Tag: news-import
Natural Selections: New Year’s resolutions from the Roxborough community
January 28, 2020By Mike Weilbacher, Executive Director
[pullquote]2020 will see my continued fight for redistricting reform and to continue to work in a bipartisan manner to get good policy in place.” State Rep. Pamela A. DeLissio, D-194[/pullquote]With the calendar pages turning over to a new year – and a new decade to boot – it’s time for our annual roundup of New Year’s resolutions from community leaders across Roxborough.
Celeste Hardeseter, president of the Central Roxborough Civic Association, said that, “A century and more ago, people planted trees in their yards that, 100 years later, became magnificent mature specimens. Now, as these are becoming…
Nature Preschool meets our pileated woodpecker
December 26, 2019By Leigh Ashbrook
Editor’s note: one of the largest-- and rarest-- birds in the Schuylkill Center forest is the pileated woodpecker, our largest woodpecker with a wood chipper for a beak. We’ve seen them here this winter, and Nature Preschool has become enchanted by them. One of our teachers, Leigh Ashbrook, also a great birder, teaches about birds in the school, and writes about her students meeting them recently.
Photo: Chris Petrak
Sixteen Nature Preschoolers are meandering along the Widener Trail toward the bird blind, flanked by trees of the second growth forest. Out of the woods on their left…
ExtremeTerrain makes gift to Schuylkill Center
December 5, 2019ExtremeTerrain's Clean Trail Initiative program was launched in 2015. This program seeks to reward local clubs and organizations with small, project-specific, grants to be used for trail maintenance and restoration. In the approximately 4 years since it started, the program has given out $21,650 in trail project grant funds. The Schuylkill Center is very grateful to ExtremTerrain for their support. Click here to learn more about their initiative.
Helping an injured bird
October 29, 2019By Rebecca Michelin, Director of Wildlife Rehabilitation
You may have heard the devastating news- a study published this month in the journal Science reports that the total breeding bird population in the continental U.S. and Canada has dropped by 29 percent since 1970.
While there are numerous factors contributing to this decline, human-made alterations to the landscape have certainly played a significant role, and we see the results of this clearly at the Wildlife Clinic at the Schuylkill Center. Since mid-August, the wildlife clinic has treated nearly two dozen birds, from mourning doves and woodpeckers to warblers and vireos, all…
LandLab Dream Journal
October 3, 2019LandLab Dream Journal
Guest post by LandLab Artist Kate Farquhar
Editor’s Note: LandLab is the Schuylkill Center’s environmental art residency program. Kate Farquhar was named a resident artist in 2017 and recently wrapped up her project, titled Synestates. She installed a series of three sculptures on the Schuylkill Center’s trails - come visit us to see them. This blog post is Kate’s reflection on time at the Schuylkill Center and a peek into her creative process.
I'm currently wrapping up my LandLab residency at the Schuylkill Center: a chapter in my relationship to a place that I will…
Kate Farquhar’s Synestates: Art, Nature, and Humans
August 15, 2019by Communications Intern Charlotte Roach
As you wander the trails of the Schuylkill Center, you may notice some objects that look a little out-of-place. What are those chains doing hanging from those tree branches? What are those white geometric shapes on the surface of Wind Dance Pond? Those objects are art installations, part of our LandLab environmental art residency, created by resident artist Kate Farquhar. Kate is a Philadelphia-based environmental artist and landscape architect with a passion for green design. Her series is called Synestates, and its purpose it to explore how human-made building materials can interact with nature.
pvines,…
The Buzz on Lanternflies
August 13, 2019By Executive Director Mike Weilbacher
A pair of concerned homeowners walked into the Schuylkill Center early last week in a bit of a panic. “We have lanternflies everywhere,” they told Steve Goin, our Director of Land and Facilities. “What do we do?” And many others have been calling our front desk with the same question.
What do we do indeed. Allow me to tell you.
[caption id="attachment_270974" align="alignleft" width="2268"] Photo credit: Shawn Riley[/caption]
The newest invasive creature in our backyards, spotted lanternflies were accidentally imported into Berks County from their native southeast Asia in 2014. And in the five years…
Hotter, Wetter, Weirder: Philadelphia’s Already-Changing Climate
August 8, 2019By Mike Weilbacher, Executive Director
Climate change remains in the headlines, as wildfires, flooding, heat waves, ice cap melting, and more dominate the news. But what will happen here in Philly? How will we fare in a rapidly heating world?
As the city’s Office of Sustainability notes in “Growing Stronger: Toward a Climate-Ready Philadelphia,” we have weathered “the snowiest winter, the two warmest summers, the wettest day, the two wettest years, as well as two hurricanes and a derecho” since 2010, the latter an unusual, high-energy storm system. Climate change is teaching us new language.
And we’re getting hotter. Climate…
The Science Behind Shooting Stars & S’mores
August 1, 2019by Charlotte Roach, Communications Intern
The Perseid meteor shower is one of the most spectacular annual events for amateur stargazers and serious astronomy enthusiasts alike. During its peak, tens of shooting stars blaze across the sky each hour, wowing skywatchers as they gaze up into the heavens. We are actually watching bits of comet debris burn up in the Earth’s atmosphere, but if you indulge your imagination, it looks like stars are falling to Earth. This astronomical event is truly awe-inspiring, and you would be remiss not to step outside and look up in the wee hours of August 9th, 10th,…
2019 Bird Census Results
June 24, 2019by Ben Vizzachero, Environmental Educator
On the morning of June 1st, staff and volunteers completed the Schuylkill Center’s Nesting Bird Survey. Birders of all experience levels come out to participate in this annual citizen science project. Birding is one of the most popular ways to engage with the natural world. Read this article by Jack Connor to learn more about why birding is so great (warning: you may shed a tear).
[caption id="attachment_270832" align="alignleft" width="208"] Blue Jay[/caption]
To complete the count, participants break up into five groups and walk through all major areas of the Schuylkill Center’s property. As they…
