By Nathan McWilliams, Philadelphia Stewardship Manager
Last month, we held a maintenance day at our very first rain garden in Vernon Park. This GSI site was installed in the fall of 2011 with a lot of partners, especially the Friends of Vernon Park (FOVP). For the past few years, TTF and FOVP have cared for this site collaboratively through the Philadelphia Water Department’s Soak It Up Adoption program.
PowerCorps PHL’s Wissahickon Germantown Crew, led by Destiny, was our partner for this effort which focused on trash and debris removal, inlet cleaning and invasive plant removal in and around the rain garden. Thanks to the hard work of these crew members, as well as Friends of Vernon Park’s Ruth and Malcolm, our Rain Garden Caretaker the event was a success!
We collected and removed a total of 20 bags of trash and 21 bags of organic debris from the rain garden and the park. We also cleaned out 6 stormwater inlets.
Green Stormwater Infrastructure (GSI) uses nature to manage stormwater run-off, which is the biggest source of pollution for our creeks. The Vernon Park rain garden slows down the flow of stormwater run-off, which helps prevents our stormwater system system from becoming overburdened. Controlling invasive (non-native) planet species and trash removal regularly helps to ensure that the Vernon Park GSI site functions properly.
Thank you to PowerCorpsPHL and the Friends at Vernon Park for your hard work and commitment to this special garden. Great work, everyone!
Would you like to help us maintain our many GSI and restoration sites? Sign up to volunteer here.
