April 12, 2022
On September 1, 2021, Hurricane Ida swept through a number of neighborhoods in Montgomery County, Upper Dublin Township, a suburban area outside of Philadelphia, causing damage to houses and several mature wooded open spaces. One of these spaces was Tannerie Park West, whose many recreation areas and open space serve the community daily and are an integral part of community life. Nearby Robbins Park Environmental Education Center has a long-standing relationship with the park and local public schools. Many of the hands-on environmental learning classes held at the park were severely impacted by the hurricane.
In an effort to help restore this treasured area, The Garden Club of America (GCA) has awarded a $10,000 Restoration Initiative grant to the Wissahickon Garden Club. Funds will be applied towards the purchase of trees as well as to offset costs of mat-like riparian buffers or plants that will serve this buffer function. The grant will also provide for wildflower seed bomb plantings that the elementary school children will be deploying in the Tannerie Run area.
Additional plans include working with local LaSalle High School students and local youth Environment Clubs to combine debris removal and habitat improvement by building natural raised beds, called Hugels. The tornadoes spawned by Hurricane Ida brought devastation, tearing homes apart and destroying large areas of open space, but it is now creating occasions for young people to become aware of the realities of environmental disasters as they pitch in and help restore the open land around them.
The GCA established the Restoration Initiative in 2017 in response to the urgent needs caused by catastrophic storms, hurricanes, floods, fires, and mudslides to assist member clubs involved in public landscape restoration and conservation projects. Seventeen grants, totalling $170,000 have been awarded to clubs in California, Florida, Georgia, Hawaii, Iowa, New Orleans, New York, Ohio, Oregon, Pennsylvania, Tennessee, Texas, and West Virginia.
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