In 2020, the Conservancy received a grant from the National Fish and Wildlife Foundation to improve stormwater management, restore wildlife habitat, and improve recreational access on the Cynwyd Heritage Trail and along sections of Vine Creek. During heavy rain storms, water rips down sections of the Cynwyd Heritage Trail, forcing gravel, sediment and other pollutants to wash over the trail before flowing into the adjacent Vine Creek and the Schuylkill River. The rain water pouring onto the trail and into the creek comes from storm sewer pipes, which take on uphill impervious surfaces, including streets, roofs, driveways, parking lots, and shallow-rooted turf grass. Runoff along the Cynwyd Heritage Trail increases water velocity, exacerbates flooding and worsens erosion, sending more sediment downstream. Excess sediment cuts off light to important aquatic plants and smothers aquatic animals. Even small rain storms have an impact.

There are ways to mitigate stormwater runoff that do not involve underground piping, walls, holding tanks or culverts that dump unfiltered water into our streams. These green strategies naturally capture and filter stormwater, and if done correctly, are sustainable and greatly beneficial to the health of wildlife and people. Strategies include: planting trees to form deep root systems that absorb water, stabilize soil and shade streams; replacing mowed lawns with native meadows; diverting stormwater from its impervious source towards planted spaces; and increasing the width of riparian areas to slow and dissipate water during high stream flows.

Implementing these green strategies at a scale that can make an impact, restore and create vast areas of wildlife habitat, and produce measurable improvements in stormwater capture can be challenging. The Conservancy recently contracted with Gray Landscape Design, LLC to design and help implement a plan for achieving the goals of the grant. In consultation with Gray Design, the Friends of the Cynwyd Heritage Trail and Lower Merion Township, planting plans were developed for a portion of the trail. Duranti’s Landscaping is implementing the plans now.