My intention with this third part of the Lehigh Parkway examination was to write a piece similar in spirit to the Park Logs I wrote in 2009. Unfortunately, what I stumbled upon in the Lehigh Parkway yesterday will not afford me the opportunity to do that. I began the walk at Bogarts’s Bridge and was greeted with usual sights of heavily mown grass, severely eroded creek banks and the occasional area of riparian growth.
As I walked onwards towards the looming I-78 bridge, the stream bank began to look rather peculiar. I left the Bridle Path to see what was going on down there and what greeted me defies any logical explanation I could possibly proffer here on the blog. Initially, I thought I had just come across an isolated pile of discarded concrete, asphalt and broken rock from some random construction project. Below is the picture I took when I thought that was the story… until I turned my head left.
Now, when I turned my head I saw that this pile of rock was not isolated to the area beneath my feet. The entirety of the stream bank here, all the way until it rejoined the path under the bridge was like this. I cannot relay to you in simple English how bad this is for the ecosystem here in the park. The entire area looks like some scene of the LA River in Terminator 2. What happened here?!?
Ok, so that was one of the worst things I have ever found in the Parks. Seriously, Really? Whatever, I was walking on and hoping to find something surprising like I had found the previous day. There is a spring alongside the path here just past the bridge and the ecologic abomination
.
I crossed the creek and headed back and then, it happened again. This time instead of it being a stream bank it was one of the many springs in the Parkway. In previous visits to this part of the Parkway, I always looked forward to seeing the running springs hiding under thick vegetation. I dig springs. In 2012, any lush spring recess that was present at this site is long gone and completely obliterated. This was an awful thing to stumble on. That water is seriously dirty as well. (Compare this spring to the one I have shown above – the one that is literally 300 yards away)
Then, back under the bridge more of the stone sights that greeted me on the other side. (Why?)
Is this a literal rock bottom for ecology in the parks in 2012? I really hope it is. I am glad to know that there are a lot of good things happening right in the very same place that I found these monstrosities. It does not ease there damage or even begin to repair it. The good things I posted about are what I hope turn out to be the beacons of the future as far as our park system goes. If what I have shown you in this post is the future of our parks, we will lose them. These sights are truly unbelievable.
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There is a Litter Pick-Up coming up on Feb 25th at Cedar Creek Parkway
