Healthy Forest - Restoring the Wissahickon

White Oak sapling just planted

Wiegard, Ave. Wissahickon Forest, Fairmount Park

Weather: clear, cool, hi. 48 degrees F, lo 42 degrees F, wind 4 - 7 mph. Habitat: Oak-Hickory Forest.

I volunteered with Wissahickon Restoration Volunteers Sunday. It was a clear beautiful day in the Wissahickon Forest. The sky was clear and that warm blue of autumn.  The glowing gold of Sugar Maples brightened up the forest. The White Oaks still have their dry and crinkly brown leaves firmly attached to branches. Many Tulip Trees are bare. Brown bare limbs and crackly dead leaves litter the forest floor.

We spent two hours this morning cutting down and pulling out Multifloral Rose, Privet and Oriental Bittersweet. In their places we planted the native forest trees of the Wissahickon, White Oak, Red Oak and Sweetbay Magnolia. Black Gum was planted down by the water.

When new trees are planted, white plastic deer guards are wrapped around the trees to stop deer from browsing (eating) the tender young branches.  Deer generally don't eat the invasive species that we have to chop out of the forest. They eat the native species they evolved with over millennium.  The deer eat some non-native plants but not the ones which become invasive. If they did, they we could walk the forest each weekend instead of digging.

Red Oak firmly in the ground

When you buy a plant from a nursery that claims to be deer-resistant, you know that if it escapes into the woods, it can become invasive because the deer can or won't eat it.

The oak trees are planted according to their likes and dislikes. White Oaks like the deep forest best so deeper in  they go. We plant Red Oaks (Quercus rubra) at the edge of the forest because the Red Oak is not so picky.

White Oaks waiting to be planted

I like doing restoration work because I am doing something about the environmental mess we are in . If I just sit, all I can think of is the devastation. Restoration work gives me hope.  And I can see instant results. The invasive vines that choke and bring down trees are gone. Privet hedges that block the view of a beautiful creek are removed. The sun shines, Chickadees call and the forest is beautiful again.

Golden leaves brighten the forest

Falls along the Wissahickon Creek

Mallard duck pair on the Wissahickon Creek

Houston Meadow

Houston Meadow, Fairmount Park

My naturalist training group went to the Houston Meadow (also called Cathedral Meadow). The meadow is near Houston Playground between Cathedral Road and Bell's Mill Road in the Andorra section of the city.

The land in this section of the city is upland forest and riverine forest with natural patches of meadows where trees fall and open the forest canopy. 

The land that Philadelphia is in, is a patchwork of forests, meadows and wetlands. And more survives then most people think and less than what would be ideal. 

Indigo Dogbane Beetle on Dogbane

To find this natural meadow in the city of Philadelphia was a shock and a joy. We spotted a rare beetle, the Indigo Dogbane Beetle on Dogbane. The beetle is rare because the Dogbane plant is rare. And the beetle feeds on no other plant.

A nesting Box for an American Kestrel was placed in the meadow. This raptor needs open areas such as meadows to hunt in. I suspect if a Kestrel is nesting there that the meadow provides plenty of small mammals and insects to feed its young. If we had seen a Kestrel it would have been the perfect way to cap off the visit.

Eastern Tiger Swallowtail

The meadow had many native grasses, flowers, native fruits and nuts. And Butterflies and Moths. Including Eastern Tent Caterpillar in the nearby forest, Silver Spotted Skipper, Cabbage White and Eastern Swallowtails in the Meadow. The butterflies certainly need the Meadow to survive and reproduce.

Houston Meadow has been a natural meadow for several hundred years. The Fairmount Park Commission removed many invasive and alien tree, shrub and plant species when it cleared and renovated the meadow this past spring. The meadow was expanded from about 15 acres to 47 acres. Good move. The species that require sunlight and open areas would not be able to survive in a shaded forest. This means no American Kestrels nesting in the city and less butterflies.

Visting Houston Meadow is a great nature-centered "Thing to do in Philadelphia".

I really look forward to leading groups and showing residents and visitors the natural wonders that lie within the city limits.  I look forward to the day Philadelphia is visited not just for the historic human-centered places, but also for the fascinating natural places.

Wissahickon Valley Park

Forbidden Drive, Wissahickon Valley Park, Philadelphia, PA

I started my volunteer naturalist training, yesterday. I am so grateful that I have the opportunity to learn about the land that I live in. Here in Philadelphia, in school, we don't extensively study the land that we live in. We make sure our kids learn about Shakespeare and the Ancient Greeks, but not the ground beneath their feet. This I am sure, is because of our arrogance.

Sunday, we learned about the geology of Philadelphia and the surrounding area. We traveled to Wissahickon Valley Park, in the far northwest section of the city. The valley is about 1 billion years old.

In the lush brilliant spring green of the forest, large metamorphic rock outcroppings push up through the soil all over this part of Philadelphia. This is the Piedmont Region of Philadelphia, 300-400 feet above sea level.  This hilly forest is the highest point in Philadelphia, pushing into the sky. It reaches far higher than the center of the city which is a mere 20-30 feet above sea level.

The talk on the region's geology was fascinating, but I was distracted by the birds that visited the feeders behind the Park's treehouse. Red-bellied Woodpeckers, Hairy or Downy Woodpeckers, White-Breasted Nuthatches, Cardinals, Blue Jays and Robins landed on a tall Black Walnut tree.

Monday, my naturalist training continues.

fungi, Wissahickon Valley Park