Why is regular membership and annual giving so important for the Friends of Pastorius Park? Because reliable funding enables our organization to budget and schedule work every year to maintain the health of the park’s trees and water system, as well as its assets, such as masonry, the warming hut, benches, and landscape.
Each year FoPP spends $5,000 to treat Pastorius’ hemlock trees against the destructive Woolly Adelgid insect. In May 2016 we installed a new well pump to introduce fresh ground water into the pond during periods of drought and extreme heat (cost: $3,000). In October 2017 FoPP spent $5,000 to have the moat cleaned to temporarily accept wildlife, while PPR performed a long-overdue cleaning of the pond. In Spring 2017, FoPP installed $10,000 worth of aerator fountains in the cleaned pond to increase water movement, and thereby prevent formation of mosquito larvae. The pumps and aerators require and receive annual maintenance, and FoPP shoulders these expenses as well.
Since PPR’s 2017 cleaning of the pond, FoPP has established an annual pond cleaning paid for by our organization ($5,000), to ensure that build up of runoff sediment and organic matter does not again threaten the pond’s circulating pumps and aeration fountains, and result in a costly and protracted project like the 2017 pond cleaning.
Looking forward, FoPP plans to work on erosion and runoff problem at the park (particularly at the W. Hartwell/Roanoke entrance to the park). This work will require coordination with various City departments but will also depend greatly upon generous donations from the community to fund our advocacy and expenditures to correct and heal park landscape problems.
Another looming project for the Friends is consideration of the 2011 University of Pennsylvania health assessment and inventory of Pastorius Park’s trees. FoPP funded this study ($5,550), which also includes a tree management plan and recommendations
for future tree planting and tree maintenance at the park.
2021 Restoration Project
For the sake of the park’s future, while also preserving its original Olmsted-inspired design and intent as a passive green space, now is the time to begin a thorough restoration of Pastorius to prepare the park for the next generation. This means planting a diverse selection of new trees, flowering, deciduous, evergreens, and shrubs beneficial to birds and other wildlife.