Joe MacNeal, Ardmore
I’m a Penn Wynne Elementary School parent of two children, a 4th grader and 1st grader. Both of my children will be attending Black Rock Middle School.
Among other roles, I’m a founding member of an Ardmore-based PHS Tree Tender group. In the past year we have planted 80 trees in Ardmore, Wynnewood, and Penn Wynne. Our tree tender group has been a proud partner with buildOn in our last two planting cycles. We would love to partner further with LMSD district-wide on tree planting, research-based tree care, increased use of native plants, and related sustainability issues.
This weekend I co-hosted a tour of the Oakwell property with a previous speaker, Jamie Singer. About 20 community members attended, most from Lower Merion. Some of the messages I provided to our tour participants included the following:
The current-state of the property is valuable to LMSD in many ways, including unique opportunities proposed by students themselves supporting mental health, providing an outdoor classroom to learn about biology and local ecology, architecture, history, horticulture, and native plant agriculture.
The Oakwell site is unique in several ways -- including being uniquely poorly-suited for bulldozing mature trees and historic places to put middle school playing fields in one of the worst sites for playing fields in Lower Merion Township.
Excellent sites for fields: existing fields, existing parking lots, defunct strip malls, vacant developed properties, and existing large lawn areas.
According to my analysis using USDA’s iTree canopy software, the Oakwell site currently sequesters 14 tons of carbon annually via woody plants on site; 360 tons of carbon are stored in existing trees; the Oakwell site as it currently exists removes 785lbs of air pollution annually; and the current-state includes thousands of gallons in hydrological benefits each year. The proposed future state will never replicate these benefits -- neither in 10 years nor 100 years -- even with the trees proposed to be planted.
The site currently includes a large quantity of mature native trees – 100 years old, 150 years old, 200 years old. These trees provide outsize quantities of ecosystem services to the local community and the township at-large. The vast majority of trees on site are healthy from visual inspection. There is healthy natural regeneration of native trees on site. There are existing significant stands in the understory spicebush and native rhododendron.
A large amount of mature trees on site would meet neighboring municipalities’ definition of Heritage trees. So, in Oakwell's case, take one Heritage tree and multiply it by something like 100. The site includes groupings of many Heritage trees, providing much more benefit than individually located large mature trees.
The development planned for this area will destroy a habitat corridor linked to its sister property, the immediately adjacent biodiversity sanctuary, Stoneleigh, operated by Natural Lands.
Oakwell's mature woodland and wetland ecosystem directly connect to and complement Stoneleigh. The corridor is not even separated by a street – it’s a direct connection. Thousands of floral and faunal species use this ecological corridor – from resident and migrating birds, to tiny pollinators, to the existing native plant community.
The Oakwell site currently includes a functional, contributing wetland near the headwaters of several waterbodies, including Hardings Run, connecting to the Delaware River watershed, as well as unnamed tributaries to Mill Creek, and a tributary to Gulph Creek leading to the Schuylkill River watershed.
Every single waterbody in Lower Merion is considered impaired by the EPA. Impairments include degraded habitat, PCBs, and sediment from urban runoff.
Finally, I'm in favor of full day kindergarten; more sidewalks near schools; start times with elementary first, middle school second, high school third; dark sky-compliant lights on Arnold field; and more sustainability for the school district.
Sincerely,
Joe MacNeal
Ardmore