Earth Day Celebration & Tree Planting

Apr 23, 2015 by Stephanie

What better way to honor and celebrate Earth Day and the 80th Anniversary year of Glen Providence Park than by planting trees? Yesterday we did just that with Delaware County Parks & Recreation, 2nd and 3rd grade students from Media-Providence Friends School (MPFS), and so many groups who help care for Glen Providence Park!

Long before the first Earth Day, in 1935 George and Eleanor Butler donated most of the land for Glen Providence Park to Delaware County as the county’s first park. The Butlers dedicated the park as a bird sanctuary and arboretum, and specified in the deed that the land be “kept in as natural a condition as possible.”

Yesterday’s Earth Day Celebration honored that spirit as we planted two native trees: a White Oak by the historical concert stage to replace the 110-year-old White Ash that fell in a storm last year, and a Pagoda Dogwood to add an understory tree. Michael Culp of Delaware County Council presented us with thoughtful a resolution honoring the 80th Anniversary of Glen Providence Park, which you can see in the photo gallery below.

A highlight of the celebration was the poetry read by the 2nd and 3rd grade science students of MPFS. Their poems written for Earth Day added meaning and inspiration to the event. You can read all of them in our link below – here are just two examples:

Trees   by MPFS 2nd grade student

The trees we plant thank us by giving oxygen and they also produce food like apples, oranges, tangerines and more!

My Evergreen Tree by MPFS 3rd grade student                        

Spiky as a porcupine and
Hard as a turtle shell
Green as a turtle
Brown as mud!

The MPFS students helped plant the two trees, and their water bucket brigade carried water uphill from Broomall’s Run to the stage to water them! After installing deer fencing to protect the trees, we ended it all with a pizza lunch in the picnic area by the stage.

Thank you to everyone who shared in the celebration, and all that they do to support Glen Providence and the other Delaware County Parks:

• Delaware County Parks & Recreation for providing the inspiration, native trees, supplies, digging(!), and pizza – and maintaining this lovely park for 80 years!
• Delaware County Park Board for all it does to support Delaware County Parks & Recreation.
• Delaware County Council for the resolution honoring the 80th Anniversary of Glen Providence Park, for making all of the County’s parks possible, and for approving the emergency streambank repairs last summer!
• Delaware County Planning for its thoughtful work on the Delaware County Open Space Plan, which was officially approved yesterday!
• Delaware County Conservation District for its guidance and Mini-Grants for two of our planting projects.
• Chester Ridley Crum Watersheds Association for its stewardship of all of our local creeks, and for donating deer fencing for the trees.
• Friends of Glen Providence Park volunteers for their ongoing work removing invasive plants and helping with 12 volunteer days since 2011 – this weekend’s cleanup will be our 13th!
• And a very warm thank you to the lovely students, parents, and teachers of Media Providence Friends School, led by science teacher Holly Hoffmann – your words were inspiring, and your enthusiasm contagious!

Photos & links:

Read all of the wonderful MPFS 2nd grade poems and 3rd grade poems! You can see more photographs on Delaware County Council’s Facebook page, watch a short news clip on CBS3 (which does not mention Glen Providence Park by name, but does include footage of the students!), and nice articles on the Delaware County website and in the Daily Times.

Thank you to George Tate for the fabulous photos – scroll through them all, or click on any for a closer look!

The Earth Day celebration was a collaborative effort between Delaware County Parks & Recreation, Friends of Glen Providence Park, and Media Providence Friends School.