Green thumbs-up for FDR Park

Beyond the manicured lawns, placid lakes and newly constructed tennis courts at FDR Park lies dense, unkempt woodlands.

Trees and overgrown brush teeming with weeds encroach upon the user-friendly sections of the 330-acre park at Broad Street and Pattison Avenue.

It is here that 11 members of an AmeriCorps National Civilian Community Corps team of volunteers from across the country converged Tuesday morning, armed with green plastic trash bags and industrial-sized gardening tools.

Georgette Wolz, 24, from Chamois, Mo., and the other volunteers began an ecological and trail restoration project May 5 in several city parks that operate under the control of the Fairmount Park Commission.

A recent graduate of Drury University in Springfield, Mo., Wolz grew up on her father’s farm and loves the outdoors. "I picked a lot of weeds in my time," she said with a smile.

The park project, which runs through June 28, is funded by a grant from Washington D.C.-based NCCC to carry out a seven-week natural lands restoration mission in Fairmount Park. The FDR portion of the project runs through this week.

Earlier this year, the Fairmount Park Commission applied to AmeriCorps NCCC for a grant to improve the green space that accounts for 10 percent of the city’s land mass, said program organizer and Fairmount Park Commission director of stewardship Kate Lapszynski.

As director, Lapszynski, of 13th and Moore streets, acts as liaison between the park and community groups and other nonprofits who contribute to its overall survival.

THE GRANT THAT the Fairmount Park Commission received was manpower – not monetary, she pointed out.

The process was very competitive, and the city organization, which oversees 9,200 acres of parkland, was the only one in the country to get a team of volunteers for seven weeks, said the director.

"We thought it would be a wonderful opportunity to bring this team here to work in the park to supplement the work that park staff is doing," said Lapszynski.

The NCCC team, whose members hail from as far as Los Angeles and North Dakota, is concentrating its efforts on watershed parks like FDR. Also known as estuary parks, area watershed parks drain into the Delaware River. Estuary parks face greater risks than manmade parks, said Lapszynski. Storm water drainage, erosion of trails and invasive plants are among the greatest threats.

A lot of plant material in the Fairmount Park system is not native to this area and therefore deemed invasive, the director explained.

Wolz and her coworkers have been working in FDR Park since Tuesday, focusing mostly on invasive plant removal.

They also are maintaining existing plants by mulching and pruning.

And in years to come, when 200 new trees and shrubs have sprouted in FDR Park, South Philly residents can thank this group for having planted them.

Before FDR Park, the young people dedicated their time to Cobbs Creek Park in West Philly and Fairmount Park by the Philadelphia Museum of Art.

While a green thumb or a background in ecology is not a requirement for this project, most of the team members are avid outdoor types.

"It’s a very diverse group," said Lapszynski. "They have a broad spectrum of interests. These are all young people who really enjoy being outdoors. It’s great because you hear so much negativity about young people today. They just really want to get in there and roll their sleeves up and tackle any projects that come along."

Fairmount Park Commission stewardship coordinator Tom Dougherty, who is supervising the gardening effort, also is impressed with the volunteers.

"These guys are really an inspiration for me," he said. "Their idealism is really alive and they want to try and change the world."

THE NCCC TEAM of project volunteers has been together since October. Previous projects include working with the Potomac Conservancy, Habitat for Humanity and the Federal Emergency Management Agency to provide disaster relief for hurricane victims in Florida and West Virginia. Volunteers sign on for a 10-month stint with NCCC.

After a semester of college, Colin Campbell, 19, of Tullahoma, Tenn., dropped out because his heart just wasn’t in it. Rather than waste his time and his parents’ money, the teen decided to join NCCC to find purpose and meaning, he said.

"I’m more motivated. I just have a different perspective on things now," Campbell said, adding that he’s excited about starting classes at the University of Tennessee this fall.

"We really made an impact on a lot of people’s lives across the country and they are appreciative of what we are trying to accomplish," said 24-year-old NCCC team leader and Montana resident Piper Castor.

"I really enjoy what I’m doing. The team is fantastic, they are smart and they have had time to grow. It gives me a lot of pride to see them develop in the last 10 months," she said.

This fall, Castor will finish her undergraduate degree in psychology at University of Wisconsin.

Most of her fellow volunteers have college degrees and are doing a stint with the community-service group before furthering their education or diving into the working world.

While the city is reaping what the NCCC team is sowing, the relationship is not one-sided. The Fairmount Park Commission has arranged free passes for the volunteers to go the Philadelphia Zoo, the Mann Center for the Performing Arts and the Philadelphia Museum of Art.

The team is staying at the Cedars House in the Wissahickon Valley. There, they share kitchen duties and other chores.

"It’s been very enjoyable. We’ve met wonderful people. We have great people who we work with [Fairmount Park Commission] who are very passionate about what they are doing," Castor said.

She and her team feel they’ve made an impact on Philadelphia and they’ll leave with a sense of accomplishment and satisfaction.

"We’ve done a lot," Castor said. "I think we’ve impacted by taking out invasive plants and planting trees that will grow in years to come."