HONORING PAUL MEYER
Dear Friends,
On Tuesday, October 10, 2023 our dear friend and revered Pastorius restoration advisor, Paul Meyer (retired head of Morris Arboretum) passed away. This tragic and huge loss on so many fronts has made implementing Paul’s vision at our park imperative for our organization.
To honor Paul and further his farsighted work at Pastorius Park, FoPP is dedicating our next restoration project in the park’s NE ‘bird sanctuary’ woods to Paul as a memorial to his passion for restoring our park. Habitat restoration in these woods, as well as storm water and erosion mitigation here was near and dear to Paul. And he was very hands on, earlier this year, working with FoPP volunteers to remove invasives in these woods, as a prelude to more serious restoration work there.
FoPP is working with a landscape designer highly recommended to us by Paul, Bob Gray, and have engaged a surveyor (Schock Group LLC) to conduct a thorough late Fall 2023 survey of these woods, including a complete inventory of all existing trees. This survey will inform our choice of new native plantingsthat will both benefit wildlife and aid in the management of storm water. We are aiming to begin the first stage of this ambitious project in 2024. Please help us further Paul’s vision of a healthy, vibrant Pastorius Park by donating to FoPP.
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.
