“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
Have you ever hit a tree root on a multi-use path and barely managed to stay on your bike? Have you ever wanted to tell someone about it? The City of Philadelphia is working on a plan to improve trail and sidepath maintenance and wants to hear from you. Philadelphia boasts a growing network of
More
Black Birders Week is back for 2022 — it will run May 29 through June 4 — and Drexel University’s Academy of Natural Sciences is celebrating on May 28 with a black-tie Black Excellence in Birding evening. Philadelphia birders have been at the forefront of the movement to elevate Black birding, and the event features
More
A black bear was spotted in Montgomery County in Hatfield Township near Rt. 309 on Monday evening. Another black bear was captured by the Pennsylvania Game Commission on May 4 in Clifton Heights in Delaware County and relocated to a less populated area. The DelCo bear had been spotted in Montgomery and Chester Counties as
More
The numbers bear it out: Philadelphia’s parks are severely underfunded. The Trust for Public Land has released its annual ParkScore Index, and Philadelphia has slipped in the rankings to 32 out of the country’s 100 most populous cities, down from 19 in 2021. The index scores city park systems in subcategories such as access, acreage,
More
Want to get involved with advocacy around the Cobbs Creek Golf Course development? Two opportunities are coming up this month: First, the Cobbs Creek Foundation, which is the nonprofit developing the golf courses, is holding a town hall Zoom meeting on May 18 at 7 p.m..: The Cobbs Creek Foundation (a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization), would
More
Spring has arrived in the Northern Hemisphere, which means billions of birds that spent the winter to the south are flying back northward to their breeding grounds. Many of the migrants will follow the Atlantic Flyway, which is like a bird highway that runs up the East Coast of North America, right over Philadelphia. Flying
More
From April 29 to May 2 Philadelphia will take part in the City Nature Challenge, an international urban bioblitz in which hundreds of cities around the globe will try to get as many people making as many observations of as many species as possible. Anyone using the citizen science platform iNaturalist to observe plants, animals,
More
The City of Philadelphia is not serious about climate change. Yet many people who work for the city are incredibly serious about it. They are dedicated, talented and passionate civil servants. Leadership, on the other hand, is lacking. The result is a mishmash of positive programs trying to methodically tackle the challenges we face colliding
More
Over the last decade I have searched abandoned riverfront properties for skinks and black rat snakes, spooking deer and watching warblers, as I climbed over riprap shorelines and picked my way across the rotting timbers of overgrown piers. A city in decay offers the naturalist unlimited opportunities, while a city on the rise takes them
More
The sun shone bright on a landscape cross-hatched with felled trees on a walking tour of the Cobbs Creek Golf Course on April 4. The Cobbs Creek Restoration and Community Foundation, the organization overseeing the revamping of the golf course, had the trees cut down, said Dana Henry, the tour guide and a spokesperson with
More