrian bridge, the entire area should be a “grow zone”.  The large lawn would remain, the view of the creek would not change dramatically.  It is this type of simple environmentally conscious decision that is so sorely lacking from the new construction at Cedar Beach.  For instance, why not expand a buffer at the location shown in the picture below at least to the distance of the “silt fence”.  It seems common sense to me.

On the other side of Ott Street, the playground’s construction has begun.

I couldn’t help but wonder as I wandered in Cedar Beach this weekend, about how small the park felt.  The unnatural black asphalt that now snakes through the grass feels disconcertingly out of place and truly unnatural.  If the invitation to the openness of Nature ends up being completely removed by this construction, what exactly are we attempting to get more people to visit?

The issues at Cedar Beach feel endless to me at this moment as do the problems in the Parkway, at Jordan Creek, in Trout Creek Parkway, down at Canal Park, at the East Side Reservoir, on South Mountain, in Trexler Park and so on.  Some days, these issues feel insurmountable.  Some days the presence of The Great Blue Heron, or a Red Maple leaf serve as reminders as to why they’re worth addressing.

We can’t live without them.

You like poo-water?

Let me ask you a question readers, if you go to the Parkway, to Cedar Beach, to Trout Creek Parkway, to Jordan Park and really take a look at what is going on around you, can you honestly say to me that fixing the horribly eroded creek banks that are actively felling healthy trees shouldn’t be a priority?  Shouldn’t native vegetation be allowed to grow to help deal with excess nitrogen runoff? The EPA thinks so, I linked to Federal guidelines for that very issue yesterday.

I am not on a fringe environmental soapbox here folks. I have seen the Lehigh County Conservation Maps rating our stream health (crappy) and our buffer presence (really crappy). I have done water samples in Cedar Creek and I know many others who have as well.  The test I ran at Cedar Creek came back with ridiculously high amounts of coliform bacteria presence and 7 other tests confirmed it. 

It was poo-water folks.

Realize, that is what we are talking about here:

Cedar Creek is becoming a nitrogen filled, oxygen barren, biomass empty, fish absent, channel of poo! 

Is that the idyllic park vision so often spoken of here in Allentown, you know, the one General Trexler saw in the distance, past the edges of his flat brimmed straw hat?

I don’t freaking think so. 

The places for people who want completely manicured vistas designed to look pretty are called gardens. 

The places in our parks, with running streams, are active ecosystems that we have endangered.

You want a future of poo-water and drainage ditch canals where streams once flowed?  Really?

I fully understand that any future rain garden won’t stop upstream runoff and the many sources of pollution outside the boundaries of the park.  I do know, that in whatever space of garden construction, a small difference will be made.  That difference, even if it is one butterfly, one bee, one snake, one trout is worth the work. It will help stem the development of a high quality low temperature stream into poo-water.

Drop the nostalgia act folks.  Envisioning a candy land of manicured parks where people frolic freely enjoying the distinctions between mowed grass and willow trees is a waste of time.  That time wasted, should be spent working to do whatever you can to help turn the tide of environmental ignorance that is widespread here in Allentown and begin the work to try and reverse years of ecological damage in our park system. Understand also, that our parks should have a contrast between open space and "grow zones". I am not advocating the entire re-naturalization of our parks. It is not wilderness, it is a park and people belong in them. Aesthetically, there will still be contrast and no beauty will be lost, only gained.

I would be the last person on this planet to say we should ignore beauty. In fact our lives depend on it.

Riparian buffers 301: (Rain Garden Help Wanted)

The following appeared in 1993, published under the title “The Role of Riparian Corridors In Maintaining Regional Biodiversity”.this study was published by The Ecological Society of America and was written by: Robert J Naiman, Henri Decamps and Michael Pollock:




Pretty straight forward right?

It becomes increasingly obvious when a little research is done that the benefits of riparian restoration is without limit.  Such restoration provides educational opportunities, increased wildlife habitat, increased biomass, creek temperature control, runoff mitigation, scenic vistas, etc etc etc etc, trust me the list could go on and on and on and on.

So, is there a  genuine concern for the preservation and restoration of said vegetative corridors hiding behind the vitriol of the last few weeks worth of comments on here?  I hope so.  This is after all, the real issue.  Yes, aesthetics are important.  Yes, the appearance of the parks is important.  Yes, the history of the parks is important and is something to be preserved.

None of these issues however is as important as the restoration of the riparian corridors in our parks.  (And, for the record, riparian is defined as “ related to or living or located on the bank of a natural watercourse.)

I’m not talking about the skinny excuses of buffer zones made up of weeds and invasive plants (Multiflora Rose being the most rampant) in parts of the Parkway nor am I referring to the unmanaged buffer on Cedar Creek behind the mirror ponds that has developed over the last few years or the horrible knotweed dominated creek banks in Trout Creek Parkway.

I am referring to something we have yet seen in our park system although parts of Trexler Park come close.

I want to see some real riparian restoration in the parks with managed buffers that stretch to the maximum amount of feet possible given the location where planting takes place. 

I want to see wading birds in Cedar Creek, in the Little Lehigh, in Trout Creek.  I want to see fish swimming. I want to see butterflies, bees, snakes, songbirds, hawks; I want to see Nature when I go someplace to see Nature.  I don’t want to see grass mowed to the edges of creek edges with eroded edges, little plant life, loosestrife, multiflora rose, Japanese knotweed, I don’t want to see sucker fish dominating sediment filled water dotted with the algae of excessive nitrogen and phosphorus run off.

Do you want to see what I want to see?  Why wouldn’t you?  I mean honestly, at this point that crucial balance of nature that is preserved by real riparian vegetation and restoration should be the best experience that is possible to be felt in our creek based parks. 
 
Last summer I told a reader to visit a fountain in the mall if they want to experience a controlled, neutered, empty body of water.  Such places have no place in our parks. 

So, what can we do to change it?  It isn’t like any us can magically transform not only the parks themselves but the hearts and minds of stolid Allentonians and city officials. We don’t have any money. To think that this would be easy, would be a happy-ass delusion and would serve to change nothing.  This is going to be hard work readers and there is a lot of drudgery to go through before any small success is possible.  Here, at step one, a small success is the best we can hope for.

Step One is education readers and as such, I am actively working on a plant list for the first (of what I am hoping are many) rain gardens in our parks.  (Here, is the help wanted)  If you know anyone who wants to work on setting this first example with me, if they know plants, if they know rain gardens, if they just want to help and learn, if they are in fact you, help me find plant donations, simply, please help.  

Leave a comment, leave your name. 

Here is Site Zero.  This is where the first Remember Rain garden will be.

As details develop, as plans are made, I will share everything with you right here on Remember. 

Don’t forget, this isn’t something new folks.  The establishment and maintenance of riparian buffer corridors has been recommend guidelines in the state of Pennsylvania since the 1970’s (at least).  As much as renovations in the parks are decried by many, the real issue remains that the ecological health of our parks is in a timeless limbo of poor care, study and development.  The real issue has to be addressed.  Build this rain garden with me. 

See Also:
If you click the Riparian Buffer tag under here, there are many posts that document the buffers in our parks, the issues within and many other journeys in vegetation.

300th Post: Guest Blog By Jaime K.

(Before getting to this post, Thank you for reading and keeping me going. On the way to 400!)

After 299 posts, I figured it was time to turn the blog over to a guest author for the day.  Over the next few weeks, there will be a series of occasional guest posts here on Remember that spotlight the work of others beyond the parks, and even beyond the city of Allentown.

These posts are written by “young” people trying to make a difference.  We are trying to show the strength of community that has been here all around us even when we chose not to see it.  We are making the effort to turn the tide of “brain drain” or whatever else you want to call it.  “We are the ones we have been waiting for”

There are a lot of us out there. 

Tomorrow, We will Hike South Mountain.  Be there at noon.  If you need directions, leave a comment or send me an email.  Soon, we will clean and restore parks, we will build rain gardens.  We will start to make a difference.

Jaime K is a passionate,  inspired and inspiring  lady who I am very glad to call a friend.  Enjoy her words, I did. 

HEART OF STEEL by Jaime K

"It wouldn't be an exaggeration to say I had all but given up on this town. I moved to the Lehigh Valley for college in 2001, and have lived in Bethlehem for the last five years. I always recognized it's charm and it's potential, but other cities had it together, and I grew more frustrated through the years as it seemed like no matter what, we just couldn't collectively find our way.

I was preparing to apply for jobs in large cities all over the US, when a personal situation helped me realize the value of a second chance. And I thought, before I give up on this place once and for all, I owe it at least that much.

And I can see now, so much of it is about perspective. When you complain that no one is active and there's nothing to do, no one is. There won't be. Then, a few months back, I'd spend my afternoons walking through the various downtowns and notice a wall mural I'd never seen, a restaurant filling the air with delicious scents of food and laughter of conversation, and the people so unique in their character. This was a place to be celebrated. This was a place that earned it's second chance.

The more I looked, the more I found people that followed their passions when everyone they knew said they were crazy. The art students taping sketches to coffee house walls making improvised galleries. The business owners who take time out of their day to cultivate relationships with community members, their bottom line possibility before profit.

Every day I meet people who are passionate about something, and my new project is about celebrating them, and as residents of this city, thus honoring it, too. HEART OF STEELcity is about the persistence to keep pursuing what you love, even if it doesn't fill your bank account, even if people say you're too young to be serious it, even if failure is imminent or success temporary. It's about being brave enough to live your dreams and live your life.

We're not other cities. It's unfair to draw comparisons, because by population alone, we don't have "as much". But that doesn't mean we have less heart. The efforts to revive the excitement for this city, both intimately small and publicly citywide are no less meaningful, no less sincere.

I believe in the blinding bright future of this city, and it will come from the hearts of the residents that work every day to make sure it happens, with hearts of steel.”

Jaime K is author of Save The Kales and HEARTOFSTEELcity

Special Event: June 6th: Cedar Beach Parkway

In the midst of continued controversy, and what is slowly becoming a very active summer season of volunteer stewardship, I imagine it is incredibly easy to forget that our parks are places of refuge, relaxation, community, connection and true spirit.

After yesterday’s storm of comments and seeming concern, I am looking forward to large turnouts at :

Save The Parks: Litter Pick Up at Bucky Boyle
Save The Parks: Old Fairgrounds Clean Up and Restoration

It is with this in mind that I am incredibly excited to announce that Remember will be joining forces with Save The Kales to present an afternoon of food, fun, sunlight (fingers crossed) and connection.

Save The Kales is a blog written by a foodie, citizen-advocate, and all around awesome lady by the name of Jaime K. Jaime also writes a blog focusing on the strength of community in Bethlehem, called HEART OF STEELcity.


I have rented Pavilion number three and I ask that you please RSVP so Jaime and I know how much food to prepare.

Bring a Frisbee.

Bring a lawn chair.

Most importantly, bring yourself, eat great food, sit back and Remember:

”Everybody needs beauty as well as bread, places to play in and pray in, where nature may heal and give strength to body and soul.” Muir

I will be sharing many particular details in the coming weeks, but also consider this a great day to kick back after what I am hoping are two great clean ups and restorations.

There will be a lot fun that afternoon. Get excited, spread the word and also, Save The Kales.

More details to come…. MARK YOUR CALENDAR NOW!

My Meeting with Greg Weitzel (4/9/2010)

First, the Cedar Beach stuff:

1. Greg stated that the paths that have recently been paved will have their edges contoured beginning this week, so as to remove the cliffs that have developed. 

2. Extra paths have been removed, some at the request of Cedar Crest College.

3. Playground construction is beginning and an entire new system of runoff containment has been developed and will be implemented to prevent significant runoff from reaching the stream on account of the playground. I will have more details on this in the coming days/week, my meeting with Greg was unfortunately short due to a doctor’s appointment I had to get to.

4. The ribbon cutting on Cedar Beach Renovations is on schedule.

5. Greg has given me permission to create a large rain garden in an area of Cedar Beach that is frequently inundated with water.  I am currently speaking with various experts and master gardeners and developing a plant list and planting plan.  I look forward to officially announcing this event and I thank Greg for allowing me to do this.

6. About those paved paths…

Greg told me that prior to the implementation of the asphalt paths, a study was done by LandStudies LLC.  (Link to their website) That study revealed through multiple soil samples, that excessive gravel had built up as a result of the paths that had been at Cedar Beach.  It was decided that asphalt was the best solution to the problem.

Before I go on, a note:

I do not agree with this decision, environmentally or aesthetically.  The paths do not adhere to the guidelines established by the DCNR for sustainable community parks.

That said, I am very pleased that during our meeting Greg gave me a firm commitment to “Grow Zones”, the development of the Cedar Beach riparian corridor, the planting of a large area towards Cedar Crest Boulevard that will be a native meadow (planting this fall), and his permission to build what may turn out to be a large rain garden.  Much much much more on that to come…

I hope that Greg recognizes the environmental issues at Cedar Beach and follows through on these commitments. 

I can’t help but be suspicious of these commitments given everything that has happened at Cedar Beach in the past year. 

However, I’ll keep my eye on it and report on it as I have been and will continue to campaign loudly as a blogger and a citizen to see that the right steps are being taken to deal with the problems not only in Cedar Beach but in the entire park system.

In other Park News:

1. The trees covered in broken asphalt and concrete in the Parkway were not the result of anything done by the Parks Department.  I was the first person to bring it to the attention of Greg and as it turns out, given the location, it is public works who is to blame. 

2.  WPA structures at Irving Park and the WPA stairs from Fountain Park upwards, have had repair work quoted by three companies and the work will be awarded this week.  Greg pledged that the stairs will be fixed this year.

3. Volunteers will soon be needed to deal with the Knotweed at Trout Creek Parkway, again, Much Much Much more on that in time.

Before leaving the meeting I reminded Greg that there is a serious environmental task before him that needs serious commitment and as the projects thus far have developed they have only served to exacerbate existing problems.

While I am very excited to hear these things from Greg and support him fully I cannot help but feel as if I may have heard this song before.  We will see.

Let me again thank Greg for sharing his time with me, and thank him for the commitment he has made by allowing me the permission to construct new rain gardens. 

Let’s see it happen.

The Last Ditch by Austin Clarke

“ Was it an engineer
Busy over a plan
To bring the city nearer,
Who tore up aquatic plants
with fountain pen, would not let
Inches of rivulet run
Where Spring had set a sil
Of flowerets? I could name
Among those little neighbours
Of mine only a few
Of what our County Council
Considers to be refuse;
Mare’s tail that must have pined
A million years to be pine
Or spruce, young reed and flag
That helped me when spirit flagged.
Duckweed, sagittaria,
Might have spread there by road-tar.
They would have been known to Wordsworth
But what are my words worth now ?
I jingle while men pipe down
Delight and look at the mist in
The southwest, think of the missing.
Beyond the pneumatic drill,
Small things uncurl a damp tendril,
Up there at Piperstown.”


Why do I like this poem? 

Clarke’s sense of Nature, compared to Wordsworth’s grand intimations of Nature, had been diminished by “Progress”.  Clarke experienced a world that wasn’t  Wordsworth’s rustic universe any longer.

There was however the immediate freshness of intimate growing things, neighbors, at the edges - where we renew our vital perceptions.

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.

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!

Cedar Beach Construction 2010: Part One

The paths have yet to be paved in the park and on the Sunday afternoon I visited, there were no bulldozers or construction workers present. There was however, a wide gash of overturned stone and packed gravel where the former path used to be. In many places, this future ribbon of asphalt was brimming with ankle deep water.

It would appear that the philosophy adopted by the parks department at this phase of construction is one of slash and burn. The park is simply torn up, end to end, in a mess that will end with a black topped path that flies in the face of the recommendations of the 2006 Master Plan for Parks and Recreation as well as the current guidelines established by the Pennsylvania Department of Conservation and Natural Resources. Both of which discourage to the point of warning, the implementation of “non permeable” surfaces in parks.


These particular developments are personally disheartening and frustrating to see. Being a vocal supporter of the Cedar Beach renovation plans last summer has left me here with egg on my face. I never signed up for the destruction that is occurring.

I want to see our parks improved. My idea of improvement is that of re-naturalization and restoration of ecological health. Those two fundamental principles should be the guiding factors in any park construction or planning process. At Cedar Beach Parkway, in March of 2010, those two principles are being abandoned. In a low lying flood plain, more paving only means more trouble. The grass at Cedar Beach on Sunday was inundated with liquid. This is a frequent condition at Cedar Beach which will increase in severity with more paved surfaces.


Cedar Beach will be turned into the recreational park of at the expense of nature. What little we have left of nature in our urban settings should be preserved and expanded at every opportunity, not destroyed for an idea of progress. There is no progress in our parks that can be beyond nature.

This construction affirms my belief that you, me and anyone else who cares about these parks going forward needs to be as actively and vocally involved as possible. Invasive plant removal at Trout Creek Parkway, creek bank restoration at Jordan Park, and any other environmental project that needs doing in our parks cannot be accomplished with hot asphalt and bulldozers.

Nature needs to be the centerpiece of our parks, not the afterthought.

Let me also state clearly, that I am not a cheerleader for Greg Weitzel nor am I a drone of Mike Molovinsky. I remain firmly on the side of Nature and as such, I state plainly and clearly that what has happened at Cedar Beach Parkway is inexcusable.

I do believe that Mr. Weitzel genuinely cares for Allentown’s park system and is trying to make what are needed improvements. It is the planning and information gathering process that needs help. We need to make sure this does not become a pattern in our parks.

Cedar Beach Parkway once existed as a quiet invitation to nature close to the urban heart of Allentown. The willow trees reached from the creek to take you in, to bring you to a place closer to where the animal spirit inside all of us belongs. Adding riparian vegetation and natural meadow ecosystems would serve only to enhance the natural aesthetic that the park has now lost. What is being created is a lawn, crisscrossed by angular lines that occur nowhere in nature. What once was an ambient escape into a world that we are losing, will be replaced by what will undoubtedly by a noisy setting for scenic path with no opportunity to sense the wonder of the world beyond ourselves.

We need more quiet invitations. Without them, we will remain a lost species with skewed priorities. We will be stewards of a destruction that we should be relentlessly attempting to prevent.

“God has cared for these trees, saved them from drought, disease, avalanches, and a thousand tempests and floods. But he cannot save them from fools.” – John Muir

See Also: The Future of Our Parks

The Coming Riparian Buffer: Part 2

All descriptions come from the United States Department of Agriculture Natural Resources Conservation Service.


Shrubs

Buttonbush

Buttonbush is a large, multi-stemmed shrub that grows to a mature height of twelve feet. It has opposite, entire leaves 2-6 inches long and 1-3 inches wide. They are glabrous and green above. The flowers occur in dense, round, 1 inch diameter clusters which bloom from June to September. The seed matures in the round clusters that resemble those of the sycamore tree. This plant spreads by seed dispersal and resulting seedling establishment.

Silky Dogwood

Silky dogwood is a large shrub, often 6-10 feet in height. The growth habit is upright rounded, but where stems are in contact with the ground, roots are formed. This behavior creates thickets. Young dogwoods have bright red stems in the fall, winter and early spring, which turn reddish-brown in the summer. As the shrub matures, the stems turn reddish-brown year-round and later gray. Silky and redosier dogwood, though very similar, can be distinguished by their pith and fruit color. Silky dogwood has a brown pith in 1-2 year old stems, dark green ovate leaves, yellowish-white flowers which bloom in mid-June, and bluish colored fruit which matures in September. Redosier dogwood has a white pith, dark green ovate leaves, white flowers, and whitish colored fruit. There are approximately 12,000 seeds per pound.

Gray Dogwood

Cornus racemosa Lam, gray dogwood, is a thickly branched, slow growing dogwood seldom more than 6 feet high at maturity. Its flowers, which bloom in June or July, are white and loosely clustered, and its white fruit, which appears in September and October, is set off by bright red fruit-stalks. Its leaves are opposite, taper-pointed and oval

Red-Osier Dogwood

General: Dogwood Family (Cornaceae). Redosier dogwood is a woody deciduous shrub generally 1.4-6 m (4.6-20 ft) tall. The bark and twigs are reddish to purple and fairly smooth from autumn to late spring; after the leaves have fallen, the deep burgundy branches add color to the winter landscape. The bark, twigs, and leaves are bright green in spring through summer. The simple, opposite leaves are 5-10 cm (2-4 in) long, dark green above and hairy and lighter-colored below, with smooth margins, rounded bases, pointed tips, and falsely parallel veins. Flowering occurs from June to August. The inflorescence is a cyme, with 2-3 mm (0.08-0.12 in) white to cream-colored flowers. The white berries are smooth on the faces, furrowed on the sides.

Winterberry

Winterberry is an erect moderate sized shrub, growing to heights of 5 to 15 feet tall. The smooth bark of winterberry is gray to blackish, with knobby lenticels The dense branches of this shrub grow in a zigzag pattern with an upright spreading crown. The twigs are slender, with gray to gray-brown color and small buds.
The simple, smooth, obovate to oblong-ovate foliage is sharply double toothed, with medium fine texture. The deciduous leaves are arranged alternately along the stems. Each leaf is 1 1/2 to 4 inches long, with dark green summer color turning yellow in fall, then drop off by mid-October. Small, inconspicuous, axillary, greenish to yellowish-white flowers bloom from April to July, after leaves have emerged. Like most others in the holly genus, winterberry is dioecious. Three years after planting, pistillate flowers begin to emerge in small clusters plants and staminate flowers develop on male plants with up to twelve flowers in a cluster; only now can plant gender be determined. Scarlet red to orange, globular fruit mature by late summer, often remaining on the plant into mid-winter. The berry-like fruit is about 1/4 inch in diameter, occurring singlely or in pairs, each containing 3 to 5 small nutlets. There are an average of 92,000 seeds per pound.

Common Ninebark

Native shrubs growing 1-3 meters tall, sometimes tree-like, with wide-spreading, recurved branches, the twigs brown to yellowish, glabrous; bark brown to orangish, peeling into thin strips or broader sheets on larger trunks. Leaves are deciduous, alternate, simple, ovate to obovate or nearly round, 3-12 cm long, with 3(-5) shallow, palmate-veined lobes, basally truncate or cuneate, on petioles 1-3 cm long, glabrous above and mostly so beneath but sometimes with a sparse covering of stellate hairs beneath, with crenate or dentate margins. Inflorescence of numerous flowers found in rounded clusters 2.5-5 cm wide; flowers 7-10 mm wide, calyx cup-shaped, glabrous or with stellate hairs, 5-lobed; petals 5, white or pinkish; styles 5; stamens 30-40. Fruit is compressed but inflated, ovoid, 8-12 mm long, shiny, red at maturity, glabrous or hairy, with papery but firm walls, splitting along two sides, in clusters of (2-)3-5 per flower; seeds 2-4. The common name comes from the bark, which continually molts in thin strips, each time exposing a new layer of bark, as if it had “nine lives.” This species flowers in May-July and fruits in May-July.
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There are more plants and wildflowers to come, check back tomorrow for a list of them as well as a look at the area as it is now. Once the spring arrives and this buffer begins to grow, all of the plants whose long descriptions I have listed here will be photographed and documented. Stay tuned.

The Coming Riparian Buffer: Part One

The new riparian buffer at Cedar Beach will be composed of all different sorts of trees, plants and shrubs. Today I will be introducing you to these new species in advance of the spring. When the snow melts, I will be following all these plants as they grow. Here is part one:

All descriptions come from the United States Department of Agriculture Natural Resources Conservation Service.

Trees

Silver Maple

Acer saccharinum L., silver maple is one of the fastest growing deciduous trees of the eastern and midwestern forests. Also called river maple, this name derives from the common occurrence of the species along our river systems. Silver maple shares many of its sites with red maple, but the two species are easily distinguished. Silver maple is typically a much larger tree with a much larger fruit (called a samara), but the two species are the only native maples with spring seed dispersal. The leaves of silver maple are often larger and more deeply fissured between lobes than those of red maple. Silver maple can grow 3-7 feet per year.

River Birch

River birch is native to the eastern United States; south to Florida, north to Minnesota and west to Kansas; it is restricted to stream banks and other moist places. The tree can grow as tall as 40 to 70 feet and 15 to 30 inches in diameter. The bark is exfoliating; gray-brown to ivory or copper colored. The leaves are alternate, simple, 1-3 inches long, and oval-shaped with serrated edges; they are green above and whitish underneath. Flowers are inconspicuous. The winged fruit is small, brown, and borne in clusters in the spring. River birch bears an average of 375,000 seeds per pound. Root crowns and roots survive fire and sprout vigorously. The growth rate of river birch is typically 1.5 to 3 feet per year.

Green Ash

Fraxinus pennsylvanica Marsh., green ash, is a deciduous, medium-sized tree with an open, irregular crown reaching about 50 feet in height. Native to eastern North America and is fairly common west to Wyoming and Colorado along plains watercourses at elevations below 6,000 feet. The tree is fast growing on moist bottomlands, and is extremely hardy to climatic extremes once established.
Fruits are straw-colored, one-seeded, winged (samaras), 1 to 2 1/2 inches long, borne in dense branching clusters; flowers are inconspicuous, without petals, borne in dense clusters (panicles) near the ends of the twigs, male and female flowers on separate trees; leaves are opposite, pinnately compound, 4 to 6 inches long, 7 to 9 leaflets, narrowly elliptical, long-pointed, entire, bright green above, paler below; stem straight, bark thin with network of interlacing ridges, brown to dark gray, twigs smooth; roots are shallow, wide-spreading.

Swamp White Oak

General: Beech Family (Fagaceae). Native trees commonly growing to 15–20 m, sometimes to 30 m, the lateral branches relatively persistent (slow in self-pruning), with an open, irregularly shaped crown; bark dark gray, scaly or flat-ridged, often peeling off in large, ragged, papery curls. Leaves are deciduous, alternate, obovate to narrowly elliptic or narrowly obovate, (8–)12–18(–21) cm long, (4–)7–11(–16) cm wide, usually with regularly spaced, shallow, rounded teeth, or toothed in distal half only, or moderately to deeply lobed, upper surfaces dark green and glossy, lower surfaces lighter green to whitish, softly hairy. Male and female flowers are borne in separate catkins on the same tree (the species monoecious) on the current year's branchlets. Acorns maturing the first year, ovoid-ellipsoid or oblong, mostly 1.5–3 cm long, single or clustered in groups of 2–4, on a stalk (peduncle) 3-8 cm long; cup enclosing 1/3–1/2 of the acorn, scales closely appressed, finely grayish tomentose, those near rim of cup often with a short, stout, irregularly recurved spinose tip. The common name is from its typical habitat and its membership in the white oak subgroup.

Pin Oak

Pin oak is a moderately large tree with normal heights ranging from 70 to 90 feet with diameters between 2 and 3 feet. Trees reaching 120 feet tall with 5-foot diameters are occasionally encountered on good sites. The bark of this tree is smooth, reddish to grayish-brown during the juvenile period, becoming darker and shallowly fissured as the tree growth slows with age. The lower branches of pin oak are prostrate to descending, with smooth, slender, reddish-brown twigs. Clusters of pointed buds are located at the tips of twigs. Three to five inch alternate leaves have 5 to 7 points or lobes with bristled tips and deep C-shaped sinuses. The leaves change in color from a dark green to a deep scarlet red in fall. The leaves are deciduous but will usually persist on the tree into winter. The flowers of pin oak emerge soon after new leaves unfold in spring (April to mid-May). The acorns that develop are roundish, short stalked, 3/8 to 1/2 inches long, and capped with a thin and shallow saucer-like cup. The acorns will take 16 to 18 months to develop from pollination to maturity. When mature the acorn turns light brown to reddish-brown, and will drop from September to November. In 30 to 35 year old stands of pin oak, 4,000 to 20,000 sound acorns per acre yields have been documented. There are 410 acorns per pound. Pin oak is often confused with scarlet oak (Q. coccinea) due to similar appearance. Scarlet oak is an upland species that prefers soils with good drainage on dry sites.

American Sycamore

General: Planetree family (Platanaceae). Monoecious, native, deciduous trees with an open crown, among the largest of Eastern deciduous forests, reaching heights of 18-37 meters, and the greatest diameter of any temperate hardwood tree -- the largest known range 3-4 meters d.b.h.; twigs zig-zag, with only lateral buds, these completely covered by a single scale within the petiole base and not visible until after the petiole detachment; bark of upper trunk exfoliating in patches, leaving areas of inner bark exposed, a patchwork of browns, yellows, and greens against a background of white, the darker bark with age falling away in thin brittle sheets, exposing younger and lighter-colored bark. Leaves are deciduous, alternate, 10-35 cm long, palmate-veined and roughly star-shaped, with 3-5 sharp lobes, the blades often as broad or broader than they are long, truncate to cordate at the base, on petioles to 12 cm long; a leaf-like stipule at the petiole base is persistent during early growth. Staminate and pistillate flowers in separate, tightly compacted, ball-shaped clusters. Fruit is single-seeded and indehiscent (an achene), 8-9 mm long, with a ring of bristles at the base, numerous achenes in a pendulous, ball-shaped fruiting head 2-5 cm in diameter, the individual achenes drifting in the wind if the head breaks up on the tree. Common name apparently borrowed from the European sycamore maple (Acer pseudoplatanus L.), which has similar leaves.

The Coming Riparian Buffer at Cedar Beach Parkway

I was standing in front of the statue of General Trexler at Trexler Park when I decided to write about parks on a blog. As I began my journeys, the day that changed me and my future happened at Cedar Beach Parkway. It was a particularly hot afternoon and I was stumbling around the various constructions in the Old Fashioned Garden when I thought of how nice it would be to cool off. I decided to go into the creek to try and attain this cooler feeling.

When I was younger, and I don’t remember with what organization or any names involved at all really, I attended some sort of nature camp at Cedar Beach and of all the various activities we did during camp time, I remember overturning rocks on the bottom of Cedar Creek the most. As I stood creek side, twenty years later, I thought of the excitement I felt as a child not knowing what to expect when I turned a rock over.

One leg at a time, I got myself into the creek. Where I stood, the water was rather cold and the sun had become more comforting than suffocating. Around me was thick vegetation. I had walked into the riparian buffer behind the reflecting ponds.

The plants were high enough that I could not see past them. I was alone, knee deep in cold water, in a place where no one else was and perhaps no one else had ever been. I certainly had no idea how many people wandered into the water to walk through this buffer. I knew how close Linden Street was, but it felt as if I had gone a thousand miles from where I had been before stepping in.

I took a deep breath and stood.

When I left the creek that day I walked alongside its banks to where there was no riparian buffer. I looked at the eroded creek banks, the sediment build up, the exposed roots of the willow trees hanging thirstily above the water and I thought: Why in the world has this been allowed to happen? I had just had a genuine experience with nature in an urban park and twenty feet downstream, nature was genuinely being abandoned. I was confused.

I began to do research and I started to learn about riparian buffers and proper management of watersheds. I wanted to fix the problems that were leading to the environmental degradation of these open spaces. I learned about invasive species and began to lose sleep over the Japanese knotweed in Trout Creek Parkway. I saw kids splashing in the filthy water in Jordan Park and I wanted to change the problem. At this point, I had changed. My blog had become the outlet to share my observations and concerns.

In October, I was able to spend a day planting hundreds of new species alongside Cedar Creek where a few months prior I stood in awe of the terrible conditions of the creek bank. In a few weeks, once all this snow has passed into memory, these plants will begin to grow. A long vein of new life will erupt in Cedar Beach Parkway and the first steps towards ensuring the ecological health of that park will be taken.

It is my hope that the experience I had, that brought me where I am today will be shared by many more people with the development of this new riparian buffer. I also hope that this will lead to new environmental educational programs in the park, especially for inner city children who otherwise would never have the chance to experience nature in this way. General Trexler wanted our parks to serve that purpose after all; it is time for them to do so.

Tomorrow will be part one of a two part post detailing the new plants, trees and shrubs that will begin growing in a few weeks alongside Cedar Creek. I’m beyond excited about it.

Related Video:

If you haven't seen it yet, this is a video I made about the problems facing our parks, and the future of them:

The Future of Our Parks: Video Post

Deep Freeze: Summer - Video Post

In the midst of an arctic blast, the following video is to serve as a reminder of warmer times. Check it out.

To Pave or Not to Pave

Before getting into the paving discussion, I figured it would be wise to consider the current path types in some of the major parks in Allentown.

First, in Trout Creek Parkway, the pathway is entirely paved.

At The Lehigh Parkway, there is paved and famously unpaved walking trails.

In Trexler Park, the entirety of the walking path is paved and like the Parkway, once served as a through route for automobiles.

The bottom line is that the majority of existing trails in Allentown’s parks are in fact paved. Where they are not, the path is most typically defined by gravel as in Jordan Park or formerly, in Cedar Beach Parkway.

As future development of trails is considered, should this trend continue? Should we pave our park paths?

I consider this a matter of environmental protection. Given that our parks are preserved open spaces, the health of the ecosystems therein should be the primary factor given consideration when contemplating future park development. Therefore, it would seem that the decision to pave or not to pave comes down to whichever method is most environmentally sound.

So, which option is it?

The bottom line is that both paving new trails and creating new unpaved trails in natural spaces is environmentally hazardous. It is a tricky proposition. Establishing easy access to what is left of nature in an increasingly urban world is a necessity. .

Therefore, I advocate the creation of trails and paths to allow access to our wild spaces. I consider it a priority of local governments to ensure that such an access exists. That access must be environmentally sound. That access must preserve the health of the ecosystem. With that in mind, I believe that the best answer to the question raised by the title of this blog post is answered by the Pennsylvania Department of Conservation and Natural Resources.

In a publication entitled “Creating Sustainable Community Parks”, the DCNR lays out the answer to the question simply:

“ Minimize impermeable surfaces like roads, parking lots, and paved trails. Consider replacing asphalt with concrete and permeable pavement, mulch paths, gravel lots and natural vegetation. Permeable surfaces help to recharge groundwater, reduce erosion, lessen flooding events, and filter out pollutants. When impermeable surfaces must be used, arrange them in an area where they will not fragment habitat, make them as small as possible, and keep them away from water bodies.”

So, the answer is, pave sparingly. If unpaved surface paths exist they must be maintained in a fashion that will keep the ground from being compressed by increased foot travel; which will lead to similar environmental hazards as paved trails.

It is my belief that the advice of the DCNR should be followed in any new construction by our Parks Department in our open spaces. The paving around the reflecting ponds in Cedar Beach Parkway, as it currently exists, is environmentally degrading. I do not support further paving at Cedar Beach Parkway given the paths close proximity to Cedar Creek as well as its location in a floodplain.

The current project at Cedar Beach Parkway is not being created in a responsible fashion. I believe that accessibility to our parks should be increased, but not at the expense of the parks themselves. There are alternatives to black top paving and those alternatives as described above should be implemented in any further development.

By the way, as a reminder to all Remember readers and park lovers, the DCNR also maintains the necessity of Riparian Buffers near any water body. Hopefully, we will see more of those this summer. I’ll be waiting, camera in hand.

January Thaw 2: Cedar Beach Parkway (New Paving)

I realized I had jumped the gun on the January thaw when I stepped outside yesterday morning. I found myself standing in a summerlike downpour. The temperature was nearly sixty degrees. I headed down to Cedar Beach.

Heavy rains had fallen over the previous night and coupled with recent precipitation and snowmelt, Cedar Creek was flooded.



Large areas of the lowlands in Cedar Beach Parkway were underwater.

I discovered the walking path dug up. I believe it to be in the preparation stage of further black top paving.


All around the asphalt paths near the reflecting ponds was water. Large channels aside the newly paved paths were full and some were serving as run off canals towards the creek.



As the debate over the trails plan has heated up of late, one serious area of contention has been in regards to the types of trails that would be installed under this initiative. Many people, including yours truly, have stated that they would prefer to see less paved paths in future park developments.

Check back here tomorrow for a full exploration on the topic.

After leaving the mud and water of Cedar Beach, I drove to the Lehigh County Soccer Fields to catch what was left of the sunset. Here, beyond the community gardens, day was expiring.

Perhaps to find itself in Tomato Heaven:

Warm air over the winter bramble and idle cornfields felt strange, felt like a tease. I am looking forward to the life of spring.

(To Pave or Not to Pave, that is for tomorrow…)