On yet another wet weekend, a group of ten braced a downpour to walk along the trails of Strawberry Mansion’s Discovery Center for a wild plant tour. Their journey began at the trail entrance, where an innocuous weed was growing. Tour guide Lady Danni Morinich, a local herbalist and forager, identified the plant as yellow
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The sun is barely above the horizon when we creep between the trees and quietly enter the blind. I load the arrow into the crossbow, looking eagerly out of the mesh window. It’s the first day of my first hunt. I’ve never killed anything and I’m not sure that I can. “I like this spot,”
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Amidst shots and descriptions of swirling hurricanes, raging fires, and dying ecosystems, the documentary Can We Cool The Planet? begins with the words of climate strategist Jane Long, “We can’t go back, there is no path backwards.” But what if there was? Philadelphia filmmakers Ben Kalina and Jen Schneider, and their team of collaborators from
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With birds singing in the background, three fellows at the Alliance for Watershed Education (AWE) walk through Camden’s Cramer Hill Nature Preserve. They point out a frog in a puddle, examine bones and feathers of a wild turkey, and point out invasive plants, among other conservation challenges. They wrap up with a request for visitors
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In late October, the Public Health and Human Services Committee of Philadelphia’s City Council sent a bill that would regulate the use of pesticides on public land to the full council for a vote Thurs. Dec. 03. The bill, titled “Healthy Outdoor Public Spaces,” was introduced by Committee Chair Councilwoman Cindy Bass. The bill only targeted
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Ten adults dressed in layers, hats and face masks gathered on a chilly September morning to go birding in Tacony Creek Park. They kept a couple yards apart from each other while peering through binoculars at local birds such as robins, kingfishers and cardinals along with some recently arrived winter visitors like a red-breasted nuthatch
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During a recent Hike + Heal meetup on the Wissahickon Creek, one member shared her reason for coming on a hike: she had just moved to Philadelphia during the COVID-19 pandemic and was looking for a community of women. Hike + Heal founder Brandi Aulston was impressed by the woman’s search for community during such
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The young american robin squeaked like a rewinding cassette tape as Margaret Rohde took the bird out of a cloth bag. Rohde, conservation manager with Wissahickon Trails, had untangled the robin a few minutes earlier from one of six mist nets she and Kristy Morley, senior naturalist, had set up before dawn at the Crossways
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Refuge manager Lamar Gore watched as Tropical Storm Isaias tore up footpaths and surged over the boardwalk at John Heinz National Wildlife Refuge at Tinicum. “It was too much for the banks to hold,” says Gore. Gore’s place of work, John Heinz, is the first and largest urban refuge in the United States. It is responsible
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One could call the Pennsylvania Horticultural Society’s (PHS) Tree Tenders quixotic in their drive to increase Philadelphia’s tree canopy, a goal whose attainment would mean a healthier city. “Our canopy, which currently sits at 20 percent, represents a 6 percent loss over the past 10 years,” says Tree Tender Marcus Ferreira, 47, of South Philadelphia,
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Virtual learning may not seem optimal for interacting with the natural world, but for the teenagers in the Philadelphia Watershed Stewardship Program, digital instruction has been a source of empowerment. Now in its fourth year, the program has more stewards than ever before. Students from more than 40 high schools applied to the program to
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