Kleiner's Blog

Driving home yesterday, after the tour had ended, truthfully – I felt pretty pumped.  I had just spent two and a half hours sharing whatever knowledge I could offer with some of the smartest, most informed, and genuinely wonderful people I know.  We walked, we talked, some spoke, some listened – everyone learned.  We learned about the Parkway, about the flora, the fauna, we learned about ecology, about community, and we learned about each other. 

I eagerly joined the EAC once nominated and voted on in order to more forcefully exercise my dedication to the parks system and the environment here in Allentown.  My fellow EAC members and Sunday afternoon tour guides, Dave and Karen are two of the brightest folks I have had the pleasure of meeting.  I am lucky to be on a Council with minds like these, and I have much to learn from them.  Yesterday afternoon, Dave spoke of the purpose of lime kilns, of stream restoration, and many other topics of concern.
 
Karen showed us the life of bloodworm larva, squirming to ease their starvation of oxygen.

I want to thank Karen and Dave for joining me as tour guides and for providing an afternoon full of information for everyone who came out to walk. 

Mike Gilbert, the watershed specialist for the city of Allentown and a parks department worker in the Lehigh Parkway since 1984 came along for the journey.

Mike provided the insight of an informed veteran and the knowledge of a man who had spent twenty years working hard to maintain a vital natural space.  A big thank you to Mike for coming out yesterday and for the hard work and dedication he has given to the city of Allentown.  Mike is a great guy.

Claudia, from the Rose Garden Neighborhood Association joined us as well.  Claudia has a knowledge of botany that I will forever be envious of and we were lucky to have her along.

In front of these people, I must confess feeling quite nervous opening my mouth.  I hope I was able to provide some good information and my beard wasn’t too distracting. 

Now, I must thank my parents, Matt, Jerista, Katie, Mike Molovinsky, John and Harris for coming out yesterday and taking a walk with us.

In addition to conversation regarding “Grow Zones”

riparian buffers, invasive species,

and the length of riparian buffers (25ft should be considered a mandatory minimum),

we were able to see beautiful wildlife; both dead like this catbird and brown trout,

and alive like this heron and tree swallow.

(I should stop here and thank Katie for helping me take pictures.  She did a great job, as you all can see)

The unofficial tour guide for the day was young Harris.

He also called me “Professor” and I happened to like the ring of it although I am not one at the moment.  I certainly hope he can see the future.  (Maybe it was just my beard, I mean, Doc is a professor after all and he has a pretty good one)

The sun had just broken through the clouds and the threat of rain that I had feared would ruin the walk was completely dissipated.  After spending many hours soaked or bloody or stung or half-frozen throughout the wild spaces of the Lehigh Valley, it was never more apparent to me as it was yesterday that experiencing nature together with others – sharing awe, wonder, curiosity, concern, etc – is vital to our human existence.

We are after all, mammals and as such, permanent members of the natural community despite Facebook and I-Phones.  There was no place I would have rather been yesterday afternoon and there are no people I would have rather spent my time with.  For those who missed it, I am sure that if you hadn’t you would feel the same way.  Do not worry though, there are more events like this to come.  You can make the next one.

Again, Thank you Karen, Dave, Claudia, Mike G, Mike M, Jerista, Matt, Katie, John, Harris and my parents. 

Late last evening I sent Katie a text message asking her to tell me what she thought about the afternoon in a sentence or two.  She sent me the following: “I thought it was really eye opening and this coming from the perspective of a suburbanite who lives next to a creek and sees herons everyday; but its true, the closer you look, the more there is to see.”  Katie is right.  We saw a lot yesterday and I am incredibly grateful for it.  Our tour of two hours barely touched the tip of the ecological iceberg in the Lehigh Parkway.  There are very serious issues – sediment build up, stream bank erosion, invasive species, loss of wildlife habitat, soil compaction, over-mowing, etc- that one afternoon will simply not highlight all of them.  This is a journey of learning and such an event as the one I am proud to say I held yesterday really helps continue that journey along.

We cannot solve the problems in one afternoon.  We can however begin the conversation that will see these problems addressed.  This really is just the beginning readers and there was no better place for it than the Lehigh Parkway.  The old stone of the WPA construction let all of us know exactly what can be done when a bunch of people put their heads, hearts and hands together and work to make a difference.  i hope to see you next time if you couldn’t make it yesterday.  If you did, I look forward to seeing you again.