The Northeast got a lot greener this year thanks to Riverfront North Partnership and its partners. With the help of neighbors and friends, the nonprofit organization planted and gave away more than 250 native trees and shrubs as part of an ongoing forest restoration project at Pennypack on the Delaware Park in Holmesburg.
The restoration project plants a variety of new healthy native tree species in parks. The work expanded this year to include Fluehr Park with members of the Torresdale community who wished to improve their park. It also included distribution of native fruit bearing trees to the Philadelphia Prison System, which operates an orchard that provides job skill training to incarcerated individuals.
Community members, PowercorpsPHL, Tree Northeast and Friends of the Wissahickon volunteer crew leaders, as well as members of the former Friends of Pennypack Park, joined together to plant trees over several weekends in the fall.
Funding for this initiative was provided by grants from TD Bank’s TD Tree Days as well as the TreeVitalize Watersheds Grant program, managed by the Pennsylvania Horticultural Society, with funding from the state Department of Environmental Protection’s Growing Greener program, PECO and Aqua PA for projects located within its source water protection zones.
These 250 new trees and shrubs are part of work that began four years ago at Pennypack on the Delaware to create a viable shoreline for native plants and wildlife. It includes clearing the land of invasive and non-native species, planting hundreds of native trees and shrubs, and a 2021 shoreline stabilization of the Pennypack Creek as it meets the Delaware River. The city Department of Parks and Recreation provides ongoing maintenance. ••
