2025 Landcare Updates #CreekyCLEAN!TaconyCreekPark

This new garden is more than beautiful — it provides essential habitat and food for bees, butterflies, and other pollinators, boosts biodiversity, strengthens the local ecosystem, and helps our watershed thrive.

Here you’ll find Monarda, Purple Coneflowers, Mint, Brown-Eyed Susan, Asters, and Bluestem grasses — native plants that attract pollinators, enrich soil health, and bring vibrant color to the park year after year.

At the end of September, Drew and Jose represented TTF at the Pennsylvania Greenways and Trails Summit 2025, learning new ways to care for parks and people.

Drew and Khyree also attended the National Stream Restoration Conference, where they gained valuable insights and connected with peers from across the country.

For Khyree, the most meaningful part of the experience was meeting others who are just as passionate about protecting and restoring waterways — “getting to know people doing the same work was the most valuable part.”

Members of our #CreekyCLEANsquad — Montez, Jose, Zahir, Khyree, and Liam — joined the 12th Annual Tree Canopy Conference. And just last weekend, they completed the Bare Root Crew Leader Training and officially became certified Tree Tenders!

On October 28-29, TTF partnered with Philadelphia Parks & Recreation to co-lead a two-day Sustainable Land Care Training on Combatting Illegal Dumping.

A big thanks to everyone who helped make this a success — and congrats to all who earned training credits!

We also continued work at the Whitaker Gateway, where we spread 100 pounds of grass seed to green up this important entry point into Tacony Creek Park. With regular mowing and the removal of invasives, this once-overgrown area is becoming a clean, inviting place for the community to gather and enjoy.

Stay tuned for more updates as we head into fall—and come take a walk to see the transformation for yourself!

We’re still hard at work along Whitaker Avenue—and this month, the whole TTF team also headed out to “The Big Field” for a half day of stewardship. From clearing invasives to maintaining trails and caring for new plantings, our staff is making big strides for both people and nature in Tacony Creek Park. 🌿💪

🎥 Check out our latest video to see the team in action and the progress we’re making together!

And the milkweed pollinator gardens are in full bloom and buzzing with life! 🐝🌸

Catch them while you can—they won’t be blooming much longer.

Los jardines polinizadores de algodoncillo están en plena floración y llenos de vida. 🐝🌸

¡Ven a verlos mientras puedas—no estarán floreciendo por mucho más tiempo!

🌿 Have you seen the new milkweed pollinator patch at Whitaker Gateway? It’s not only beautiful, it’s also a valuable habitat for butterflies and other pollinators.

🌱 The live staking project under the Fisher’s Lane Bridge is already sprouting new leaves, and the trail has been widened for a better walking and running experience!

💬 Members of our walking and running group have all noticed the difference. Come out and see how the park is changing — and growing — every day!

Special thanks to volunteers from MaGrann Associates, EY, students from Esperanza Academy Science Club, and all the amazing Love Your Park volunteers who helped make these improvements possible!

🌿 ¿Has visto el nuevo parche de algodoncillo para polinizadores en la entrada de Whitaker? No solo es hermoso, sino que también beneficia a las mariposas y otros polinizadores.

🌱 El proyecto de plantación con estacas vivas en el puente de Fisher’s Lane ya está brotando nuevas hojas, y el sendero ha sido ampliado para una mejor experiencia al caminar o correr.

💬 ¡Los participantes de nuestro grupo de caminatas y carreras ya lo han notado! Ven a ver cómo el parque está cambiando y creciendo cada día.

🙏 ¡Gracias especiales a los voluntarios de MaGrann Associates, EY, los estudiantes del Science Club de Esperanza Academy y a todos los increíbles voluntarios de Love Your Park que ayudaron a hacer posibles estas mejoras!

We wanted to plant a flag, to spark imagination. To signal to our communities the start of a new chapter. We left for our holiday break with optimism and pride—We returned to find that the illegal dumpers had been busy in our absence (the dumpers never rest…); mounds of threadbare tires, and the shells of abandoned cars greeted us — a rebuke on the bare forest floor.

It would be easy to be disheartened. Easy to question the hope and excitement of warmer seasons. Easy to dismiss our mission as impossible.

It’s not impossible. It’s not impossible. It’s simply… perpetual. Perpetual and really, really, hard.

We gathered ourselves and within days the cars were towed (Thank you, Jose!). Our new PowerCorps fellows — Kevonna, Queen, and Terrence — have arrived to bolster our number. Last week, with a fleet of trash trucks and workers from Parks and Rec, (The Cavalry!) the tires have been gathered and hauled away. In just a few cold weeks, TTF, Parks and Rec, PWD, our communities, and our partners, have all renewed our commitment again and again to the mission.