Almost one hundred volunteers lent a hand to plant a creekside buffer and trees along the Jenkintown Creek at Ethel Jordan Park in Abington’s Elkins Park on Friday and Saturday, November 6 and 7. These 205 native trees and 65 shrubs will improve water quality and reduce creek erosion while beautifying the park and creating habitat for birds and wildlife.

What’s a buffer? Creekside buffers our creeks from runoff, the biggest source of water pollution. Runoff carries chemicals, trash and other materials over land and into storm drains and creeks, harming waterways, plants and wildlife. Buffers absorb and filter runoff and provide wildlife habitat. TTF has worked with a number of partners to plant buffers, particularly along Jenkintown Creek!

It was especially exciting to have Ethel Jordan’s family join us to plant and honor their mother’s memory. Other volunteers included hard working students from the Abington School District, Richard Allen Preparatory School, and Tredyffrin/Easttown School District as well as folks from The Nature Conservancy and PennEnvironment. Our amazing Streamkeepers were out in full force, leading planting teams! Special kudos go to Tom Manns, who provided lots of planning and key planting leadership.

Of course our partners and supporters from the Abington Rotary and the Abington Environmental Advisory Council (EAC) came out to help us get everything planted and mulched! We also enjoyed welcoming representatives from the PA Carbon Reduction Fund, funded by WGL Energy and Sterling Planet.

This project was supported by TreeVitalize, a partnership to restore tree cover in Pennsylvania communities: the TreeVitalize Watersheds Grant program is managed by thePennsylvania Horticultural Society, with funding from the Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection’s Growing Greener Program, as well as Aqua PA for projects located within its source water protection zones. Funding was also provided by the Abington Rotary, PA Carbon Reduction Fund, funded by WGL Energy and Sterling Planet, and the Abington EAC.

Special thanks to Commissioners Larry Jones and Jimmy DiPlacido for helping to make this project possible — we couldn’t have done it without you. Special thanks to Representative Madeleine Dean for stopping by and James Kennedy from Representative Brendan Boyle’s office for lending a hand. Thanks as well as so Krista Scheirer, Watershed Specialist from the Montgomery County Conservation District, for your help on Friday and to Mark Brownlee from ArcheWild for the excellent plant material and for your expert assistance in training the volunteers on how to properly plant trees and shrubs on Saturday!