Kohler Park - wild flowers

1. Spring beauties (Claytonia virginica)

• Flowers from February - May.

Habitat - Dry open woods, glades, slopes, prairies, low woods.
Origin - Native to U.S.

• Earliest bloomers in spring. The flowering period is actually quite long for such an early plant. The plant is easy to ID in the field because of its distinctive flowers and its thin opposite cauline leaves.
  

Trout Lily (Erythronium americanum)
Common names for this eastern North American species include trout lily, American adder's tongue (a reference to the leaves) and dogtooth violet (a reference to the bulbs);

• Habitat: Moist woods and meadows
• Appearance: Yellow flower, blooming anywhere from March to May, atop a pair of purply-brown mottled leaves.

Geocaching

This morning, Marj, Sandy and I went geocaching in the Park Creek Watershed. We found two of the three we were looking for and got a bit muddy in the process. I ended up with a flat tire to boot. We had a good time and noticed a lot of trash. This gave me the idea to have a cache in - trash out event. I have contacted the Horsham Parks Department to find out a date that we could use the Limekiln entrance to Kohler Park for a clean up event that will not conflict with soccer games.

A Cache in Trash Out (CITO) event brings in geocachers who help clean up an area, and are rewarded by being able to locate several geocaches. I would also like to have some prizes for farthest away to attend, most trash collected, etc. . I plan on trying to contact local businesses to provide some type of sponsorships in either food, water or cache prizes.

If you are a business in the Horsham, Warrington, Montgomery Township area and are interested in providing a sponsorship of some sort, please email publicity@parkcreek.org

As this develops, more details will follow.

More Native Plant sales

May 3, Temple Ambler Campus plant sale at the greenhouses 10AM to 2PM on
Meetinghouse Rd Upper Dublin between Ft.Washington Ave and Butler Pike.

Also May 3, Neshaminy Manor plant sale at the Neshaminy Manor Center 1282
Almshouse Rd. Doylestown left off of 611 from 9AM to 1 PM rain or shine.

Native Plant Sale at Bowman's Hill Wildflower Preserve on 1635 River Rd. New
Hope, 2.5 miles south of New Hope Sat. and Sunday May 10 & 11 and 17& 18
10AM to 4PM.

Adopt a Park - Creek

As many of you are aware, several years ago we filled out the paperwork to adopt the creek in Kohler Park. Due to personnel changes, the township did not get our sign up at that time. I have been working with Mark Hudson of Horsham Township to get this process completed. Mark recently sent me a picture of what our sign will look like when it goes up in Kohler Park.
We are required to have 4 events in the Park that will benefit the creek each year.
I am arranging to have the Bat house that was donated to us, be used to fulfill one of these events.

This will help to reduce the amount of mosquitos in the area, thus helping out with the danger of West Nile Virus. This will count as one event. We have stream assessments that we will also do in the park. We are lucky to have Horsham Township as a partner.

Cookie wrapper brigade

TerraCycle is proud to announce that
a new upcycling Brigade is ready for
participants. But first we would
like to thank you for your efforts
 with our current Brigades - you are an
important part of our efforts,
and without you we couldn't continue
these programs.  Your involvement is a
pivotal part of our
campaign to eliminate the idea of waste!

We are excited to announce our newest
program: the Cookie Wrapper Brigade! This
program is sponsored by
Nabisco and we are honored to include
Oreo (America's favorite cookie) as a part
of the first national
program designed to reduce the amount of
 cookie wrapper waste going in to our
nation's landfills. Through
this Brigade, $.02 will be donated to
 charity for every used cookie wrapper
collected by schools, individuals
and organizations. The collected wrappers
will be used to make a variety of
innovative products that are
expected to be available at major
 retailers by early 2009.

Anyone can sign up for the Cookie Wrapper
 Brigade by
visiting www.terracycle.net/brigades. As
with all of TerraCycle's
Brigades, there is absolutely no cost to
participate and the program is
extremely easy to participate in.  Within
three weeks after signing up online, each
participant will receive four
collection bags that
hold 50 cookie wrappers each. Once a bag is
 full, you simply mail it back to
TerraCycle.  Your returned wrappers
are tracked and counted, and donations are made
 twice a year. All shipping and
program fees are covered by the
Brigade program to encourage people to collect
 as many wrappers as possible!

This program is a part of TerraCycle's
Sponsored Waste movement, through which
companies who strive to be socially
and environmentally responsible - like Nabisco
- partner with TerraCycle to
collect and upcycle their packaging.
These programs now cover a range of brands and
products, including bottles,
yogurt containers, drink pouches, energy
and granola bar wrappers, and now cookie wrappers!

Please join the Cookie Wrapper Brigade
and help us eliminate the idea of waste!

If you have any questions, please contact me directly

Best,

Michael Waas Smith
Director of the Cookie Wrapper Brigade
michael@terracycle.net

Earthday at Library

On April 19th, we will be at the Horsham Library for Earth Day. Come visit us in the cafeteria
to see the enviroscape in action.

Starts at 10AM

Other Horsham Organizations

www.HHoops.com
www.HorshamSoccer.com
www.HorshamLittleLeague.com
www.HorshamChats.com
www.HorshamHawks.com
www.HorshamLacrosseClub.com
www.HorshamGirlsLacrosseClub.com

Native Plant Sale

If you are interested in purchasing Native Plants, the Delaware River Keeper is having a native plant sale on May 3rd from 8AM to Noon.

DRN's annual Native Plant Sale will be held Saturday May 3, 2008, 8:00 AM-12:00 Noon at the Golden Nugget Antique Market, River Road (Route 29), Lambertville, NJ. This is a change of location for this popular sale, but we will still be offering a great selection of beautiful plants, ferns, shrubs and trees, all gathered from regional nurseries. By moving the sale to the Golden Nugget, located approximately 2 miles south of Lambertville, DRN expects to reach more people and get more native plants out into the community while keeping the sale in the same general region.

The best in native plant species will be offered at affordable prices for your garden. Herbaceous plants and ferns will be the highlight with some shrubs and trees, gathered from regional nurseries. DRN's stream restoration staff will be on hand to offer expert advice on choosing, planting, & growing native species. The market is conveniently accessible on River Road and the sale will have tables and parking immediately adjacent to River Road.

Some of the beautiful plants to be offered include herbaceous perennials such as, Virginia bluebells (Mertensia virginica), dwarf crested iris (Iris cristata), foamflower (Tiarella cordifolia) and creeping phlox (Phlox stolonifera). Shrubs and trees will include blueberry (Vaccinium corymbosum), pepperbush (Clethra alnifolia), shadbush (Amelanchier canadensis) and sweetbay magnolia (Magnolia virginiana).

Welcome

Welcome to the Park Creek Watershed Association Blog.
I hope to post current information here when it happens.
Please take a look at our website www.parkcreek.org and check out what we are about.

Save The Date Thursday, May 29th - 6:00 to 9:00 p.m. State of the Neshaminy Meeting/Workshop

Aldie Mansion 85 Old Dublin Pike, Doylestown, PA 18901 Join members of the Neshaminy Creek Watershed Alliance for a presentation by Stroud Water Research Center’s Kristen Travers on their comprehensive water quality assessment of the streams of Bucks County. The meeting will also include updates from municipal, county and state representatives on current and planned activities in the watershed as well as the Conservancy’s compilation of major recommendations from various watershed studies completed in the Neshaminy. Look for more a more detailed communication in April. For more information, contact Susan Myerov Community Planner Heritage Conservancy 215-345-7020 Ext 101 smyerov@heritageconservancy.org Preserving our Natural and Historic Heritage