TTF Stewards Terri and Patty
We met Terri and Patty when we contacted them about the raffle we ran as part of our outreach to Cheltenham E-Waste Drive (November 19) attendees.
Terri signed up for the TTF e-newsletter and when we emailed her to let her know she had won a Trolley Car Diner gift certificate, this is how she responded: “By the way, I have a stream that runs through my property, which with the flooding rain recently has been gouged out quite deeply. As result, I found I have a deep area at the upper corner of my property that has FISH (I saw a small shoal of fish — about 20 of them ranging in size from about 1.5 to 4 inches.) My concern is that just above that area is a storm water run-off pipe. Is there any way to get the township to put a damper of sorts on that pipe to help preserve this area for the fish?”
We contacted the PA Department of Environmental Protection, which provided this guidance: “It is not unusual to find fish living in our urban streams. Several species are common. These fish populations are surviving in an environment that has been impacted by stormwater discharges for a long time. From the description provided, there is no reason to suspect a particular threat to the fish, and no official action seems to be required. “
Yesterday, we personally delivered the gift certificate to Terri and Patty, who are incredibly knowledgeable stewards of their creekside property on Church Road in Cheltenham. They have two rain barrels and their home is a National Wildlife Federation Certified Wildlife Habitat! They are an example of watershed stewardship we’d like to see catch on!
