The Friends of the Wissahickon is seeing improvement in the amount of litter at Devil's Pool this summer. FOW has been working with the Student Conservation Association in its continuing effort to keep the area  clean and educate park visitors on safe and appropriate use of the park.

The SCA crew reports that they are finding approximately 95 percent of litter at the area left in bags, which is an improvement over previous years.

Many factors contribute to this improvement:

-- FOW has been improving environmental conditions and increasing public safety at Devil’s Pool since 2006 with a public education program, $500,000 work of trail and habitat restoration work, and public outreach initiatives.

-- The Student Conservation Association has been working with FOW since 2009 by cleaning the site regularly and educating visitors on park stewardship. Last year, the SCA crew designed and mounted a trash bag dispenser at Devil’s Pool.

-- Police officers from the 5th and 14th Districts have been patrolling the Wissahickon this summer in an effort to educate park users on Fairmount Park rules and enforce them.

-- Park Rangers from Philadelphia Parks & Recreation have also increased their presence in the Wissahickon in order to help reduce problems such as illegal parking, swimming, diving, and littering, and violations of open container laws and the City-wide leash law, which requires all dogs in the park to be on a six-foot leash. 

8/13/2012