This year was our 10th National Public Lands Day volunteering in Glen Providence Park! On Saturday, October 2, 27 lovely adults and kids volunteered a combined 101 hours removing and reusing deer fencing, installing tree guards, weeding, digging, planting, mulching, and watering. In addition, eight volunteers worked on site more than 20 combined hours the Friday before, preparing the site and carrying supplies down the hill.

Over the past ten years, we had planted over 222 native trees and shrubs in the glen. At this year’s event, we prioritized the maintenance of the existing plantings – we removed deer fencing from trees and shrubs that outgrew them, replacing a number of them with tree guards. We reused most of that fencing on new native trees and shrubs! We worked in the area of our 2017 Wildlife Habitat Plantings below the sledding hill fence, and our 2012 and 2014 Streamside Buffer Plantings below the pavilion and along the streambank. We also removed 21(!) contractor bags of invasive Japanese Stiltgrass from around the plantings!

The native trees, shrubs, and woodland plants help to restore the forest, protect the stream, and stabilize the hillside and streambank. In addition to helping control erosion, the plants benefit wildlife by providing habitat and seeds, nuts, fruits, and nectar for mammals, birds, butterflies, and other pollinators. We planted 27 native trees and shrubs, and 17 woodland plants – the complete list is below.

Thank you! We have so many to thank for their help with this project… starting with all those wonderful volunteers! It is inspiring to work with people who are generous and dedicated enough to our environment to spend a beautiful Saturday morning working to care for and plant trees.

Delaware County Parks & Recreation provided the funding for the plants and delivered the mulch. Delaware County Conservation District delivered their Conservation Planting Trailer full of all of the tools we could need! Friends of Glen Providence Park donors funded the tree guards, pizza, water, and coffee for volunteers, and other supplies for this project. Neighbors of the park allowed us to run a hose downhill from their house to water the plantings. Carol Carmon volunteered her time to video the bustle of activity. Keep Media Green and Media Rotary both helped recruit volunteers!

Garden Influence and Redbud Native Plant Nursery provided invaluable expertise selecting 20 native trees, shrubs, and perennials, Taylor Memorial Arboretum donated nine additional trees and shrubs, Garden Influence donated six additional woodland plants, and Patrick Burke donated five additional trees (and donuts)!

As a bonus, John Wenderoth donated three American Chestnuts, back-crossed with Chinese Chestnut pollen, which were grown at Mount Cuba’s nursery in Delaware. These were planted by the Kirk Lane entrance with our previous American Chestnut plantings – read more about American Chestnuts in Glen Providence Park and the efforts to restore this magnificent tree!

We are grateful to all of these people for making the plantings possible!

The next time you are in Glen Providence Park, look for these native plants, and check out the photos below – just click on any for a closer look or to scroll through them. Carol Carmon’s video on YouTube of our planting gives an excellent overview of the morning’s purpose and activity!

Trees:

• White Spruce, Picea glauca – 4
• Arborvitae, Thuja sp. – 1
• American Persimmon, Diospyros virginiana – 2
• Eastern Redbud, Cercis canadensis – 1
• Paw Paw, Asimina triloba – 3
• Washington Hawthorne, Crataegus phaenopyrum – 1
• Fringetree, Chionanthus virginicus – 1
• (At Kirk Lane) Hybrid American Chestnuts, Castanea dentata – 3

Shrubs:

• Virginia sweetspire ‘Merlot’, Itea virginica – 3
• Black Chokeberry ‘Viking’, Aronia melanocarpa – 1
• Black Chokeberry ‘Low Scape’,  Aronia melanocarpa – 1
• Blueberry ‘Jersey’, ‘Elizabeth’, & ‘Patriot’ Vaccinium corymbosum – 6

Woodland plants:

• Dixie Wood Fern, Dryopteris australis – 2
• Royal Fern, Osmunda regalis – 2
• Blue Mistflower, Conoclinium coelestinum – 3
• Hairy alum root ‘Autumn Bride’ Heuchera villosa – 3
• Wild Geranium ‘Espresso’, Geranium maculatum – 3
• Northern Sea Oats,  Chasmanthium latifolium – 3
• Wild Ginger, Asarum canadense – 1

Photos by George Tate, Stephanie Gaboriault, and Carol Carmon. Video by Carol Carmon.

We were saddened to cancel our annual native tree planting for National Public Lands Day this fall due to COVID-19, as it is one of our favorite events! However, in 2019 and 2020, volunteers have planted 32 native trees and shrubs – and dozens of woodland plants – by the Kirk Lane entrance to Glen Providence Park.

In October 2019, we completed Phase Three of our Wildlife Habitat Plantings at the entrance and along the Scouts Loop trail. In both April 2019 and November 2020, our PA State Representative Chris Quinn planted a tree for Arbor Day. And in July 2020, volunteers planted three hybrid American Chestnut trees. All of these native plantings will benefit future generations of humans and wildlife!

National Public Lands Day
Saturday, October 5, 2019

Last Fall, 40 lovely adults, teens, and kids volunteered a combined 107 hours digging, planting, mulching, installing deer fencing, raking, and watering, all to improve wildlife habitat in Glen Providence!

This was Phase Three of our Kirk Lane project, which we started on National Public Lands Days in 2015 and 2016. We expanded on previous plantings with an additional 27 native trees and shrubs, and 50 native woodland plants – the complete list is below. The plants benefit wildlife by providing seeds, nuts, fruits, and nectar for mammals, birds, butterflies, and other pollinators, in addition to helping to slow down and absorb surface storm water runoff.

This project demonstrated the wonderful range of community groups and volunteers who come together to help in Glen Providence Park:

Delaware County Parks & Recreation provided the funding for the plants and delivered the mulch. Delaware County Conservation District delivered their Conservation Planting Trailer full of all of the tools we could need! Garden Influence and Redbud Native Plant Nursery provided invaluable expertise, Taylor Memorial Arboretum and Garden Influence donated additional woodland plants, and Friends of Glen Providence Park donors funded the deer fencing, posts, and other supplies for this project.

Additional groups of volunteers from Media Rotary and Springton Lake Middle School provided invaluable manpower, and neighbors of the park allowed us to run a hose from their house to water the plantings. Cafe Isla donated coffee to fuel our volunteers, and our PA State Rep. Chris Quinn both helped with the planting, and paid for and picked up pizza for lunch. We are grateful to all of these people for making the plantings possible!

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Plantings by PA State Representative Chris Quinn
Arbor Day 2019 & November 2020

Chris Quinn has planted two other native trees in the park by Kirk Lane – a Willow Oak for Arbor Day in 2019, and a magnificent “Green Gable” Black Tupelo today! He purchased both trees and planted them with us. We are grateful for his generosity, and that he chose Glen Providence Park for Arbor Day plantings!

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Trees from the American Chestnut Foundation
July 2020

Ron Brzowski and Pat Burke planted three hybrid American Chestnut saplings near two hybrids we planted with Ron in 2016. We were able to re-use deer fencing from some of our previous plantings. The trees were donated by Tyler Arboretum’s American Chestnut Nursery via The American Chestnut Foundation, and they were grown at the Mt. Cuba Center in Hockessin, Delaware. It’s all part of a decades-long effort to restore the majestic American Chestnuts that once dominated our eastern woods, but were decimated by a blight in the early 1900’s.

To learn more, visit the American Chestnut Foundation website or read about the chestnut’s local history and the two surviving pure American Chestnuts we found in Glen Providence. Thank you to Ron and Pat for planting and tending to the Chestnut trees in Glen Providence!

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Here’s our native plant list from National Public Lands Day in October 2019. And check out our photos from our planting days!

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Throughout November, we have been counting down to Thanksgiving by posting daily thanks on Facebook. There is some overlap with our lists from Thanksgiving in 2012 and 2014, and so much more to add – it is amazing how much there is to be grateful for! Here are those daily posts – these were in no particular order, and it is by no means a complete list!

Day 1: … long-time park supervisor James Stokes, Jr. for his years of care for the park. He started work on October 31, 1935 and continued for at least 25 years, and by all accounts really loved Glen Providence Park. He served as park guard, caretaker, supervisor, and park ranger – personally building picnic tables, preparing for concerts, planting trees & flowers, teaching visitors about the plants & wildlife, and creating the 1941 Nature Guide to Glen Providence Park!

Day 2: … the local schools that use Glen Providence Park as an outdoor classroom and for service learning, teaching their students a love of nature, science, art, and more. Thank you Media Elementary School, Springton Lake Middle School, Media Providence Friends School, Penncrest High School – and homeschoolers!

Day 3: … Delaware County Parks & Recreation, for resurfacing the historical WPA stage last summer in time for the park’s 80th anniversary celebration, for their support of our events and activities, and for their many years of caretaking and managing their 621 acres (and growing!) of open space for the public.

Day 4: … all that Chester-Ridley-Crum Watersheds Association has done since 1970 to protect, conserve, and restore the watersheds throughout its 132 square mile stewardship area! Its initiatives include annual streams cleanups, riparian reforestation, advocacy, education, and stream monitoring. We are honored to receive their Organizational Stewardship Award this year!  

Day 5: … our Nature Walk guides and monthly event leaders who volunteered their time in the past two years: the ever-helpful Al Guarente of the Birding Club of Delaware County, Gary Stolz, David Hewitt, Shannon Davidson, Marcia Tate, Stephanie Gaboriault, Kyle Loucks, George Tate, the Media-Upper Providence Free Library, Holly Hoffmann, Aura Lester, and Charles Randall.

Day 6: … Taylor Memorial Arboretum in Wallingford, for generously growing and donating native trees and shrubs each year for habitat restoration plantings by other organizations – including for our past four National Public Lands Days!

Day 7: … the Delaware County Institute of Science, an amazing organization that has been all volunteer since 1833.  It has wonderful scientific and historical collections, and is well worth a visit. Its members have been studying Glen Providence Park since before it was a park – a 1928 Chester Times article about the valley indicated that “Naturalists, from all over the country, attending the Delaware County Institute of Science, make a study of it.”  

Day 8: … EllieReed Lewis and Clifford Butler Lewis, the grandchildren of park donors George and Eleanor Butler –  for sharing their recollections from childhood in Glen Providence Park, and for celebrating the park’s 80th anniversary with us last summer!

Day 9: … our Invasive Plant Removal volunteers, who meet most Friday mornings to work in the park. In the past 4 years, they have cleared over 250 packed contractor bags of invasive plants – keeping trails clear, liberating native plants from strangling vines, improving habitat, and beautifying the park.

Day 10: … those who have made our historical research possible, including the Media Historic Archives, the Delaware County Historical Society, and the Newspaper Archives of Delaware County Library – and Delaware County, PA History for sharing our history-related facebook posts.

Day 11: … the Girl Scouts and Boy Scouts for their years of involvement in Glen Providence Park going back to at least 1939 – with hikes, cookouts, award ceremonies, meetings, and community service. In the past few years, Brownie Troop #5248 and Minquas District Boy Scouts have volunteered, and Girl Scout Troop #5037 and Pack 503’s Webelos II have had meetings and outings in the park!

Day 12: … our wonderfully generous Concert Sponsors: Media Recreation Board, Media Rotary Foundation, Diego’s Cantina, Seven Stones Café, Shere-e-Punjab Indian Restaurant, Sterling Pig, and Tagine, who made it possible for us to revive the decades-long tradition of free summer concerts in Glen Providence Park.

Day 13: … Media Lions Club and McCarrin Chiropractic, for continuing Glen Providence Park’s longest-running tradition – the Great Media Easter Egg Hunt started in 1954! The Lions have worked since 1917 to fight blindness, and on many other community projects.

Day 14: … the American Chestnut Foundation, for their work to restore this once-majestic native tree, decimated by blight in the early 1900’s. Chestnuts were called the Sequoias of the east, and we know from T. Chalkley Palmer’s 1889 writings that the park’s eastern hill was once “continuously wooded with oaks and chestnuts.” We have found two surviving trees so far!

Day 15:  … all of the volunteers who have spent their free time working for Glen Providence Park through the years – our dedicated committee members, the dozens of people who have helped at our 17 volunteer days, and all those who volunteered in the park before us.

Day 16: … the Pennsylvania Amphibian & Reptile Survey (PARS), for their work to gather data for the study and conservation of our amphibians and reptiles, and for leading 3 Herpetology Walks in Glen Providence Park! We’ve documented 18 species in the park so far…

Day 17: … Samuel L. Smedley, who with great foresight and wisdom in 1927 urged regional planning for open space, and spearheaded the creation of Delaware County Parks & Recreation, which was used as a model nationally for its excellent planning. He personally helped create and plan Glen Providence Park.

Day 18: … all of those who appreciate our efforts to preserve and enhance Glen Providence Park – whether by reading our newsletter and website, attending our concerts and nature walks, or saying a kind word when they see us in the park – and of course our Facebook fans!

Day 19: … the Delaware County Conservation District for their guidance, mini-grants, donations, use of their Conservation Trailer, and support for our native plantings over the past 5 years – helping us to combat streamside erosion, restore habitat, provide food for wildlife, and  beautify the park.

Day 20: … our donors, whose generous support enables us to continue our work to improve the park and plan future concerts, plantings, events, and activities!

Day 21: … the array of wildlife, native plants, and all living things in the park, which with the changing seasons provide something new to discover on every walk in Glen Providence Park.

Day 22: … Hedgerow Theatre, for their enchanting performances at the WPA stage – enacting the park’s historical Newlywed Ghost and Witch Stories for Glen Providence’s 80th anniversary last year, and bringing Shakespeare to the park this summer!

Day 23: … T. Chalkley Palmer, 1860-1934, for writing in loving detail about Scroggie Valley in 1889, enabling us all these years later to read about the geology, landscape, flora, and fauna of Glen Providence Park as it was in the 1800′s. He also had remarkable environmental insights for his time. What a gift!

Day 24 of Thanks: We are so thankful for George and Eleanor Butler, who with great generosity and foresight in 1935 donated most of the land for Glen Providence Park as a Bird Sanctuary and Arboretum, to be preserved for future generations. There would be no park without them – we are incredibly grateful!

Happy Thanksgiving!

Throughout November, we have been counting down to Thanksgiving by posting daily thanks on Facebook. There is some overlap with our list from Thanksgiving 2012, and so much more to add – it is amazing how much there is to be grateful for! Here are those daily posts – these were in no particular order, and it is by no means a complete list!

27 Days of Thanks in Glen Providence Park
We are thankful for…

Day 1: … the local schools who use Glen Providence Park as an outdoor classroom, teaching their students a love of nature, science, art and more. Thank you Media Elementary School, Springton Lake Middle School, Media Providence Friends School, Penncrest High School – and homeschoolers!

Day 2: … Clifford Butler Lewis, the grandson of park donors George and Eleanor Butler – for his generosity in sharing his grandparents’ photo albums with us and donating their golf clubs to Springhaven Country Club (which they founded!), and for sharing his recollections from his childhood in Glen Providence Park.

Day 3: … Delaware County Parks & Recreation, for repairing the concert stage (damaged in July from a fallen 110-year-old tree) in time for our August concert this summer, for their support of our events and activities, and for their many years of caretaking and managing their 11 parks with over 600 acres(!) of open space for the public.

Day 4: … Taylor Memorial Arboretum in Wallingford, for generously growing and donating 75 native trees and shrubs this year for habitat restoration plantings by Friends of Heinz Refuge, CRC Watersheds, and Friends of Glen Providence Park.

Day 5: … our wonderfully generous Concert Sponsors: Media Recreation Board, Media Rotary Foundation, Diego’s Cantina, Seven Stones Café, and Shere-e-Punjab Indian Restaurant, who made it possible for us to revive the decades-long tradition of free summer concerts in Glen Providence Park!

Day 6: … Samuel L. Smedley, who with great foresight and wisdom in 1927 urged regional planning for open space, and spearheaded the creation of Delaware County Parks & Recreation, which was used as a model nationally for its excellent planning. He personally helped create and plan Glen Providence Park.

Day 7: … all that Chester-Ridley-Crum Watersheds Association has done for 44 years to protect, conserve, and restore the watersheds throughout its 132 square mile stewardship area! Its initiatives include annual streams cleanups, riparian reforestation, advocacy, education, and stream monitoring.

Day 8: … our Nature Walk guides who volunteered their time to lead our walks this year: the ever-helpful Al Guarente of the Birding Club of Delaware County, John Wenderoth, Ted Cavey, Stephanie Gaboriault, Marcia Tate, Aura Lester, Kyle Loucks, Holly Hoffmann, Chris McNichol, and Charles Randall.

Day 9: … our donors, whose generous support enables us to continue our work to improve the park and plan future concerts, events, and activities!

Day 10: … the Delaware County Conservation District for their guidance, mini-grants, donations, and support for our native plantings over the past 3 years – helping us to combat streamside erosion, restore habitat, provide food for wildlife, and  beautify the park.

Day 11: … the Girl Scouts and Boy Scouts for their years of involvement in Glen Providence Park going back to at least 1939 – with hikes, cookouts, award ceremonies, meetings, and community service. In the last 2 years, Brownie Troop #5248 and Minquas District Boy Scouts have volunteered in the park!

Day 12: … the wonderful bands who have performed at our Summer Concert Series the past 3 years: Philadelphia Brass, Springfield Clarinet Quartet, the Obsoleets, Me3, Ken Delmar & the Cheers Big Band, Perseverance Jazz Band, Sonoma Sound, and ViVaCe Strings!

Day 13: … T. Chalkley Palmer, 1860-1934, for writing in loving detail about Scroggie Valley in 1889, enabling us all these years later to read about the geology, landscape, flora, and fauna of Glen Providence Park as it was in the 1800′s! He also had remarkable environmental insights for his time. What a gift!

Day 14: … our Invasive Plant Removal volunteers, who meet most weeks to work in the park. In the past 2 years, they have cleared 179 packed contractor bags (and counting!) of invasive plants – keeping trails clear, liberating native plants from strangling vines, improving habitat, and beautifying the park.

Day 15: … the Delaware County Institute of Science, an amazing organization that has been all volunteer since 1833!  Its members have been studying Glen Providence Park since long before it was a park – a 1928 Chester Times article about the valley indicated that “Naturalists, from all over the country, attending the Delaware County Institute of Science, make a study of it.”

Day 16: … Delaware County Planning for their thoughtful work on the Delaware County Open Space, Recreation & Greenway Plan, and on our neighboring Mineral Hill Area Master Plan. Glen Providence Park and future generations will be better for it!

Day 17: … Transition Town Media, for all they do to build community and resilience, from their FreeStore, to workshops, to their lovely Annual Candlelight Gratitude Banquet for local nonprofits.

Day 18: … long-time park supervisor James Stokes, Jr. for his years of care for the park. He started work on October 31, 1935 and continued for at least 25 years, and by all accounts really loved Glen Providence Park. He served as park guard, care taker, supervisor, and park ranger – personally building picnic tables, preparing for concerts, planting trees & flowers, teaching visitors about the plants & wildlife, and creating the 1941 Nature Guide to Glen Providence Park!

Day 19:  … all of the volunteers who have spent their free time working for Glen Providence Park through the years – our dedicated committee members, the dozens of people who have helped at our 11 volunteer days, and all those who volunteered in the park before us!

Day 20: … those who have made our historical research possible, including the Media Historic Archives, the Delaware County Historical Society, and the Newspaper Archives of Delaware County Library – and Delaware County, PA History for sharing our history-related facebook posts.

Day 21: … the American Chestnut Foundation, for their work to restore this majestic native tree! Chestnuts were called the Sequoias of the east, and they were once the dominant tree species in Glen Providence Park. We have found two surviving trees so far!

Day 22: … the Pennsylvania Amphibian & Reptile Survey (PARS), for their work to gather data for the study and conservation of our amphibians and reptiles! We are glad to have chosen PARS for our 2014 citizen science project.

Day 23: … Media Lions Club and McCarrin Chiropractic, for continuing Glen Providence Park’s longest-running tradition – the Great Media Easter Egg Hunt started in 1954! The Lions have worked since 1917 to fight blindness, and on many other community projects.

Day 24: … the Academy of Natural Sciences, for preserving and researching a wondrous amount of natural history, including early 1900’s microscope slides from Scroggie Run (now Broomall’s Run), and for their generosity and hospitality in showing us those slides.

Day 25: … the array of wildlife, native plants, and other living things in the park, which with the changing seasons provide something new to discover on every walk in Glen Providence Park!

Day 26: … all of those who appreciate our efforts to preserve and enhance Glen Providence Park – our Facebook fans, those who read our newsletter and website, and those who have attended our concerts and history & nature walks!

Thanksgiving Day: We are so thankful for George and Eleanor Butler, who with great generosity and foresight in 1935 donated most of the land for Glen Providence Park as a Bird Sanctuary and Arboretum, to be preserved for future generations.  There would be no park without them – we are incredibly grateful!

Happy Thanksgiving!