Posts Tagged Jordan Park
2010: The International Year of Biodiversity: At Jordan Park
Posted by Andrew Kleiner in Uncategorized on May 11, 2010
When I was walking around Jordan Park a few days ago with Doc, I did not know what year it was. Yes, I knew it was 2010 but I had no idea what particular significance 2010 holds. 2010 has been designated by the United Nations as an “International Year of Biodiversity”. A major component of this designation is a study on the state of the world’s ecosystems; the results of which have just been released. 
Before I get to that though, let me clarify what the word biodiversity means. The Fifth Edition of Botkin and Keller’s “Environmental Science” defines Biological Diversity as follows”
"Used loosely to mean the variety of life on the Earth, but scientifically typically used to consist of three components: (1) genetic diversity- the total number of genetic characteristics; (2) species diversity; and (3) habitat or ecosystem diversity- the number of kinds of habitats or ecosystems in a given unit area.”
Now, the study commissioned by the UN, concludes the following according to CNN:
In other words, the ecosystems of Earth are up the creek without a paddle. The study sites specific examples of areas in extremely dire straits but the results make abundantly clear that nearly every ecosystem on earth is at this very moment, in danger.
So, what exactly does a walk around Jordan Park have to do with a global ecological collapse that would be tantamount to Armageddon? Simply put, everything. At this very moment, in Jordan Park, right here in Allentown Pennsylvania, the entirety of the world’s ecological crisis is in full view.
A long long time ago, the current site of Jordan Park was once a wetland. (Allentown City Council documents from 1976 confirm this) From existing in its natural state Jordan Park has been drained, made into a lake, drained and filled in and made into the park we see today. If my post ended right here, enough ecological issues would be raised to write a thesis. There is however, much more.
Besides the concreted stream banks with zero vegetative buffering, the ancient remnants of the age of Jordan Lake remain at their worst acting as a “bridge” across Jordan Creek near the center of the park. Here, the crisis of biodiversity in Jordan Park starts to become readily apparent. By damming the Jordan, and creating a situation in stark contrast to naturally occurring creek conditions, algae growth, sediment, and excess nutrients steep in a slow draining pool of polluted filth for the majority of the year at Jordan Park. By existing in such a state, the necessary organic components of the stream’s food web are eliminated. The number of species drops. The amount of remaining species drops. Algae becomes the single dominant species. Biodiversity is destroyed. 
Further on up the stream, a vegetative buffer has been allowed to grow. An idle glance from a passer by would see numerous plants, flowers, grasses etc and in all likelihood, that passerby would not think that biodiversity was a problem in that location. This readers, is the big problem. You see, a dark turbulent water body doesn’t look right to anyone. The green stuff does. One year ago, I would have thought that the buffer at Jordan Park was just fine.
As it turns out, the buffer at Jordan park is full of invasive species. From the seemingly benign creeping buttercup to the terrible huge Japanese Knotweed. (The picture below shows Doc standing in front of the knotweed so you can see just how large it is already in early May) 
These invasive species are rapid colonizers that outcompete native plants for the necessary nutrients needed to survive. In doing so, they eliminate native plants and become the dominant species. The plants that are eliminated by the invasives are the primary food sources for native animals, birds, insects and fish. Like algae in the water, as the invasive plants become dominant, biodiversity is destroyed. 
Of course, the invasive threat is not just going on in Jordan Park. Invasive plant species have begun to spread throughout many of our parks. Since this is the year of Biodiversity, there is no better time to begin educating folks about invasive species. We can do little to save the Amazonian rainforest here in Allentown. We can however work to begin the necessary changes in our ecosystems to preserve biodiversity.
My Opinion: Jordan Park Rant
Posted by Andrew Kleiner in Uncategorized on December 2, 2009
Looking at Jordan Park during different seasons doesn’t change the ever present problems facing the Jordan creek there. In the springtime, and now, water of various colors (all of them unhealthy) usually pours over the bridge/dam and impedes travel to the other side of the park.
During my visit, the excess of algae growth from the summer was being ripped up from the creek floor and poured over the dam in sickly gray splashes.
What is left from summer’s scum was accumulated alongside a long branch against the dam/bridge.
What a glaringly obvious mess this is. If I have made one thing clear these past few months it is that the priorities of the impassioned park “defenders” here in Allentown are in fact skewed, just as the priorities of the renovation plans for our park system are skewed. This mess at Jordan Park, since it has yet to be addressed, needs addressing now. The longer the situation exists as it does the worse it will get.
One of the recurring themes of the Cedar Beach argument over the summer was the idea that “since the parks were fine for eighty years, they should be just fine now.” That argument was wrong in June, it is wrong in December and it will continue to be wrong unless the poor circumstances are fixed or parks like Jordan Park are allowed to degrade further and lose all semblance of ecosystem and environmental sustainability. Just look at the pictures or take a walk in Jordan Park and I dare you to tell me that things are acceptable as they are. Things do need changing and improvement throughout our park system and now is the time for that improvement to focus on the issues at Jordan Park. 
When spring comes round again in a few months, it is my hope that a plan will have been introduced and movement begun to correct this glaring issue. In the current publication of Adventure Allentown, Mayor Pawlowski states that our parks are envied, and he is right. I hope he knows that what is envied is being lost and lost rapidly at Jordan Park. 
See Also:
My Plan for Jordan Park
I knew it was bad in the creek at Jordan Park but?
Posted by Andrew Kleiner in Uncategorized on September 10, 2009
I have documented the current state of Jordan park on this blog a few times:
Sunset Observation at Jordan Park
Jordan Park: Yikes
I must say, despite its condition, I never would have believed the story I saw in the Morning Call today. The headline reads: ” Allentown officers catch alligator sunning itself along Jordan Creek.” You can click on that to read the full story.
Yep.
An alligator.
In Jordan park.
Before I go any further I must confess my first thought when I read the article on mcall.com. I thought very simply, “Wonderful.” That wonderful was uttered with serious sarcasm.
You see, folks around here are still worried about scores of poisonous snakes that will descend upon the parks like a Biblical plague of locusts if we let the grass grow, let alone establish Riparian Buffers. I am sure, that at some point in the coming months with the Riparian installation taking place at Cedar Beach Parkway, someone will tell me that there are alligators in our parks.
I understand that those pictures do not lie. There was a huge freaking alligator at Jordan Park. The gator however, was not a natural resident. Somebody, somewhere had that bad boy in their personal possession at some point and it escaped.
I am also genuinely sad I missed the chance to see that. I spent a good two weeks over the summer in our parks every day for hours trying to document the living presence of snakes and I could barely find a few garters, let alone a huge freaking gator chilling by the creek.
My Plan for Jordan Park
Posted by Andrew Kleiner in Uncategorized on August 27, 2009
As I explained in my post, Andrew Kleiner and his blog, I sort of stumbled into this park business. I have always been a frequent visitor to the parks but I had never been a reporter on them. There are two specific memories I always revisit when I make my visits. The first is of my father and of being a young kid as wide eyed as the skin on my face would allow at the sight of a dragonfly or a crawfish my dad managed to find in the creek. The second is of a day camp ,that my memory is a little fuzzy on. My parents enlisted me in some sort of summer camp at Cedar Beach where we explored the creek and I can say my love for the science of nature truly began there.
I bring this up in this post because I think that they are both applicable to Jordan Park because of the fact the neither of these experiences is currently available at Jordan Park and they absolutely should be.
No secret has been made of my disdain for the current state of Jordan Park. It is with this post that I will propose what I think should be included in the master plan currently being created for it.
The first thing I would like to see done is the complete removal of the stone walls that currently channel the creek and stretch its width and inflate its depth. Part of this process should include the removal of the bridge/dam that is currently present there. I have posted many photographs and documented the stagnation of water that occurs there due to the bridge. These stone walls outlived their purpose many years ago, it is time for them to go.
Following the removal of the stone edifices, I would like to see the streambanks restored and large spanning riparian buffers installed. Alongside of the buffers, I would like to see signage created that would show park-goers the plants, animals and fish are present in the park. The connection that I made with my father, and with that day camp can slowly start to be made for children in the park with some signs. We need only to point people in the right direction. Some will follow, not all, but it is for the some that follow that the opportunity needs to exist. They will not find it elsewhere.
With whatever stones are salvageable from the removal of the creek walls, a W.P.A memorial should be created in Jordan Park. It could offer a brief history of what was done in Allentown during that time and as there are no other such memorials in our park system; it is something needed to be done.
Through the buffer zone which should stretch from the creek’s edge to the paved path, a trail should be established that would allow people to really explore the wildlife habitat these areas create. It is the chance that by doing this that a moment could be given to someone who without this chance would not have it. Imagine the reaction of kids who grew up in center city Allentown when they see their first Egret? General Trexler will surely crack a smile wherever he is.
Existing recreational facilities can be upgraded but that area of Jordan Park is in far better shape than the area surrounding the creek. Jordan Park could be the example we set for how future parks in Allentown are developed. It is not these renovations that I propose that alone will turn things around in Jordan Park.
Community Centers, YMCAs, Boy Scouts, etc., need to develop programs in the park to really utilize what could be created down there. In an hour we could provide a visitor with a genuine wildlife experience while at the same time exposing them to a history that is fading quickly from general knowledge and needs to be acknowledged.
These brief suggestions barely touch the surface of what is possible in Jordan Park. It was one of our first parks and should serve as a leader again. I have included no pictures in this post but I do encourage you to see Jordan park. Click on the link to the right or, even better, take a journey there yourself. It will probably be the first time you have gone in awhile. As it stands, there isn’t much worth seeing down there but possibility. It’s the possibility that makes this park worth it…
Perhaps I can convince my father to go find crayfish there sometime soon but I don’t think we will find many.
Sunset Observation at Jordan Park
Posted by Andrew Kleiner in Uncategorized on August 18, 2009
I have detailed in a previous post the sorry state the creek at Jordan Park is in. The creek is not the only thing suffering along Sumner Avenue. The fledgling riparian buffer has nearly lost itself to Purple Loosestrife.
I believe this buffer zone has been created by allowing it to just grow without direct maintenance. For as necessary as it is to have these buffers alongside our creeks; it is also as necessary to observe and maintain what grows in them. The riparian buffer south of the Rose Garden in Cedar Beach Parkway was just mowed for that very reason.
All of our parks are human experimentation in controlling nature. As we design these civilized slices of the wild world, we must in turn make certain that what we have used nature to create is what nature herself intended. I am happy that what was done recently to Cedar Beach was done, but there are still invasive species remaining there that must be removed.
Without question, Jordan Park is in a bad way. One hundred years ago a marshland was turned into a giant pond and subsequent WPA projects turned it into a recreational park. Jordan needs help. In the most recent Adventure Allentown publication, Jordan Park is mentioned as having a master plan being developed for it. I look forward to seeing what the master plan entails. I hope it focuses on a revitalized sense of environmental responsibility and care for the natural way that Jordan Park is intended to be. It will not be feasible to return Jordan Park to the marsh that it once was but as I said above, it is our duty as stewards to get it as close as possible. The same goes for all our parks.
If we consider the mowed grass expanses the way our parks should be, we are wrong. Reconstructive work needs to be done and it needs to be done soon. I am excited to see the plan. Even now, there is work being done. Some trees have recently been planted:
See Also:
Jordan Park: Yikes
Invasive Species 2: Purple Loosestrife
Jordan Park: Yikes.
Posted by Andrew Kleiner in Uncategorized on August 5, 2009
These are the days for swimming. Not a dog day passes that you can’t see a kid wading in one of the streams in our city parks. Now I must ask you, would you like to see your child to swim in this?
That is the Jordan creek at our Jordan Park. That is the area that is deep enough to act as a swimming hole for local residents. That is disgusting.
Long ago, the area where our Jordan Park now sits was once a swamp. As our park system was developing in the early 1900’s, the Jordan creek was dammed and the swamp was turned into a man made lake. That lake served as Allentown’s swimming pool for many years before the dam was removed and Jordan Park was turned into the park we see today.
The echoes of that lake are still present at Jordan Park in the channeled stream that exists there. As much as certain WPA projects in our parks need to be preserved, this relic needs to be removed.
These days our park system and proposed renovations and improvements have become quite the hot button issue. With all the fire that city council meetings, facebook and blogs have to offer, a fight has begun to rage over the Cedar Beach Parkway renovation plan. I ask you, my readers, do you not think it important that this water way in our park is in the condition it is in? We need the same spirit that is fueling the debate over Cedar Beach to bring attention to problems like this.
I believe it to be of the utmost importance that the situation in Jordan Park is remedied whether a playground is installed at Cedar Beach or not. If it is installed I hope that Jordan Park is high on the list of parks that need renovation next. The pictures don’t lie. Kids are swimming in that water. I didn’t want to dip a toe into it. Let’s get the fire burning for Jordan Park. Something needs to be done.
Allentown Park Log 13: Jordan Park
Posted by Andrew Kleiner in Uncategorized on June 19, 2009
Jordan Park is one of the first completed WPA projects in Allentown and with the construction of Fountain Park were the beginnings of the WPA effort that has come to define our city park system. Nearly eighty years after, Jordan Park remains a frequently used park and wonderful asset to the city of Allentown.
On the morning of my visit the park was buzzing with activity. Folks were playing basketball, baseball, walking their dogs, and some were just relaxing.
Jordan Park is located directly alongside the Jordan Creek off of Sumner Avenue just along the edge of Allentown and Whitehall. It is hard to miss the park driving along Sumner with the baseball diamond clearly visible and the WPA stone walls alongside the creek easily seen in the distance.
The foot bridge had fallen to the recent rains:
The thing about Jordan Park that surprised me today was some construction efforts going on inside the park. There are bare patches near to the gravel path that look as if they are about to be replanted with trees and bushes; which are a good combination to help ease erosion:
Farther along, something very curious is going on. There are a line of Willow trees following alongside a wide patch of mud. Willow trees usually grow directly creek side and most of our parks based around creeks can attest to it.
These guys are also growing in a way that make it seem that at one time the Jordan creek was either much wider at this point or that a very marshy area existed between these trees and the creek.
This mud patch is apparently part of whatever reconstruction is going on down there. A riparian buffer looks as if it is being created directly along the edges of the creek.
Freshwater shellfish?
Driving home, I pulled a u-turn at Home Depot and discovered that the grassy area next to the Jordan over there was completely dug up and construction equipment was present. I have no idea if that was in any way related to whatever may be going on in Jordan Park but it certainly was an eyebrow raising thing to see.
Jordan Park remains a great destination for residents of the city of Allentown. If anyone knows what is going on down there, let me know. The history in our parks is inescapable. The effects of the WPA still stand today, and here in one of the parks they first created they do not go unnoticed or forgotten.
