Restoration (Week Ten)

I found this PowerPoint, which has tons of photos showing the process/project - check it out!

The PPT was made in 2002, and I noticed one of the signs in your photos reads 2003. Also, based on this article (published in August this year), it seems like this project is considered completed: "[the Lower Merion Conservancy's] first project was in Ashbridge Memorial Park in Bryn Mawr in 2002, the second was in West Mill Creek Park in Gladwyne in 2007, and the third was in Shortridge Memorial Park in Wynnewood in 2009. We are now preparing for a new phase of the project in Shortridge Park, with completion coming in the next year."

The project was a response to flooding problems: "the Conservancy teamed up with Bryn Mawr College and Lower Merion Township to create a more natural design for the creek to keep the stream healthy and provide a long list of benefits such as less flooding downstream, habitat for native wildlife, stable stream banks and fewer bridges to maintain. The new design included a lot of native grasses, trees and shrubs rather than a vast expanse of what I like to call “grassphalt.” Trees, shrubs and native grasses play a big role in managing stormwater by physically holding water with their trunks and leaves, and by helping water get into the groundwater system through their deep roots. Today the stream bank in Ashbridge Memorial Park is surrounded by a tremendous meadow with trees and shrubs loved by wildlife and neighbors downstream who worry much less about flooding."