Kleiner's Blog

Environmental Education and outreach

The purpose of these events is to get people out into Nature, to study their surroundings and learn about the major issues affecting the health of the ecosystem around them. These walks are frequently joined by special guest speakers who range from local environmental leaders to student activists of the Lehigh Valley.

1. Walk in the Park July 12th 2009

This was the very first event I organized through Remember.  A small group of folks journeyed through an area of the Little Lehigh Parkway where a wetland restoration project had been attempted.  Click here for the post that covered this event!
2. Trexler Park, August 1st 2009

The formation of the entire park system of the city of Allentown can be credited to General Harry Trexler.  This walk was a historical tour of the General’s old homestead, a look at the first riparian restoration in the Allentown park system and a conversation about the ecological management techniques that should be used to keep the legacy of Allentown’s park system preserved. Click here for the post that covered this event!

3. Lunch at Cedar Creek Parkway, August 30th 2009

A group of folks got together one warm late summer afternoon to take a look at the construction projects going on in Cedar Creek Parkway.  FOlks had fun too though, playing frisbee and relaxing in the grass! Click here for the post that covered this event!

4. Cedar Beach Picnic – June 6th 2010

I organized this event with local food blogger Jaime K.  She even catered it! This remains one of my most popular/successful and all around fun events.  There was also a bad thunderstorm and a brief flood. Check out the multitude of pictures here and read the story!

5. Allentown EAC tour of the Lehigh Parkway – May 23rd 2010

With other members of the Allentown Environmental Advisory Council and the watershed superintendent of the city of Allentown, I led a tour and discussion of the new conservation areas in the park.  Click here for the story!

6. Allentown EAC Hike on South Mountain – July 11th 2010

This was a pretty big and fun event.  Along with me and fellow EAC member Dr.David McGuire, we were joined by Lehigh County Conservation District watershed specialist Rebecca Kennedy and local naturalist/botanist Claudia Steckel for a conversation on the future of South Mountain and possible management strategies. We had an interesting encounter with some individuals and a fire.  Read the recap and see the pics here!

7. Allentown EAC – Invasive Species Study at Trout Creek Parkway

What was meant to be an instructional session on identifying invasive species and learning what makes them invasive, turned into an impromptu litter pick up complete with me climbing into a creek and dragging a shopping cart out.  Read the story here!

8. Cedar Beach Parkway: Ecological Examination – September 12th 2010

What a day this was! Allentown EAC members, faculty from the Chemistry, Environmental Science and Biology departments of Muhlenberg College and members of both the Biology Club and EnACT from Muhlenberg joined forces to present a through consideration of ecology and best management practice.  Here is the link to the post. (Videos included!) 

9. South Mountain Hike with Bill Sweeney May 2011

Forester, Naturalist and all around amazing guy, Bill Sweeney led a guided informational hike through the woods on South Mountain.  Check out the post here!

10. Ecologic Discussion at Cedar Creek Parkway –  September 2011 

Joined by fellow research scientists Ron and Jenny, I led a walk through Cedar Creek Parkway.  Jenny discussed bee ecology. Ron discussed the amphibian decline spreading across the globe and I took a look at my own research plot right there in the park!
Check out the story here!!

Ecologic Stewardship

The most important thing we can do once we learn how to take care of the precious green spaces around us is to become active in doing so.  Over the last few years I have been a co-sponsor, promoter, volunteer and organizer of many such events in all kinds of settings throughout the City of Allentown.  Check them all out below!

1. Old Fairgrounds Clean-Up – November 8th 2009

This event was organized by The Friends of the Allentown Parks and focused on a pick up and beautification of a highly used urban park.  The best part of the day was the amount of eager kids from the neighborhood that came out (more and more as the day progressed) and worked hard to clean up their park. Click here for the post that covered this event!

2. Planting the Riparian Buffer at Cedar Beach Parkway – October 2009

This project meant a lot to me as the ecologic restoration of this park became a major focus of my life as I started writing Remember.  The event was planned by Dr. Pattishall from the Wildlands Conservancy and served as the foundational basis for a slow and building process of restoration throughout the park system.  Click here for the post that covered this event!

3. Bucky Boyle Park Clean Up – May 9th 2010

Hands down, this remains the favorite thing I have done since beginning my odyssey here on the blog. I’m not going to spoil anything here – you have got to read this one, it is an amazing story about an incredible afternoon.  Click here to read the great story!

4. The War on Purple Loosestrife – Summer 2010
While I ran a series of posts on this active campaign, I think that all I need to say is in the following video made during the battles against this invasive menace:

5, Lehigh Parkway Clean-Up – January 2012

With members of Muhlenberg College’s EnACT, Allentown EAC councilpersons and a variety of others, we were able to remove a fallen tree and large piles of assorted debris left in the wake of an unusually stormy autumn. Check out the story here!