Plan on being at AFS the morning of Saturday, October 18th! In addition to the Book Fair we'll be having a Creekside Planting and Environmental Fair from 9:30 to 1:00 PM. In cooperation with the Tookany/Tacony-Frankford Watershed Partnership, AFS will be planting a riparian buffer along our beautiful stream. Middle and Lower School students will be involved in activities throughout the week, and will do some planting on Friday, but the main planting event will be open for families and members of the community on Saturday. There will be refreshments and a variety of partner organizations present with all kinds of environmental and outdoor activities!
Students have already been out at the stream to explore and learn about riparian buffers!
Below is the press release from TTF that outlines the whole project and some photos from the day of announcement of the grant.
The Tookany/Tacony-Frankford Watershed Partnership (TTF) has been awarded a Delaware River Restoration Fund grant of $155,000 through the National Fish and Wildlife Foundation for stream restoration and green stormwater management projects along the Jenkintown Creek at the Sisters of the Order of St. Basil the Great and Abington Friends School in Abington Township. TTF was able to access this opportunity because of our participation in the William Penn Foundation's Delaware River Watershed Initiative and their identification of our watershed as a priority for implementation of stormwater improvements in the Philadelphia upstream watershed cluster.
According to Julie Slavet, Executive Director of TTF, "This significant funding will enable us to implement a combination of restoration and green stormwater management projects along the critical headwaters of the Jenkintown Creek. We are so honored to be working with partners who are committed to environmental education and stewardship at their historically significant educational and religious institutions. We can't wait to get started!"
At Abington Friends School, a 25,000 square foot riparian buffer averaging 20' on each side will be planted along 500' of the Jenkintown Creek. In addition, a 1,700 square foot rain garden/headwaters wetland will be constructed to manage the first inch of stormwater runoff from 17,000 square feet of an impervious parking lot and driveway. This feature will serve as an extended detention facility connecting to a bioswale, which will filter runoff from a playground to the rain garden.
According to Debbie Stauffer, Associate Head of School at Abington Friends School, "We are excited about the project and the water quality improvements being proposed. We look forward to involving students in implementation, providing them with hands-on environmental education. Our Science Program encourages students to steward and use all the natural resources we have on campus."
Students and community volunteers will be involved in the planting efforts for both of these projects, and each site will feature educational signage. Both sites will be part of our Streamkeepers citizen water quality monitoring effort, which we are undertaking with the support of Temple and Villanova universities, also funded through a grant from the Delaware River Watershed Initiative of the William Penn Foundation.
In addition, the effectiveness of each stormwater control measure will be monitored by the Villanova University Urban Stormwater Partnership. Watershed-wide monitoring and modeling will be performed by Temple University, with regional monitoring being performed by the Academy of Natural Sciences of Drexel University.
Consultants on this project include Cerulean, LLC, providing project management as well as AKRF, Inc. and NAM Planning & Design, LLC. Design work will begin this Summer and Fall, with installation and planting scheduled for the Fall of 2014, and Spring and Fall of 2015. TTF will be seeking additional matching funds from a number of other sources to support this project.
TTF's mission is to improve the health and vitality of our watershed by engaging our communities in education, stewardship, restoration, and advocacy. Our watershed includes neighborhoods in North, Northeast, and Northwest Philadelphia and Abington, Cheltenham, Jenkintown, Rockledge, and Springfield in Montgomery County. Working with a variety of groups including residents, schools, community organizations, environmental advisory councils, businesses and policy makers, we build watershed awareness, participation, and stewardship through workshops, tours, volunteer activities, and restoration projects. All of our restoration projects serve as watershed classrooms.
According to Julie Slavet, Executive Director of TTF, "This significant funding will enable us to implement a combination of restoration and green stormwater management projects along the critical headwaters of the Jenkintown Creek. We are so honored to be working with partners who are committed to environmental education and stewardship at their historically significant educational and religious institutions. We can't wait to get started!"
At Abington Friends School, a 25,000 square foot riparian buffer averaging 20' on each side will be planted along 500' of the Jenkintown Creek. In addition, a 1,700 square foot rain garden/headwaters wetland will be constructed to manage the first inch of stormwater runoff from 17,000 square feet of an impervious parking lot and driveway. This feature will serve as an extended detention facility connecting to a bioswale, which will filter runoff from a playground to the rain garden.
According to Debbie Stauffer, Associate Head of School at Abington Friends School, "We are excited about the project and the water quality improvements being proposed. We look forward to involving students in implementation, providing them with hands-on environmental education. Our Science Program encourages students to steward and use all the natural resources we have on campus."
Students and community volunteers will be involved in the planting efforts for both of these projects, and each site will feature educational signage. Both sites will be part of our Streamkeepers citizen water quality monitoring effort, which we are undertaking with the support of Temple and Villanova universities, also funded through a grant from the Delaware River Watershed Initiative of the William Penn Foundation.
In addition, the effectiveness of each stormwater control measure will be monitored by the Villanova University Urban Stormwater Partnership. Watershed-wide monitoring and modeling will be performed by Temple University, with regional monitoring being performed by the Academy of Natural Sciences of Drexel University.
Consultants on this project include Cerulean, LLC, providing project management as well as AKRF, Inc. and NAM Planning & Design, LLC. Design work will begin this Summer and Fall, with installation and planting scheduled for the Fall of 2014, and Spring and Fall of 2015. TTF will be seeking additional matching funds from a number of other sources to support this project.
TTF's mission is to improve the health and vitality of our watershed by engaging our communities in education, stewardship, restoration, and advocacy. Our watershed includes neighborhoods in North, Northeast, and Northwest Philadelphia and Abington, Cheltenham, Jenkintown, Rockledge, and Springfield in Montgomery County. Working with a variety of groups including residents, schools, community organizations, environmental advisory councils, businesses and policy makers, we build watershed awareness, participation, and stewardship through workshops, tours, volunteer activities, and restoration projects. All of our restoration projects serve as watershed classrooms.
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