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Montgomery County Park Wins Inaugural DCNR/PRPS Green Park Award
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Secretary John Quigley presented Plymouth Twp., Montgomery County, with the inaugural DCNR/PRPS Green Park Award at the annual Pennsylvania Recreation and Park Society conference in March.
The purpose of the award is to recognize excellence in the public park community for those that demonstrate the integration of green and sustainable park practices.
The nominations were judged on their efforts to implement a number of green and sustainable park principles including:
-- Integration of sustainable site related principles such as minimizing disturbance of existing natural resources (habitat, tree cover, topography, etc.) when designing and developing the park,
-- Implementing natural landscaping principles - for example enhancing tree cover, riparian areas, and wildlife habitat,
-- Managing stormwater naturally on site,
-- Connecting people to nature, and
-- Integrating energy conservation and green design and construction practices.
In his remarks at the conference, the Secretary congratulated Plymouth Township for their exemplary integration of green and sustainable park practices. Plymouth Township’s work at Harriet Wetherill Park addressed all the green and sustainable park practices and can truly serve as a role model for all other park development projects.
The township protected and enhanced riparian areas, removed invasive plant species and planted native vegetation, planted trees and native warm season grasses/wildflower meadows, created a butterfly garden, ensured that construction would not impact pockets of spring beauty wild flowers, created rain gardens and installed solar energy to power the lights and the water pump on site. In addition, the township retained farming on a portion of the property to serve as an interpretive/ educational opportunity for “field-to-table” concepts.
Plymouth Township is building partnerships with other local entities to fully realize the green educational potential of the site.
In addition to the plaque presented by Secretary Quigley at the PRPS conference, the township will be provided with a tree and a recognition plaque to be placed in the vicinity of the tree. A tree planting event is being planned to coincide with the formal park dedication on April 24.
For more information on DCNR’s Green and Sustainable Park Initiative see the DCNR Green and Sustainable Park webpage.
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4/19/2010 |
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