Earth Day Tree Planting at Coatesville's Gateway Park

It was a little chilly but no one noticed. Warmth came from working together to make Coatesville a better place. From left to right in the lineup photo; Sheila Fleming and Wesley Horner from the Brandywine Conservancy, former City Councilman Kareem Johnson, Matt Baker, Officer Ollis and Marie Hess Weed of the Seed Committee. In the other photos you can see Weed and Seed Director Allen Smith, the really amazing John Pawlowski and Public Works Director Don Wilkinson. Sorry, I just couldn’t get everyone’s name.

This is Wesley Horner speaking about the plans for Today’s Earth Day Tree Planting in Coatesville at the April 11 Coatesville City Council meeting:

Wesley Horner on Earth Day tree planting.mp3

“Thank you very much, I’m Wesley Horner, Senior Advisor for Water Resources for the Brandywine Conservancy and we’re here this evening to make sure council is aware of and invited to the upcoming Earth Day Planting Project which we are doing with multiple involvement from City groups and agencies.

This is a Growing Greener project sponsored by the Department of Environmental Protection. It involves basically preparing reforestation and plantings along the Brandywine Creek, which is obviously near and dear to our parks. And the first phase of the two planting is a fairly modest planting will happen on the morning of Earth Day which also happens to be Good Friday a week from Friday 8:30 to approximately 11:30.  And we will be planting some additional shrubs, native species along the rear fence line at Gateway Park. There’s already been trees planted, revitalized.  

And the second phase will be a little more ambitious, that will occur next year hopefully on Earth Day 2012 and will involve significant sections of the stream bank along the Brandywine north of Lincoln Highway. So that will be a considerably more ambitious project. It involves at the present time we’re trying to reduce invasives so we’ll be doing some spraying and removal of invasives there…

We’ve been working very closely with Weed and Seed Community Policing Subcommittee; Matt Baker, Allen Smith, Officer Roger Ollis have been extremely helpful and we hope to have a good turnout in the morning and get these 75 native shrubs put in there; ultimately a modest amount of water quality improvement impact on the Brandywine. But I think in this case, probably intended to have more of an esthetic and screening impact so that when we’re in the park you get a nice visual effect. As the trees mature there will be a nice green background…

The total project is approximately $40,000 of trees and shrubs and a far amount of invasive control as the vines north of Lincoln are serious problems. We are doing this, it’s really part of the Conservancy’s Reforestation Campaign, planting thousands of trees throughout the watershed. And we thought it’s important to do some projects in the City of Coatesville as well.”

"Wesley Horner recently joined the Conservancy staff as Senior Advisor for Water Resources. A familiar face, Wes was Associate Director of the Conservancy’s Municipal Assistance Program (MAP) from 1996 to 2000. While here, he co-authored two handbooks, the Conservation Design for Stormwater Management and Transferable Development Rights: A Flexible Option for Redirecting Growth in Pennsylvania. Most recently, he worked for Cahill Associates, an engineering firm formerly of West Chester, and CH2M HILL in Philadelphia. During his tenure with Cahill Associates, Wes managed the preparation of Pennsylvania’s Stormwater Best Management Practices Manual. Contributions to numerous other manuals for managing low impact development-stormwater fill his resume.
At the Conservancy, Wes will strengthen our sustainable watershed management program. Many will benefit from the treasure of experiences that make him a leader in his field.
A graduate of Haverford College with a Bachelor of Arts degree, Wes also received a Master of City and Regional Planning degree from Harvard University. An avid gardener, he lives in the Coatesville area and has two grown children."
From:
http://www.brandywineconservancy.org/pdfs/ECW2008-2009.pdf