Changes

The area of Broomall’s Lake has resettled and is now a meadow with a free-flowing stream running through it. We have observed deer grazing as well as other wildlife. Due to the lack of rain as well as the change in hydrology, Broomall’s Run, as it passes through Glen Providence Park, appears to have a much lower flow. A great deal of sediment from the lake has also been deposited in the stream and probably in the pond. We are watching closely and consulting with experts to learn about the short and long term impacts on the stream and the pond. 

Construction

To the best of our knowledge, plans for construction of the dam and two way road continue with Media Borough as the project manager and is slated to begin in late 2018. We are not aware of either Delaware County or Broomall’s Lake Country Club (BLCC) agreeing to be owner — a requirement for DEP permit. Friends of Glen Providence Park continues to advocate for full stream restoration and an environmentally sensitive bridge across Broomall’s Run that addresses the community’s transportation needs. 

Zoning & BLCC Development

Media Borough has begun the process of changing the zoning of a few parcels in town to MERC (Municipal, Educational, Recreational, Community) and one under consideration is the BLCC property. This property has been used recreationally for nearly 100 years as a private swim club, and is one of the only remaining large tracts of undeveloped land in Media Borough. Delaware County’s Open Space Plan of 2015 encourages municipalities to “take full advantage of their planning and zoning powers to protect sites and land resources of community importance.” (Open Space and Recreational Plan, Vol. 1, Chapter 3, p. 29; Delaware County Planning Department, 2015.)

BLCC leadership is strongly opposed to this zoning change, expressing their desire to retain the right to develop their land, which they estimate to be worth more than 12 million dollars if developed into 17 townhouses, as stated in their attorney’s letter to Media Borough dated September 29, 2017. Many club members who attended a Borough Workshop meeting expressed surprise at the club’s opposition to preserving this historic tract of land. 

A group has emerged in support of preserving open space in Media called Keep Media Green. Friends of Glen Providence Park supports the preservation of the BLCC property as open space. It will protect the vulnerable Ridley Creek Watershed, of which Broomall’s Run is a part, will help keep storm runoff and flooding more manageable within the park, and will help to mitigate the effects of development all around Glen Providence Park and Media Borough. You can find Keep Media Green on Facebook. 

Footbridge

Friends of Glen Providence Park continues to work with a community coalition that has made proposals to, and met with, Delaware County Council about a way to establish a pedestrian footbridge at the partially removed dam — we expect to have an update soon.

Partial breach of Broomall’s Dam when it was completed in July

On February 22, about 100-150 people crowded into the Media Borough Parlor Room to meet with officials from the PA Department of Environmental Protection (DEP) to discuss the planned partial breach of Broomall’s dam in late April.

After some time to look over the technical plans and respond to residents’ questions, the DEP presented the why’s and how’s of the removal of Broomall’s Dam for safety reasons. Roger Adams, Division Chief of Dam Safety, gave a compelling presentation of the dangers to human life and property when a dam fails. Examples include the Bayless Dam, in which 10” of rain caused a catastrophic failure.

High hazard dam in poor condition

Of the 3,371 dams in Pennsylvania, only 754 are high hazard dams. While Broomall’s Dam is smaller than large dams like the Youngstown Dam, it is still categorized as a High Hazard C-2 dam, based on the amount of water and sediment held back and the height. It is also a High Hazard dam in poor condition. Even if the dam is rebuilt, it will again be a High Hazard C-2 dam.

Broomall’s an orphan dam that is deteriorating

Duke Adams (no relation to Roger), took up the presentation and discussed the issues around ownership. The dam was built in 1883 by John Broomall for ice harvesting. In 1980 the Army Corps of Engineers found the dam to be structurally in poor condition. In 1996 the roadway was closed for safety reasons. No party, not Broomall’s Lake Country Club (BLCC), Media Borough or Delaware County have been willing to take up the maintenance responsibilities over this time. The DEP has considered Broomall’s Dam an “orphan dam” because of the lack of responsible or willing owner.

In June 2014, Delaware County, BLCC and Media Borough signed a stipulation and order. Duke Adams explained that this order means that Media Borough would manage the reconstruction of the dam, and Delaware County would take ownership of the downstream face, and BLCC would be the owner and responsible party for the upstream face.

In 2012, BLCC sued Media Borough over its plan for a one-lane compromise for the bridge  — a solution that was supported by borough residents, Friends of Glen Providence Park, and the majority of Borough Council. Shortly thereafter the dam began to deteriorate significantly, with entire pieces of wall crumbling on the upstream and downstream side. The DEP elected to lower the water level to its absolute minimum in June 2013, and when the lake level was not maintained, the DEP returned and lowered it again in March 2016.

Eliminate the hazard

However, due to continual delays and a lack of clarity of an owner (none of the three parties has stepped forward and take responsibility to date), the DEP has decided to eliminate the hazard of the dam. By removing nearly all of the standing water and a significant amount of liquid sediment, the pressure on the dam walls will be reduced. The hazard category will be lowered to C-4.  Their presentation highlighted the dangers of allowing high hazard dams to remain in place.

Work begins in early May

The work on the dam will begin around May 9th and should conclude within two months. During construction, the entire corner of 3rd and West Street will be closed to all traffic and the entrance to BLCC swim club will be closed, to reopen once the partial breach is complete.

The main spillway of the dam will be removed, as will the waterfall. Broomall’s Lake will drain almost completely and construction access into the lake will remain until the dam is reconstructed. The original stream of Broomall’s Run will find its own course and several springs that feed into Broomall’s Lake may make their appearance.

The DEP reported that before dam removal begins, up to two weeks will be spent to remove the PA Threatened Northern Redbelly Turtle (Pseudemys rubriventris) and native snapping turtles, which will be relocated to the pond in Glen Providence Park. The invasive Red-eared slider (a similar looking turtle) will be removed and donated to science programs. Other fish, frogs and invertebrates will have to find their way during the draining of the lake or they will perish. Traps to capture turtles were set on April 24th. 

Loss of pedestrian and bicycle access for Upper Providence for 2 years or more

The likely reason why so many people came to the meeting was due to the disruption of pedestrian and bicycle access across the dam starting at the end of April, and lasting until the proposed dam reconstruction. Roger Adams could not say how long the period between dam removal and dam reconstruction would be, but did not hesitate to say at least two years. (The dam reconstruction permit has not been approved or scheduled to date.)

There were a number of questions from the audience on the issue, particularly focused on Upper Providence residents who use Third Street frequently to walk into Media. Safety issues were also raised by residents, particularly the concern that if there were no access at all, some daring individuals would somehow find a way that would most likely be very unsafe. The DEP indicated that there might be a possibility of installing a temporary pedestrian bridge.

Stream Restoration

A benefit of dam removal is the re-establishment of open waterways and natural streams. Artificial dammed bodies of water not only present a hazard of failure on the downstream side, but they also hold back aquatic life and sediment that contribute to the overall health of our waterways. 

Pedestrian Bridge

A coalition of Upper Providence and Media neighbors and Friends of Glen Providence Park is working to establish a temporary pedestrian footbridge to maintain the connection between Media and Upper Providence in the time period between dam removal and dam reconstruction. The proposed footbridge is modular and can be relocated into Glen Providence Park at one of the former bridge sites once dam reconstruction begins. If you are interested in supporting this effort, please contact us.

Today, we began our 2015 citizen science project, Tree Mapping! After some logistical planning and test runs, seven volunteers started the yearlong project of cataloging and digitally mapping the trees of Glen Providence Park, using PhillyTreeMap, a subsection of the worldwide OpenTreeMap. Thus we are contributing to a worldwide database of trees.

Keys to tree mapping — tree ID guides, smart phones, and measuring tape.

Open Tree Map

There are many great aspects of OpenTreeMap, one of which is that it’s now available on smartphones, which enabled us to more quickly enter the tree data. You can see the progress we’ve made by visiting this here PhillyTreeMap page. By entering not only the species but the tree circumference, we can track how much carbon each tree is sequestering, how much stormwater is filtered, and several other ecological benefits of trees.

Discoveries

Today we mapped nearly 20 trees, including some absolutely huge Osage Orange trees (Maclura pomifera) along the sledding hill and a Black Oak (Quercus nigra) with a 40-inch diameter! We bagged three new species for our Tree List, Acer negudo, commonly knows as the Box Elder or Ash-Maple tree, Pinus resinosa, Red Pine and Quercus nigra or Black Oak.

Dan and Marcia marvel at this huge split Osage Orange!

Thank you!

Thanks to all of our volunteers today, and if you’d like to join us on our next excursion (no experience necessary!), please email us at contactATglenprovidencepark.org.

Thank you!

It ended up being a terrific day for the first concert of the 2014 summer series on Saturday, June 21 — despite an early threat of rain, the sun came out and a generous crowd showed for Philadelphia’s Perseverance Jazz Band.

As a fan of early jazz, I get really excited when young musicians put their stamp on traditional jazz. Jazz is a form that’s always open to new perspectives, and if you’ve got some swing in your bones, it’s just good fun whether you know the tunes or not.

Perseverance has both the chops and the soul to make this style of jazz really swing. They took on old favorites such as Fats Waller’s “Crazy ‘Bout My Baby” in such a way that respected that 30’s style, but with vocalist Cecilia Ferneborg working her way around the melody in refreshing ways. I was impressed that they took on Louis Armstrong’s signature closing number, “When It’s Sleepytime Down South,” and their cornet player Drew Nugent showed not a hint of hesitation in blasting out a beautiful solo. On other tunes he pulled out all sorts of mutes to add texture and humor that would make Duke Ellington’s horn section smile.

All the musicians brought their personality to the music in wonderful ways with the New Orleans style virtuoso clarinet of Paul Butler, the subtle and soulful trombone of Peter Reichlin and the low key golden banjo player Stephen DiBonaventura, who hung back vamping chords throughout most of the concert, and then burst out in an amazing solo turn on an instrumental number. Drummer Ricardo Lagomasino held the beat and broke it up, keeping it swinging all the time. All these musicians play in various bands in Philly — be sure to keep an eye out for them!

Founder and bassist Jonathan Davenport led the band through some great rhythmic breakdowns and spur of the moment experimentations. And did I mention the vocalist, Cecilia Ferneborg? I did, but she certainly deserves mention again. Even with a simple sound system, her voice held its own beautifully with the band, and they shared a wonderful dialogue.

Thanks again to the concert sponsors, Diego’s Cantina, Media Rotary Foundation and Media Recreation Board, and to all the volunteers and donors who made the concert possible.

Perseverance Jazz Band has their debut CD available for sale, “Hard Times Come Again No More,” and they play regularly around Philadelphia.

Photographs by George Tate

Yes, it’s May, but we are nonetheless thrilled to be sharing the 2013 Annual Report! Like last year’s report, it’s part photojournal, part narrative of all we have been doing in the park. Have a look – there are no boring tables, we promise!

And if you like what you see, please consider a donation to support the costs of upcoming concerts, tree plantings, cleanup supplies and more. Your donation never goes to overhead or staff salaries — we are all volunteer! Also, if you are interested in volunteering, please do sign up for our newsletters and let us know you’d like to get more involved. Friends of Glen Providence Park is a community organization, wholly dependent on donations and volunteers.

Thank you for your interest and support of Glen Providence Park.

See you in the park!

We had a fantastic day with beautiful weather, great turnout and teamwork on our 3rd National Public Lands Day!

Huge turnout

Over 30 volunteers with ages spanning 7 decades formed an organized swarm of planting efficiency, successfully installing 40 native trees and shrubs in under two hours. Marcia Tate, a park volunteer and proprietor of Garden Influence, spearheaded the operation and organized us into efficient working groups.

There were four planting teams, a children’s watering team and a deer fencing team. (Touché!) See the photo gallery below to enjoy the transformation of the space.

Goal: Riparian buffer planting

The goal of the project was to stabilize the streambanks of Broomall’s Run at the north side of the pond, which has been suffering from severe erosion, worsened by Hurricanes Irene and Sandy in recent years. Native plants are best suited for this purpose, and plants were selected for their moisture-loving, soil-stabilizing qualities as well as their wildlife value. Some plants also have high human value, such as blueberries!

Thank you

Funding was provided by a Delaware County Conservation District Mini-Grant, Delaware County Parks & Recreation (additional thanks to them for a new bench and mulch), and contributions to Friends of Glen Providence Park. Several shrubs were donations from Taylor Memorial Arboretum of Wallingford, and CRC Watersheds donated much of the deer fencing. Earthwise Landscapes provided invaluable labor and expertise. A shout out to Seven Stones Cafe and Pinocchio’s for supplying coffee and pizza to our volunteers! We also thank Redbud Native Plant Nursery and Octararo Native Plant Nursery for supplying the majority of the plants.

Jack in the Pulpit, a.k.a. Devil’s Ear

Also known as Parson-in-the-Pulpit, Lord-and-Lady, Cuckoopint, Lady-in-a-Chaise, Aronskelk, Indian Turnip, Iroquois Breadroot, Memory Root, Bog Onion, American Arum, Pepper Turnip, Dragonroot, Wake Robin, Plant-of-Peace, Cobra Lily and Cooter-Wampee.

Quite a plant of contradictory names, but those names certainly give some clues about it. Some names describe its appearance, where the spadix seems to hover within the shelter of the spathe, like…a parson in an elevated pulpit? A lady in a chaise? Other names, such as Indian and Pepper Turnip, point to its possible edibility. There is contradictory information as to whether Native Americans did cook and eat the corms or roots of the plant. But names like Dragonroot and Devil’s Ear should warn you that it is not a good choice for casual foragers. Supposedly the name Memory Root was earned because if one ate it, one would remember never to do it again! Much of the plant is toxic and has oxalate crystals that burn the skin. And lips. And mouth. And everything. Yikes! Bog onion gives you a hint about where it grows. Now I have no idea why it’s called Cooter-Wampee. Anyone?

In the fall, look for the cluster of red berries on the female plants. Interestingly, the plants can change from male to female. A Lord and Lady both! Arisaema triphyllum is also in the Arum family, like skunk cabbage. Read more about the plant here.

Garlic Mustard

Still flowering! Now here’s a plant that is invasive, sounds uninviting but is a great plant to forage. Read more about how it got here and what to do with it at Eat The Weeds. Our invasive plant removal volunteers also pull it out every Friday, along with other troublesome invasives.

False Solomon’s Seal

In the Lily family. Distinguished from true Solomon’s Seal by the flowers: the true have small whitish-green flowers that dangle below the stem, where false has a raceme of small white flowers on the end of the stem. Hence the name, Maianthemum racemosum. (It’s sometimes called by another scientific name, Smilacina racemosa — so much for the scientific names being definitive!) Anyway, those flowers, after being pollinated by a variety of small bees, flies and beetles, become small berries. They ripen into red fruits that are consumed by many types of birds. The leaves are not particularly tasty, and thus the plant has avoided being overgrazed by deer and other herbivores. Native Americans had medicinal uses for the plant. More information is available at Penn State Extension and The Lady Bird Johnson Wildflower Center, both excellent online resources.

December 2020 update: We will be updating our website to enable our Flickr galleries to again display here. Until then, you can view our May 1.1 Acre photos on Flickr.

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Many problem invasive species such as Multiflora Rose (Rosa multiflora), Wineberry (Rubus phoenicolasius) and Japanese Barberry (Berberis thunbergii) are spiny brambles and are thus nearly impossible to be eaten by hungry deer. On the other hand, invasives such as Lesser Celandine and Garlic Mustard are edible by humans! But they flower and seed so readily that even a Borough-wide feast might not even knock out these plants.

March began the display of how different trees bud out. You’ll see a sampling of some of our native trees in bud as they reach for the skies. Also, I had never noticed American Hornbeam in the 1.1 Acre before. I’ve seen it in other areas of the park, but had no idea it was right there!

You can also visit the entire Friends of Glen Providence Park’s Flickr Gallery, where you can read informative descriptions with the photographs, and even view them as a full screen slide show!

December 2020 update: We will be updating our website to enable our Flickr galleries to again display here. Until then, you can view our March 1.1 Acre photos on Flickr.

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