Written by Chambs Ruiz
One Philly, One United City: A Moment Taken as Celebration for the Start of a New Nature Preserve
This month, we celebrated the beginning of a years-long Workforce Development program, opening landcare training and career opportunities for Philadelphians to create a New Nature Preserve within the Friends Hospital Campus.
This was done through the One Philly, A United City event, a citywide Philly Spring cleanup.
At our corner of the event, we had partnered with many organizations and city officials, including but not limited to Philadelphia Parks and Recreation, Office of Clean and Green, Philadelphia Department of Sanitation, PowerCorpsPHL, Frankford CDC, Los Rumberos Jeep Club, 215 People’s Alliance, Friends Hospital, PA Representative Jason Dawkins, Councilmember Quetcy Lozada, Director of Clean and Green Initiative Carlton Williams, and many more to mark this celebration with a freshly cleaned greenspace along Tacony Creek.
The day consisted of planting trees, shrubs, and native flower/grass plugs. We also cleaned up trash along the creek, and a cleared invasive bamboo.
Now, this part of Tacony Creek is open to all to enjoy, and within the next three years, will be a place many native fauna and flora will call home.
Painted Ballards and a Tire-Free Tree, All Done on Earth Day
For Earth Day, the Landcare team worked with Garfield Refining and the Vaird Boys and Girls Club to beautify the Whitaker Gateway entrance of Tacony Creek Park.
Between the painted ballards and a tire that has finally gotten a new life outside years of being stuck in a tree, the area is looking pretty nice these days!
As always, we thank the LandCare team for their eager and tireless efforts to keep Tookany-Tacony/Frankford creek clean for all of us to enjoy. Make sure to visit the new space on Friends Hospital Campus, along with Whitaker Gateway and others to see what we’re up to!
This blog is part of the #CreekyCLEAN! TaconyCreekPark initiative.
Learn more at:
🔗 https://ttfwatershed.org/programs/creekyclean-tacony-park/
