This spring we held two cleanups in Glen Providence Park – the 23rd Annual CRC Streams Cleanup on March 20, and Keep Media Green’s Earth Day Cleanup on April 24! We coordinated projects for a combined 78(!) volunteers who spread throughout the park clearing invasive plants and trash from the trails and stream, along with some other stewardship projects.   

Thank you very much to our volunteers, to CRC Watersheds for their work organizing the cleanup at over 30 sites along the Chester, Ridley, and Crum Creeks, and to Keep Media Green for organizing several sites in Media Borough, and even sending volunteers to Rose Tree & Catania County Parks!

There are fun photos of both cleanups on Facebook, linked above.

On a mild spring day in mid-April, 29 adults and kids spent their Saturday morning volunteering in Glen Providence Park at the 22nd Annual CRC Streams Cleanup! We walked the trails and stream, clearing over 20 bags of trash and invasives – and a construction roll, pipe, broken deer fencing, tire, broken concrete bench ends, and other assorted objects.

A motivated crew of volunteers took on the cleanup and relocating of debris piles by the pond from several trees that fell in the March 2018 Nor’easters. They did a beautiful job, even clearing the heavy concrete bench that had broken when one of those trees fell on it!

We shared the park with the Media Lions Club, running the 66th Annual Great Media Easter Egg Hunt. It was a delightful morning and showed once again the great people you meet while volunteering!

Thank you very much to the all of the volunteers, to Cafe Isla for donating the delicious coffee that kept us fueled, and to CRC Watersheds for the supplies and for all of their work organizing the event – removing trash from over 30 locations in the Chester, Ridley, and Crum Creek watersheds!

Check out the fantastic volunteers below!

Photos by Holly Hoffmann and Marcia Tate

On this beautiful spring day, 26 adults, teens, and kids spent their Saturday morning volunteering in Glen Providence Park at the 21st Annual CRC Streams Cleanup! We walked the trails and stream, clearing 17 bags of trash – and lumber, matting, metal, broken concrete bench ends, and other assorted objects! We appreciated that our Pennsylvania State Representative Christopher Quinn (District 168) joined us again this year. It was a delightful morning and showed once again the great people you meet while volunteering! 

Thank you very much to the all of the volunteers, to Seven Stones Cafe for donating the delicious coffee that kept us fueled, and to CRC Watersheds for the supplies and for all of their work organizing the event – removing trash from 34 locations in the Chester, Ridley, and Crum Creek watersheds!

Click on any photo for a closer look!

Photos by George Tate, Marcia Tate, and Stephanie Gaboriault 

Friends of Glen Providence Park is proud to be helping the Chester-Ridley-Crum Watersheds Association (CRC) with their 21st Annual Streams Cleanup! CRC volunteers will remove trash at more than 30 sites along Chester, Ridley, and Crum Creeks and their tributaries, including Broomall’s Run in Glen Providence Park.

21st Annual CRC Streams Cleanup Day

Saturday, April 21
9:00-11:00am
Glen Providence Park
Main entrance, West State Street, Media

The Annual Streams Cleanup is just one of many activities that CRC undertakes to further its mission “To protect, conserve, and restore the natural resources of the Chester, Ridley, and Crum Creek watersheds.” This is our seventh year coordinating the CRC Streams Cleanup for Glen Providence Park.

2018 Stream Cleanup information:

• ** Please register for the cleanup through the CRC website so they can plan for supplies. **
• Meet at the Glen Providence Park main entrance on West State Street in Media at 9:00 am.
• Rain or shine.
• Gloves and bags will be provided.
• We recommend long pants and long sleeves to protect against poison ivy and ticks.
• If you’d like to tackle trash along the streambank, wear water shoes, boots, or old shoes!
• CRC requires that volunteers sign a liability release. 

Please note that this year’s CRC Volunteer Picnic will not be the day of the Streams Cleanup, but will be scheduled for another day. 

We had an amazing turnout at our two cleanups this spring in Glen Providence Park! First, 27 volunteers removed 19 bags of trash at our rain-dated Early Spring Cleanup on March 25. Holding a cleanup early in the season enables us to see and access trash that has blown into the woods, before the vegetation obscures it – our yield this year was 19 bags.

Despite the threat of rain, there was an even larger turnout for the 20th Annual CRC Streams Cleanup on Earth Day, April 22! An amazing group of 32 adults and 12 children, including Girl Scout Troop #516 from Media Elementary School, cleared trash and invasive plants from the trails and stream. Our yield was 16 bags, and assorted items including pipe sections, an old wagon, and a bed frame. It started to drizzle just as we were finishing.

Thank you to all of our fantastic volunteers, to Seven Stones Cafe for donating carafes of delicious coffee, and to CRC Watersheds for coordinating its 20th Annual Streams Cleanup – removing trash from 30 locations in the Chester, Ridley, and Crum Creek watersheds!

Click on any photo for a closer look! Photos by George Tate, Marcia Tate, Holly Hoffmann, and Girl Scout Troop #516. 

Friends of Glen Providence Park is proud to be helping the Chester-Ridley-Crum Watersheds Association (CRC) with their 20th Annual Streams Cleanup, on Earth Day this year! CRC volunteers will remove trash at more than 30 sites along Chester, Ridley and Crum Creeks and their tributaries, including Broomall’s Run in Glen Providence Park.

20th Annual CRC Streams Cleanup Day

Saturday, April 22
9:00-11:00am
Glen Providence Park
Main entrance, West State Street, Media
Lunch provided for volunteers at Ridley Creek State Park – see below

The Annual Streams Cleanup is just one of many activities that CRC undertakes to further its mission “To protect, conserve, and restore the natural resources of the Chester, Ridley, and Crum Creek watersheds.” This is our sixth year coordinating the CRC Streams Cleanup for Glen Providence Park.

2017 Stream Cleanup information:

• ** Please register for the cleanup through the CRC website so they can plan for supplies. **
• Meet at the Glen Providence Park main entrance on West State Street in Media at 9:00 am.
• Rain or shine.
• Gloves and bags will be provided.
• We recommend long pants and long sleeves to protect against poison ivy and ticks.
• If you’d like to tackle trash along the streambank, wear water shoes, boots, or old shoes!
• CRC requires that volunteers sign a liability release. 

The CRC lunch will be held at:

Ridley Creek State Park
Pavilion 8
11:30 am – 1:30 pm
Complimentary food, fun, and games for everyone!

Join us for our Early Spring Cleanup in Glen Providence Park! This is the first of our three main volunteer days we have scheduled this year: the next two are CRC Watersheds Annual Streams Cleanup on April 22, and National Public Lands Day on September 30. We also have regular Invasive Plant Removal days – see our 2017 Schedule of Events for more information!

Early Spring Clean-up!

Saturday, March 25
Rain/snow date Sunday, March 26
9:30 – 11:00am
Glen Providence Park – main entrance

Early spring is a great time to tackle trash that has blown into odd spots, before vegetation grows! Volunteers will be treated to yummy coffee and some pastries generously donated by Seven Stones Cafe! 

Logistics:

• Meet at the Glen Providence Park main entrance on West State Street in Media at 9:30 am.
• Bring gloves if you have them. We have a few pairs left from last year’s CRC Streams Cleanup.
• We recommend long pants and long sleeves to protect against poison ivy, ticks, and thorns.

Rain & snow plan:

Our rain/snow date is Sunday, March 26. If the weather is not clear, or if there is still too much snow on the ground, we will post on our website and facebook by 8:45 am Saturday advising whether we will use the rain date.

Observant readers may note that we originally scheduled our Early Spring Cleanup for Saturday, March 18. That was before Snowstorm Stella… there is no point doing a cleanup if debris is still hidden under snow! Let’s hope the snow is gone by March 25… 

As we post details for each month, we will link to that event with information and logistics.  All events are free, family-friendly, and open to the public – we hope to see you in the park!

Friends of Glen Providence Park
2017 Schedule of Events

Schedule subject to change – please check back to confirm times, details, and meeting locations.

Citizen Science: Winter Tree Mapping with Shannon Davidson & Marcia Tate
Saturday, January 28, 2-4:00pm
Meet at 3rd & Kirk entrance
Rain/snow date Sunday, January 29

Winter Naturalist Walk & Talk with Chris McNichol
Saturday, February 11, 10:00-12:00 noon
Meet at State Street entrance
Rain, snow, or shine

Early Spring Clean-up – snow date!
Saturday, March 25, 9:30-11:00am
Meet at State Street entrance
Rain/snow date Sunday, March 26

CRC Streams Clean-up – on Earth Day!
Saturday, April 22, 9-11:00
Meet at State Street entrance
Rain or shine

Spring Bird Walk with Tom Bush
Saturday, May 6, 7:30-9:30am
Meet at 3rd & Kirk entrance
Rain or shine

Arts in the Park: Master Storyteller Odds Bodkin
Saturday, June 3, 5:00-6:30
Rain date Sunday, June 4

Arts in the Park: Splintered Sunlight
Saturday, July 8, 5:00-6:30
Rain date Sunday, July 9

Arts in the Park: Jeffrey Gaines
Saturday, August 12, 5:00-6:30
Rain date Sunday, August 13

Arts in the Park: Eco del Sur
Saturday, September 9, 5:00-6:30
Rain date Sunday, September 10

National Public Lands Day
Saturday, September 30, 9–12:00 noon
Rain date Sunday, October 1

Kids Nature Walk with Holly Hoffmann & Aura Lester
Saturday, October 7, 10:30-12:00 noon
Meet at State Street entrance
Rain date Sunday, October 8, 10:30-12:00 noon

History & Nature Walk with Stephanie Gaboriault & Marcia Tate
Saturday, November 4, 2:00-4:00pm
Meet at State Street entrance
Rain date Sunday, November 5

Christmas Bird Count
Saturday, December 16, 8-10:00am
Meet at 3rd & West Street entrance
Rain, snow, or shine

And don’t forget the Great Media Easter Egg Hunt held by Media Lions & McCarrin Chiropractic – it’s the park’s longest-running event, held annually since 1954!  This year’s date is Saturday, April 8 at 11:00am (sharp!), with a rain date of Sunday, April 9 at 1:00pm.

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!

We held two cleanups this spring in Glen Providence Park as part of our 2016 monthly events. First, it was a cold (but beautiful) morning for our Early Spring Cleanup on March 5! This early spring cleanup enables us to see and access trash that has blown into the woods, before the vegetation obscures it – our yield this year was 6 bags.

We had a great turnout, and resulting haul, from the 19th Annual CRC Streams Cleanup on April 30! There were at least 22 adults and 11 kids clearing trash and invasive plants from the trails and stream, in addition to weeding and mulching our streamside buffer plantings. Our yield was 9 bags of trash, 8 bags of weeds and invasives, and assorted items including lumber, a railing, a cooler, a truck brake drum, cables, wires, and a vintage milk crate!

New this year, the CRC Cleanup was followed by nature-inspired art by the stage – a free art project run by Art For Everyone. Kids and adults used paint and yarn to transform sticks and rocks into art – some of the whimsical creations were left to adorn the park. It was a lovely addition to the event! 

Thank you to all of our fantastic volunteers, to Seven Stones Cafe for donating carafes of delicious coffee, to Art For Everyone for the wonderful art project, and to CRC Watersheds for coordinating its 19th Annual Streams Cleanup, removing a cumulative 600,000 pounds of trash from the Chester, Ridley, and Crum Creek watersheds!

Click on any photo for a closer look! Photos by Shannon Davidson, Holly Hoffmann, and Marcia Tate.