Wissahickon Growing Greener 
Let's Promote and Educate RESIDENTS about a Sustainable Future for OUR Area   

News                        

Monarch update: When planting milkweed, be sure to plant native species, such as Asclepias incarnata. Do not plant tropical milkweed (Asclepias curassavica), which has been shown to increase the odds that monarchs will be infected with a crippling parasite, according to sciencemag.org.http://bit.ly/1woIimz


Tip from the Wissahickon Valley Watershed Authority: Be Aware of the Storm Drains
  • Anything that washes into storm drains during a rain event flows directly to the Wissahickon Creek and its tributaries without being filtered! This water, known as stormwater, brings everything that is happening on the land into the creek during rain events including litter, pet waste, detergent from washing your car, household chemicals, and yard clippings or leaves. These are easily swept into the Wissahickon, increasing bacteria, debris, and algae blooms from increased nutrients in the Creek. Help the Wissahickon by composting yard clippings, washing your car at a car wash, always picking up after your pets, carrying out everything you bring into parks, and disposing of used car oil and household cleaners properly.  Read the entire Currents magazine here.

Resource: iRecycle
  • FIND LOCAL RECYCLING FAST.  iRecycle can tell you how, where and when to recycle just about anything. Using your current location, ZIP code, address or city, get access to vital details for collection points, such as website, phone number, directions, hours of operation and other materials collected.  iPhone/apple device- click here.  Android device- click here. 

Use commercial car washes. 
  • The best place to wash your car is at a commercial car wash, many of which filter their water before directing it to treatment plants. If you must wash your vehicle at home, park it on the grass first, so your lawn absorbs some of the detergent runoff and contaminants.  Click here to learn more about how to become a better steward of our precious water resources.  (This tip was found on the Fairmount Waterworks Newsletter)

  • This woman brings the mobile grocery store to your community food dessert!  Watch how she makes a difference.  (disclaimer: it is from a Whole Foods Ad)


Christmas Tree collections
  • If you get a live, cut tree for Chritsmas, some Townships will collect them for mulch
  • Whitpain Township Christmas tree pickup date is Jan 14th and Jan 28th. 
  • The Montgomery Township Public Works Department is accepting used Christmas trees for recycling at the William F. Maule Park at Windlestrae. The entrance to the park is located off of Kenas Road. There will be signs to guide you to the tree recycle location. 

The 411 on Using Deicers (posted in the Montgomery Township e-news)

When inclement weather hits, go green when trying to control ice.  The key is to prevent slipping on ice with environmentally-friendly resources. Excess salt and other deicing chemicals can pollute our streams and adversely impact drinking water supplies. Please remember to:
  • Shovel snow before it turns to ice to limit the need for deicing chemicals, like rock salt.
  • Shovel snow onto permeable surfaces including grass, flower beds, and level landscaping so that as the snow melts, it will soak into the ground rather than flow directly into a nearby storm drain or stream.

If you must use deicing chemicals, consider the following:
  • Avoid over application by controlling the application of chemical deicers.
  • Limit chemical applications near environmentally-sensitive areas including springs, streams, ponds, wetlands, and water supply areas and sensitive landscape and vegetation.
  • Sand, sawdust and cracked corn can be used as an environmentally-friendly alternative to commonly used salt products.
  • Use salt substitutes that are less harmful including Calcium Chloride (CaCl2) and Calcium Magnesium Acetate (CMA). For Calcium Chloride pellets, a handful for every 3 square yards is adequate.
  • For larger areas, apply salt as a brine solution to prevent drift off of paved surfaces.
  • After snow-melt, sweep up residues, including sand, to prevent it from washing into storm drains and streams.



DCNR has a website that will help you figure out what's harming your trees.
  • http://www.dcnr.state.pa.us/forestry/insectsdisease/index.htm.  If you think you have some of these problems, you can always contact your local Extension Service for help.

Whitpain's new Sustainability Coordinator focuses on Stormwater and plans some workshops.
  • Read the Ambler Gazette Article here.

Montgomery County Community College Plants trees and earns a bike friendly designation
  • The Pennsylvania Horticultural Society (PHS) donated 50 trees to Montgomery County Community College as part the organization's wide-ranging campaign to plant 1,200 trees throughout the five-county Philadelphia area. Students, faculty, staff and PHS volunteers planted 50 trees along Loop Road at the College's Central Campus on Nov. 14. Check out press coverage from The Reporter. 
  • Montgomery County Community College  joined Santa Monica College in October as the first community colleges in the country to achieve the bronze Bicycle Friendly University (BFU) designation from the League of American Bicyclists. Check out the College's biking promotional video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=teKxm7p86CM#t=12


How Clean, Green Is Your Food?
  • The Environmental Working Group has a new tool designed to help you decide which foods most closely match the way you want to spend your food dollars and feed your family. More than 80,000 foods are included in the tool, each rated by nutritional concerns, problematic ingredients, and processing (less is better). The lower a food's score, the better. The organization's web site also offers help finding local stores, co-ops, and farmers' markets, where you can buy clean, locally grown and produced, minimally processed foods that may not be offered at your supermarket.

.One more reason to switch from plastic
  • Where’s the world’s largest landfill? Texas? New York? China? Wrong. Try about 1,000 miles off the coast of California. Floating in the Pacific, near Hawaii, is an enormous plastic debris field twice the size of Texas called the Great Pacific Garbage Patch.  A place where you expect pristine beauty is instead a massive swath of swirling garbage, caught up in and held together by currents.  Most of it is plastic, floating bottles, fishing nets, and the like. This “swirling plastic cesspool” is fueled by debris from ocean vessels and garbage from the California coast. While plastic bottles from Pennsylvania are probably not ending up in the Great Garbage Patch, they are polluting our rivers and streams flowing into the Chesapeake Bay and Atlantic Ocean. Next time swap out your plastic with a reusable bottle. Get inspired to do so here.  This tip was posted in Seeds and you can sign-up for Seeds here. 

Help clean the world 
  • Ever feel wasteful after a stay at a hotel when you leave the bar of soap you only used a couple of times? Next time, bring a container and take the bar with you. You can either reuse it yourself at home, or gather up a quantity and ship it to Clean the World, an organization that distributes recycled soap products, along with appropriate educational materials, to impoverished countries worldwide and to domestic homeless shelters. Learn more at www.cleantheworld.org.  This tip was posted in Seeds and you can sign-up for Seeds here. You also may be interested in DCNR's newsletter, resource, or the Wild Resource Conservation Fund's newsletter, Keystone Wild!Notes.

 Keep Leaves out of Storm Drains 
  • As Autumn approaches, it is important to keep storm drains clear and clean.  The water that runs into storm drain systems is untreated and goes straight into our streams and creeks.  In order to keep drains clear, remember not to blow grass clippings or leaves into the street. Instead, bag them up for disposal or compost your leaves or grass clippings.  Additionally, sweep up yard debris instead of hosing down paved areas in order to prevent debris from running into storm sewers.  The debris can carry fertilizers and pesticides from your yard and deposit them in streams and neighboring creeks.  In addition to fall foliage and clippings, please keep storm drains free of household hazardous waste, fertilizers and pesticides, motor oil and other vehicle fluids, and pet waste.  For more information on how you can reduce stormwater pollution, visit Montgomery Township’s stormwater management page. 


Get inspired to do something good.  Watch how this man replanted an entire forest:  
http://www.onegreenplanet.org/news/indian-man-single-handedly-plants-entire-forest/  If you are feeling inspired to plant, Fall is the time.  Check out the iConservePA resource for native plants in your area: http://www.iconservepa.org/plantsmart/nativeplants/

Freshwater Mussels Reintroduced to Tacony Creek to help filter water,  http://philadelphia.cbslocal.com/2014/09/24/freshwater-mussels-reintroduced-to-tacony-creek/


Watch this Stormwater PA video that explains how stormwater management is creating jobs and workforce development in Philly.


Bring Back the Monarchs: FREE MILKWEEDS FOR SCHOOLS AND NON-PROFITS
  • Monarchs and pollinators need our help due to habitat loss. If your school or non-profit organization is interested in this conservation measure, this can help you create a habitat for monarchs and pollinators. Please apply using the form below. If your organization qualifies, they will provide a free flat of 32 milkweed plugs as well as guidance on how to create a new habitat or enhance an existing garden. The Natural Resources Defense Council (NRDC) has provided funds for this project.  Free Milkweeds for Schools and Non-Profits Application

Low income Bucks County residents can get free home energy audits and weatherization work!  Call 215-345-3309 for more info.


Choices for PA Energy Suppliers
  • If you can't put solar panels on your roof but still want to suport renewable energy, you have options.  Check out www.papowerswitch.com and click on the "Shop for Electricity" tab to review different options. If you want to purchase renewable energy, scroll down on the far right, check the "Renewable Energy" checkbox, and slide the slider over to "100% renewable." Once you click the "Renewable Energy" box, options will appear for "Renewable PA" or "Choose PA Wind."


Med-Return Box Available at Whitpain Township Building.  Keep prescription medications out of landfills and water supplies.
  • This Med-Return Unit is a secure box that has been installed in the Police Department lobby. This box will allow anyone to dispose of unwanted drugs at their convenience. There are certain restrictions as to what can be placed in the return box. Use the Med-Return box but please observe these guidelines.
  • Accepted Items: * Prescription Medication, * Prescription Patches, * Prescription Ointment, * Over-The-Counter Medications, * Samples, * Medications for Pets
  • Not Accepted: * Needles, * Hydrogen Peroxide, * Inhalers , * Aerosol Cans, * Medications from businesses or clinics, * Ointments, lotions, liquids, * Thermometers


Contact your local Master Gardeners for plant diagnostic problems
  • Need help identifying a disease or have a plant-related question?  Try this resource.  


PECO offers programs and rebates for energy savings in your home:  https://www.peco.com/Savings/ProgramsandRebates/Residential/Pages/default.aspx



System to report natural gas pollution events from the Clean Air Council


Looking to support your local farmer during the winter?

PECO offers programs and rebates for energy savings in your home:  https://www.peco.com/Savings/ProgramsandRebates/Residential/Pages/default.aspx

Searching for funding for your clean energy project? Look here.


System to report natural gas pollution events from the Clean Air Council




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