The  Poquessing Pathfinder Online
The Friends of Poquessing Watershed Inc. of Philadelphia and Bucks County
Dedicated to the Conservation and Beautification of the Poquessing Creek and Its Environs

CAN YOU “RUSH” TO BENJAMIN RUSH STATE PARK?

     The PA Department of Conservation and Natural Resources (DCNR) and PA CleanWays (a nonprofit formed in 1990) are soliciting volunteers to help remove litter, tires, appliances and other trash from Benjamin Rush State Park in November 2001.
     This cleanup is one of over 40 scheduled this year across the state as part of the Forest Lands Beautification Program which was signed into law by Governor Tom Ridge in 1998. This program provides $7.5 million over five years from the state’s recycling fund to clean up existing dumps or state forest and park lands by recycling or properly disposing of material.
     For more information call PA CleanWays toll-free 1-877-772-3673 or visit their website at http://www.CleanPAForests.org.

NOTES FROM THE  PRESIDENT
  Dianne Welsh-Retzback

    Ah Summertime! Here in the Delaware Valley our thoughts turn to the Jersey Shore: the ocean, the waves, the breeze, the sky, the beaches AND THE TRASH!
      Here are some figures from last year’s cleanups.  The Clean Ocean Action Organization,  does beach sweeps in April and October at 13 locations in Atlantic and Cape May Counties.
     Over 4000 volunteers turned in data cards last year accounting for 252,427 pieces of trash weighing 34 tons.

                                                                                                    1. Cigarette filters               41,509
                                                                                                    2. Plastic food bags           20,978
                                                                                                    3. Styrofoam pieces           17,671
                                                                                                    4. Plastic pieces                  17,100
                                                                                                    5. Plastic caps and lids      15,738
                                                                                                    6. Plastic straws                  12,510
                                                                                                    7. Plastic beverage bottles  9,914
                                                                                                    8. Paper pieces                      7,860
                                                                                                    9. Other plastic bags            7,536
                                                                                                  10. Glass beverage bottles    7,169
                                                                                                  11. Metal beverage cans       6,333
                                                                                                  12. Glass pieces                      6,233

                                                                                                         Total pieces                  170,541

ADIOS, BUT NOT GOODBYE!
 Tony Eisele, Executive VP

Ed note: Our dedicated and verbally glib Executive VP retired to Wildwood  late spring of this year. But, be assured we will be
receiving “Postcards from the Shore” from him and he’ll be back to visit.

Soon I will be moving. To the shore. And leaving the Poquessing Watershed. My “lifetime” membership will not have expired. (Thankfully!)
But I will not be asking for a refund. No. If anything, I am indebted to the FOPW. For many, many fond memories and experiences. The meetings. The clean-ups. The water-testings. But most of all the human associations. With down-to-earth (literally and pun intended) concerned people. People who give a darn. Who do “care” about our environment. Although I’ll be distant, part of me will always remain in the Poquessing
Watershed — “the place where mice abound”. And, “terrific people”! Also!
 

FROM THE CREEK’S EDGE
 Jo Edwards, Vice President, Ways and Means

 Ever wonder what blotches, bees and spoons have in common? If you read any plant catalog, you’ll soon discover these are terms used to describe flowers and their parts. Here is a list of words from a seed catalog; but please be advised that this is a very non-technical, non-botanical aid.

Bee                       dark center of petals surrounded by light-colored sepals, as in Delphiniums
Bicolor                two different colors or shades on the flower petal (Primula) or on the foliage (Ajuga)
Blotch                 markings of a different color on the face of a flower, as with Pansies
Bract                   modified leaf, usually small and scalelike, but sometimes showy, as with Poinsettias
Cluster               a group of flowers or leaves tightly arranged, but not opposite or alternate; many flowers on a single stem, as in Verbena
Corolla                inner set of flower petals; colored or showy part of the flower, as used with Fuschias and Columbines
Crest                   a ridge or appendage on petals, flower clusters or leaves; irregular or toothed ridge(s) as with Iris or Marigolds
Double                 multiple petals, usually in extra rows, creating a full-  looking flower, as with Double Petunias
Eye                     different-colored flower center, such as in Impatiens and Vinca flower
Face                    describes the blotches of color on the petals of Pansies; more than one color in the flower center
Picotee               a flower with a band of color on outside edge of each petal; light flower with darker border, as in Dianthus and Petunia
Polyanthus         single stem with many flowers, such as Primula
Ray                      long narrow petal radiating from head or disk of daisy-like flowers
Reverse petals different color on back of petals, as in Osteospermum
Semi-double      more than normal number of petals
Sepal                 outer set of flower petals, often green and leafy, but can be colored as in Columbines and Fuschias
Single               one layer of petals, as with Ivy Geraniums and Petunias
Spike                  long spire-like cluster of blossoms with stalkless individual flowers next to main stem; Delphinium
Spoon                 long individual petal, tubular at the base and opening out flat at the tip, giving a spoon shape, as in Osteospermum
Throat                 inside base of a tubular flower, noted when of a different color as in Digitalis
Umbel                flower cluster in which the flower stalks all spring from the same point at the top of the main stem, resembling the spokes of an
                            umbrella, as with Primroses and Verbena
Veined               flower with veins of a different color than the rest of the petal on which they lie, as with Fuschias or Petunias
Wing                  upper or sideways-facing petal next to the main petals, often noted when a different color, as in Pansies
Whiskers          different-colored lines at the center of the flower that point the way to the nectar, as in Pansies and Violas
 

THANKS FOR THE DRINK, DOC!
  Dr. Robert Palma, Vice President, Environmental Affairs

     These days we often take our water quality for granted. This good water quality was not always that way. Ever since man decided to live in large groups (called cities) water quality has been a severe problem. The water supplies to all major cities (including Philadelphia) were breeding grounds for many deadly contagious diseases such as typhoid and cholera.
     These often fatal diseases occurred unchecked until the beginning of the 20th Century, when in 1913, a young Baltimore man, Abel Wolman, fresh out of Johns Hopkins University with a B.A., went to work with the U.S. ublic Health Dept. analyzing the Potomac River. The following year he went to work for the Maryland Dept. of  Health and, working with a chemist named Linn H. Enslow, perfected a formula for the chlorination of water. This formula took into account the bacteria, acidity, and taste of the water; and today, more than eighty years later, this
chlorination formula is still used in U.S. cities.
     So Abel Wolman is given credit as being the Father of Sanitary Engineering; and the formula for water chlorination that he helped develop has saved hundreds of thousands of people from early death. Man’s life expectancy has more than doubled during the 20th century — the first major increase in the life expectancy in well over two thousand years. A large part of this was because of improvements in Public Health. The chlorination of water that Dr. Wolman developed was the crowning jewel to the effort.
     Abel Wolman was awarded an honorary doctorate from and joined the faculty of Johns Hopkins in 1937. He became president of the American Water Works Assn. and was part of the first delegation to the World Health Organization. Dr. Abel Wolman died in 1989 at the age of 97 — a man who truly has changed the course of mankind forever!
 

   WE KEEP TRYING TO KEEP THE RIVER

     In celebration of Earth Day April 21, 2001, the Delaware Riverkeeper Network entered a partnership with Fresh Fields Whole Food Markets. Displays were set up in all seven Fresh Fields Markets in the Delaware watershed and volunteers greeted customers with information about the Riverkeeper Network. Educational videos about the Riverkeeper mission were shown and the volunteers shared fact sheets, demonstrated water-quality testing and distributed free bottles of “Keeper Spring” water. coloring books and soybean crayons.
     Tim White of the Riverkeeper Network reports that the event was a great success. “The more people that are made aware of Riverkeeper the stronger our voices become.”

Ed note: Eighteen people signed up to help. Three of them were FOPW members. (We are small but mighty!!)
 

     A Big “Thank You” to  Suzanne Zlotnick,  Donna Remick  and Mike Remick !
 
 

WE ARE TEACHING AND LEARNING NEW IDEAS
Suzanne Zlotnick, Vice President, Education

“Mad About Meadows”

 Ed. note: Pat Ford and Dennis Mora are avid environmentalists, cofounders of the “Friends of the Fish Ladder” (Schuylkill River) and
employees of the Phila Water Department. In this last capacity they have been instrumental in creating PWD’s Environmental Project Assessment Committee (EPAC) which is a semi-volunteer group of water dept employees who actively work to find environmentally-positive, cost-effective (win-win) solutions to many maintenance problems in their workplace. EPAC has created wildflower meadows (with special thought to bee and butterfly attraction) on which are built many bird and bat houses. So far these installations are at Southeast, Northeast and Southwest Water Pollution Control Plants. Also Southwest is to be the site of amphibian wetlands. We all realize that these meadows are a wonderful addition to the urban landscape, especially for migrating birds who navigate along the river.However, this becomes a win-win situation because PWD saves money on mowing, weed control, etc. Because of FOPW’s long association on the Citizen’s Stormwater Education and Advisory Committee, we’ve gotten to know Pat and Dennis and are excited to help them develop this project in Somerton.

     Loesche Elementary School teacher Resa Levinson was awarded a $500 grant for this undertaking; specifically to purchase books and materials for classroom research about meadow restoration, native wildflowers and butterfly habitat. The project, a cooperative endeavor between the Phila Water Department, FOPW and Loesche will  establish  a meadow behind the Somerton Water Towers on Tomlinson Road.
     The project will begin this fall with classroom visits from a PWD landscaper and PWD project coordinators. Using the “discovery” method of teaching, Ms. Levinson, Dianne Retzback and I will provide students with the opportunity to compare the benefits of a meadow to a grass lawn which is a “monoculture” that supports little wildlife diversity. The children will learn the role of meadows as one of the solutions to the pervasive run-off problems faced by protectors of urban watersheds. During the school year, students will be involved in the entire process from planning to planting the meadow; from classroom research to on site activities!
    When the project is finished, hopefully next spring, we will invite you to take a nature walk in our urban watershed meadow! Stay tuned for more updates! (If you are interested in volunteering your time for this project, please let us know.)

Storm Drain Stenciling Update

    In May, students in Ms. Levinson’s 3rd grade gifted support class stenciled storm drains at Loesche School with the help of FOPW.  This was the culminating project of the year for this lovely, cooperative & enthusiastic group of students. Leading up to this event, students built watershed models from tin baking pans to learn first-hand  about run-off issues. They did a water filtration experiment to understand the need to keep pollution out of our creeks & rivers. They also saw a demonstration of a model storm drain piping water directly to a model of  Poquessing Creek! By the end of the year,  this group had a strong grasp of the issues concerning storm drain run-off. This is the 2nd year that FOPW  has been invited into Ms. Levinson’s classroom to “team teach”.  On behalf of  FOPW, Dianne and I would like to acknowledge Resa Levinson’s dedication to the cause of protecting our watershed!
 

IT’S A BOY!

or rather a wonderful, very pleasant, polite and handsome young man who is our first “non-female” winner of the Charles T. Bejuki Memorial Scholarship Fund. Michael P. Snock from Archbishop Ryan High School is our sixth winner. We had the pleasure of presenting the scholarship certificate to Michael at FOPW’s June meeting. Maryanne Bejuki brought a lovely cake; Michael’s family came; we took pictures and generally had a good time!
     Michael will attend Penn State to study environmental science. We wish him well!

     While on the subject of the Bejuki Scholarship, since 1996 we’ve had three winners from Archbishop Ryan HS, two winners from George Washington HS, and one winner from Bensalem HS. The Philadelphia Foundation administers the scholarship which award has increased from $200 in 1996 to $300 this year. We are thankful for the Foundation’s prudent investing.
 
 

STORMY WEATHER — THE VIDEO

     Philadelphia Water Department’s Stormwater Education and Advisory Committee has put together an explicit video about stormwater runoff. The video features many concerned committee members talking about water pollution and many things we can do to lessen and/or solve the runoff problem. Dave Frankel, the TV weatherman, does the opening narration. You can see FOPW’s president, Dianne, explaining one of the things our group is doing to help.
     You may view the video on Philadelphia Government Cable Channel on Tuesdays at 8 PM as part of PWD’s public education programming — or call FOPW to borrow a copy.