Bio Blitz & City Nature Challenge Update
Thank you for participating in our annual BioBlitz! This year we reached a new level of participation: a 6% increase in observers and a 303% increase in BioBlitz project followers. Over 300 species were observed!
The most observed species were: American Robin, common Star of Bethlehem and Garlic Mustard. One of our favorite observations was one of the first submitted, a bald eagle sighted in Tacony Creek Park! See observations here!
Philadelphia came in 12th place for the City Nature Challenge, with a 9% increase in number of species and an 11% increase in observers. Over 2,100 species were seen in the Philadelphia suburban area. Over 200 cities across the globe participated...the top 10 cities had almost 400,000 observations.
|
|
Citizen Science Fun Continues! |
|
Just because our Bioblitz is over, you don't have to stop iNatting living things you see in our watershed!
Go out and explore our wonderful restoration sites. Tell us what you see! We have created special restoration project pages to share observations.
Water quality restoration is habitat restoration too!
This information is valuable because it informs us about the impact of our work by providing baseline data on the species found within our watershed, as well as the presence of invasive species. Check out what people have been seeing at these sites:
|
|
Our second cleanup of the season was a big success!
Fifteen volunteers joined us, including a group of wonderful volunteers from MOM's Organic Market. This was our largest number of volunteers for a monthly cleanup to date! Volunteers removed invasive plants such as multiflora rose and porcelain berry. They also repaired damaged sections of deer fencing, critical to ensuring the survival of native trees.
Keep an eye out for upcoming cleanups. This month, we're at Abington Friends School, and we hope to be at Abington Junior High School in June and July!
|
|
|
|
Earth Day:
Manor College lends a hand
|
On Earth Day 2021, Manor College students and faculty cutback large areas of phragmites, an invasive wetland plant, at the Sisters of St. Basil the Great, adjacent to the Manor campus.
They did this work to prepare for wetland restoration work coming later this year.
Thank you!!
|
|
This spring, we implemented live staking as a way to multiply the impact of our projects. Live staking involves taking cuttings from native species of shrubs during dormancy and inserting them into a creekbank. The cuttings will then develop a root system, which helps to hold the streambank in place.
We took cuttings from silky dogwoods at our restoration site at Abington Junior High School and planted them in the streambank at Ethel Jordan Park. We received cuttings from one of our backyard buffers and planted them above our restoration site at the Conklin Pool.
We will measure success with this project, and hope to install more live stakes next year! Learn more about live staking here. |
|
We began to refresh our pollinator boxes installed at restoration projects this year. Regular box maintenance important is to keep pollinators healthy and happy.
A pollinator box is an artificial home created for solitary species of bees and wasps. These species are cavity nesters. The boxes are filled with recycled natural materials, such as bamboo or old wooden blocks with drilled holes.
Look out for these boxes -- when you find one, post a selfie and tag us! Want to build your own pollinator box? Watch this webinar or read more here. Contact ryan@ttfwatershed.org with questions. |
|
Valuable Training Opportunities |
|
In April, we held the second Streamkeeper training of the year, focused on identifying macroinvertebrates found in our waterways. Macroinvertebrates are the small bugs that live at the bottom of the stream. These bugs are important indicators of water quality health!
This was a two part hybrid training program. The first online session was a presentation by Sam Briggs of the Izaak Walton League. Sam walked through the various groups of macro invertebrates ranging from sensitive to pollution tolerant, plus identification tips and tricks.
Volunteers then took an online assessment to practice their knowledge. On April 24, Streamkeepers came together at the Pennypack Ecological Restoration Trust in a socially distanced manner to practice protocol and identification in person. A huge thank you to the Izaak Walton League for facilitating this wonderful and informative training!
|
|
We're excited to share an update about two new programs in Cheltenham!
The Friends of the Tookany meets monthly to clean up different sections of Tookany Creek. They have held two successful cleanups so far. Join FOT Facebook Group for information about the next cleanup at the end of May. This group was started by a wonderful resident who received one of our cleanup kits last spring, and decided to take it to the next level. We can't wait to see this group grow!
We're hosting this new free monthly walk along Tookany Creek
starting tomorrow!
Join environmental educator Judith Gratz as she explores a different topic from 10:30am to 12 noon on 3rd Saturdays.
This program is a collaboration between Cheltenham Township and TTF.
This is the Tookany Creek Watershed, May 15
Nature’s Recyclers, June 19
Flowering and Non-Flowering, Native and Non-Native Plants, July 17
Life in the Tookany Creek, Aug.21
Nature Games, Sept. 18
Trees: Their Leaves and Bark, Oct. 16
|
|
|
|
We're excited to highlight a few Streamkeeper sites. With 24 sites, we thought it would be interesting to go back and share information about some of our older sites. We are also adding two new sites!
Streamkeepers: thank you for continuing to monitor your sites!
|
|
TTF 250
This site is located along the Jenkintown Creek, right below the outflow of the pond at Alverthorpe Park, and is a good indicator of influences entering the creek from the pond.
It is also significant because there is a large amount of restoration work slated to be installed in the near future within the park.
It is a rocky and shallow section of creek. There is generally a large abundance of algae along this section. This is the most upstream Streamkeeper site along the west branch of the Jenkintown Creek.
|
|
TTF 700
This site is located along the Jenkintown Creek by McKinley Elementary School, just downstream of our restoration work and Streamkeeper site at Ethel Jordan Park.
This is a staff level quarterly monitoring as well as a macro invertebrate monitoring site. There's streambank restoration, a riparian buffer planting and an enhancement of the vernal pool here. The creek has decent baseflow, and often large numbers of black nose dace can be seen.
The creek is influenced by a small tributary that takes sheetflows from Sisters of St. Basil. The creek is enclosed underground here. Another exciting influence here is a pair of beavers nearby on the creek!
|
|
Shop Locally for the Planet! |
Please show love to our Partner Alliance Philanthropist Plus member MOM's Organic Market! Not only does MOM's offer a big selection of healthy, organic foods, you can bring batteries, cell phones, shoes and more to recycle to the store, as well as food scraps to compost.
The new MOM's store is located at 925 Easton Road in Roslyn.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
