Sunday, May 5th
3:00 – 5:00 PM
The Barmouth Trailhead on the Cynwyd Heritage Trail
FREE
Join the Friends of the Cynwyd Heritage Trail, the Lower Merion Conservancy, and other community partners for a family-friendly, stream-centric event. No registration is required. Some self-guided activities will be available throughout the day so consider coming by even if you cannot be there during the event. Read more about the activities below:
Get a free native plant
Native plants are more likely to be beneficial to animals that live in and near streams. They are important sources of food for both larval and flying forms of many insects. Michele Detwiler from Wild About Native Plants will be on hand to talk about the Pollinator Pathway and help you choose your plant.
Experience the watershed in the rain
You will be able to take a virtual tour with QR-coded links using your smart phone. Walk the tour from upstream (at the Cynwyd Station) down to where Vine Creek goes under the trail, past the Barmouth Trailhead and near the beginning of the unimproved Connelly Woods trail. If you don’t want to do the walk you’ll be able to access the same information from a copy of the watershed map, pictured to the left, which will be at the Barmouth trailhead. Click on the image for a sample of the watershed walk.
Tour the new watershed plantings
Among the most recent improvements along the trail is extensive planting done in collaboration with the Friends of the Cynwyd Heritage Trail and funded by the National Fish and Wildlife Foundation; take a guided tour of these plantings. You can read more about the riparian plantings as well as the meadow plantings on other FOCHT web pages.
Learn about controlling mosquitoes without sprays
Sprays used to control adult mosquitoes also kill bees, butterflies, and other beneficial insects. We are handing out information and FREE materials to help you control mosquitoes in ways that don’t harm other animals. Read more here.
Learn About the Impact of Plastics in Streams
Dr. Steven Goldsmith from the Villanova University Department of Geography and the Environment and his team will present some of their research on plastics in streams. They have sampled dozens of streams in the area (including Vine Creek) and have interesting insights to share.
Visit the stream touch tank
We are constructing a touch tank that will allow participants to touch and view up close the kinds of creatures found in Vine Creek. Our creek is home to fish, frogs, turtles and other large animals, but they require small animals like insects and worms in order to survive. These are what you will see in the tank! Come by to learn about these amazing members of the stream food chain.
We are modeling our tank on the ones used by the Stroud Water Research Center.
Walk down to the creek
Educators will be at the creek to help you take samples and learn about streams by seeing them up close!