“1854,” says Jacques-Jean “JJ” Tiziou, with authority, when asked about the origins of Philadelphia’s borders. “That’s when the Consolidation was signed: February 2, 1854.” Good luck finding another Philadelphian who could, on the spot, provide the exact date on which the Consolidation Act transformed the neat rectangle of William Penn’s colonial city — from Vine
More
Cheltenham Township’s 48-acre Curtis Arboretum certainly looks like an arboretum. The park’s southern edge is dominated by a lush forest of sycamore, maple and ash that gradually opens onto a series of rolling hills featuring more than 50 tree species. Despite its name and expansive tree catalogue, Curtis is officially designated as a township park,
More
Along the sandy banks of the New Jersey Pine Barrens’ meandering streams, a small grasslike plant with clusters of white, star-shaped flowers bloomed unnoticed for millennia until botanist and Temple University professor Sasha Eisenman made a surprising discovery. This rare and endangered plant, previously unknown to science, is found nowhere else in the world but
More
Driving through the Main Line’s older neighborhoods, you’ll find American beech trees towering above you, with smooth gray trunks, thin bark, and some with carved initials from decades past. Their broad canopies shade properties that have stood for a century or more. These slow-growing, long-lived trees are irreplaceable and central to the character of many
More
Octavia Nash was back for more. She had joined a friend for a paddle on the Delaware River with Camden’s Center for Aquatic Sciences once before and returned for a free kayaking session at Pyne Poynt Park in mid-July, this time with her fiancée. “I like the peacefulness,” she says. “Oh my God, it’s like
More
Iresha Picot wasn’t sure how many women would show up. It was the fifth day in a brutal stretch of summer heat, with Fourth of July fireworks having wrapped up just hours earlier. But by 10 a.m., 26 women had gathered at the Indego station at 33rd and Diamond streets for what has become their
More
Maryland’s Department of Natural Resources is keeping an eye on Baltimore checkerspots. The once-common butterflies are in decline. They’re not rare enough to be endangered, but the state will be in a good position to step in if needed. In the Keystone State, no agency is tasked with ensuring their survival. The Pennsylvania Fish and
More
Wanda Lebron’s garden has an open-gate policy. From morning to night, the entrance, framed by sunflowers, is left unlocked so neighbors can stop in to chat, rest or harvest a vegetable from one of the raised garden beds. But each day, Lebron wakes up knowing that she could lose everything she and her neighbors have
More
Ihad expected the logs, half-deflated basketballs, plastic bottles and other assorted urban debris when I tagged along with a crew from the Philadelphia Water Department tasked with cleaning out the Fairmount Dam fishway back in 2012. What I hadn’t expected was to see the workers pull out two flathead catfish the size of toddlers. The
More
On Sept. 27, 2025, a wood thrush flew past the David Rittenhouse Laboratory at the University of Pennsylvania on its way to Central America. We know this because a tiny solar-powered radio transmitter on the bird’s back sent out a signal that was picked up by a receiver on the roof of the building. That
More
Julian Bender spent most of his weekends in the spring and summer of 2024 dedicated to one project: creating a bikepacking route through the Pine Barrens. He mapped out campgrounds and sites of natural and historical interest. He rode drafted routes, ruling out options that weren’t suitable for bikes due to flooding or overly soft
More