UpstreamPgh Fall 2022 Newsletter

Fall 2022 Newsletter

Image credit: Chris Zurawsky, August 2022

A Letter from our Executive Director

Dear UpstreamPgh Community,

It’s been an eventful year for UpstreamPgh, watershed residents, and the greater East End of Pittsburgh with the collapse of the Fern Hollow Bridge into Frick Park in January. The reaction by the City and State to cleanup and secure the site was nothing short of inspiring. We quickly learned that PennDOT was going to manage the rebuild process and intended to have a new bridge operational by the end of the year. As you can see by the front cover of this newsletter, that goal is on target, with concrete footers and structural steel beams already installed. If all goes as planned, vehicles, bicycles, and pedestrians will be traveling over top of the Fern Hollow Valley in a few short months.

While tragic, this incident provides an opportunity to reimagine traditional infrastructure. How can a bridge be rebuilt so that it addresses both environmental and transportation justice? How can we ensure that all types of people are involved in the planning and ultimate use of the bridge and park beneath it? What would it mean for the Fern Hollow Valley to be integrated into the Fern Hollow Bridge in such a way that the two aren’t separate but a model of climate equity and resilient infrastructure?

We’ve been busy in 2022 attempting to sort out all of these questions. Our first step was to gather a group of like-minded stakeholders to help us think through a strategy and vision. This group formally became the Fern Hollow Collective and includes environmental and transportation nonprofits and surrounding neighborhood associations. Our focus as UpstreamPgh has been to amplify the importance of Frick Park and the Fern Hollow Valley in the restoration process. It is our vision to restore the area underneath the bridge and for the entire Fern Hollow Valley to be more ecologically thriving than it was prior to the collapse.

Through working with partners like the Office for Public Art, we are going back to our roots and utilizing the arts as a focus for planning and engagement as we did for the Nine Mile Run restoration. This is a once in a generation project and a chance for Pittsburgh and our watershed to showcase nationally how modern infrastructure can be inclusive, equitable, and regenerative.

Sincerely, Mike Hiller Executive Director UpstreamPgh

BOARD OF DIRECTORS

Claudia Saladin Board President Senior Project Manager, evolve environment::architecture

Yvonne James Board Vice President Owner, James Floral

Ana Bennett, EIT Board Secretary

Associate Project Manager, Pittsburgh Water & Sewer Authority

Robin Ryan, CPA Board Treasurer Grossman Yanak and Ford

Louis Ammon Laboratory & Compliance Manager, Wilkinsburg Penn Joint Water Authority

Douglas Baker Attorney, Jones Day

Our Staff & Board Fall 2022

Tom Batroney P.E.

Senior Technical Director, AKRF

Dan Cody

Director of Leadership & Legacy Giving, Humane Animal Rescue of Pittsburgh

Christopher Corbett

Senior Housing Planner, Department of City Planning, City of Pittsburgh

Marion Divers

Senior Staff Scientist, Drummond Carpenter

Scott Fingal

Principal & Co-Owner, Behar-Fingal Graphic Design

Adam Kidane

GIS Asset Management Specialist, ALCOSAN

Zinna Scott

Community Volunteer, Board Member, Operation Better Block

Janis Tucker

Senior Vice President, PNC Financial Services Group

UPSTREAMPGH STAFF

Mike Hiller

Executive Director

Kelsey Small Chief Financial Officer

Jan Raether

Watershed Programs Manager

Lindsey-Rose Flowers Community Engagement Manager

Leslie Centola Community Organizer

Amy Milo

Development & Communications Manager

Aaron Birdy Watershed Programs Coordinator

Taylor Wilkerson Operations Manager

Keith Moore

Ecosystems Program Assistant

CONSULTANTS

Shannon Bennett Controller, Clover Bennett Consulting

Kelly Ogrodnik Landscape Architect

Come Join Our Board!

UpstreamPgh is currently seeking new board members to join our passionate group of volunteers that help oversee the organization. If you have an interest in the work that we do and want to get involved in healing our planet, or have benefited from our programming in any way, please consider joining our board of directors. UpstreamPgh board members serve three-year terms and provide the organization with support on functions like governance, finances, technical resources, and executive functions.

We welcome diverse applicants and hope to attract board members that reflect the communities that we work within. While any applicants are welcome, we are growing our programming in key areas and are especially seeking artists, social workers, and community organizers. If you are a watershed resident that is great, but not a requirement. The only requirement is that you are interested in our work and willing to contribute resources to our organization.

If anyone is interested in joining our board, please email our Executive Director, Mike Hiller, at mike@upstreampgh.org.

Upstream & Beyond Projects & Programming Highlights

The Wilkinsburg Stormwater Resiliency Project written by Jan Raether

UpstreamPgh is proudly moving forward towards construction of our first Climate Resilient Infrastructure project and it will be built in Wilkinsburg. Since early 2020, UpstreamPgh has been developing plans to retrofit two of Wilkinsburg’s municipal parking lots with Green Stormwater Infrastructure, alongside other upgrades like LED lighting, electric vehicles (EV) charging stations, bicycle racks, and a new bus shelter. With plans complete, a contractor selected, and the final hurdles cleared, construction will soon begin on Phase I at the Wallace Avenue and South Avenue Parking Lots.

The Wilkinsburg parking lots, which are the largest publicly-owned paved surface in the watershed, were identified as a high impact project for stormwater capture. By removing the raised medians from the parking lots and replacing them with sunken swales and rain gardens, UpstreamPgh will manage up to 2 million gallons of stormwater annually, removing it completely or reducing peaks during storms.

Rather than flowing directly into the storm sewer, rain water will be intercepted in the swales and gardens where water can infiltrate or be taken up by plants and trees. The additional water and room to grow will help these trees thrive and eventually provide shade and reduce the urban heat island effect in Wilkinsburg business district. Plants will include native species well adapted for wet conditions and the potentially harsh urban environment while still providing seasonal visual interest and forage for birds and insects.

Further parking lot improvements planned in partnership with Wilkinsburg Borough and Duquesne Light include new perimeter lighting and the replacement of parking meters with parking kiosks. While Phase I of the project includes all of Wallace Avenue parking lot and a portion of the South Avenue Parking Lot north of South Avenue Methodist Church, UpstreamPgh will be working with the Borough to secure additional funding for Phase 2 which will complete the retrofit of South Avenue parking lot and hopefully include additional enhancements like EV charging stations and bicycle racks.

The project is paid for in large part by the Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protections Growing Greener Grant Program, Heinz Endowments, and Colcom Foundation.

Rain Gardens in Franklin Park Borough written by Mike Hiller

We are excited to announce our partnership with Franklin Park Borough to provide residential stormwater solutions to properties with issues of flooding. In early 2022 we worked with the Borough Manager and Council in Franklin Park to develop a program that would utilize their Coronavirus State and Local Fiscal Recovery Funds through the American Rescue Plan Act (ARPA). The Borough designated a set amount of funding to assist homeowners in remediating stormater runoff issues caused by legacy land use development and hilly topography. Our Plan/Build team will provide stormwater site assessments and landscape designs to homeowners subsidized by the ARPA funds. It is our goal to work with up to 15 homeowners through the remainder of 2022 and 2023.

To date we’ve consulted with four adjacent properties dealing with some serious backyard flooding. The rain accumulates at the top of a hill on the first property and sheet flows downhill through the other three properties. Our solutions for this issue include a connected system of rain gardens, bioswales, and bioretention areas connected back into the storm sewer system.

Climate Equity: Our New Community Organizer & the CJC written by Leslie Centola & Mike Hiller

As we continue our transformation into UpstreamPgh, the vision for our work is a people-first approach to clean water and climate resiliency. The foundation for this work began with our 2019 NMR Environmental Equity Study, the adoption of our organization’s Climate Equity Principles, and then the Negley Run Environmental Equity Study. All of these efforts informed the work we’ve undertaken with the Climate Justice Collaborative (CJC). For the past two years, Leslie Centola, MSW, coordinated the CJC as an intern from the University of Pittsburgh’s School of Social Work. During her internship she worked with the three watershed environmental justice communities of Wilkinsburg, Homewood, and East Hills.

Now, with funding from the the Pittsburgh Foundation, we will continue this work and have brought on Leslie as our first official full-time Community Organizer. She is tasked with continuing to develop the CJC and with growing our advocacy work in Pittsburgh. Her job is to break down barriers and silos and to ally with residents to co-create sustainable, regenerative solutions to human-made climate change. The CJC focuses specifically in communities the DEP has classified an “environmental justice area.” This is an area where 20% of the residents earn below the federal poverty line and/or 30% of residents identify as a “non-white minority.”

We look forward to addressing environmental injustice through a social work lense together with Pittsburgh residents, as we move towards building sustainable and healthier neighborhoods for all.

Jump In & Join Us! Fall/Winter 2022 Events

Register for these events and more at www.upstreampgh.org/get-involved/events

Mushroom Walk

Join Stephen Bucklin (President of the Western PA Mushroom Club) and members of UpstreamPgh staff on a walk along Nine Mile Run to search for mushrooms!

This 1-2 mile walk will follow trails, but will likely wander off-trail to check out our finds. We will document our finds using the iNaturalist app, so bring a camera or smartphone if you have one.

Event is pay-what-you-can.

Fall Stream Sweep

It’s that time again! The summer rains have washed the usual trash and debris from the upper watershed communities into Nine Mile Run. This is an especially special sweep, as it is just days before the 50th anniversary of the Clean Water Act.

We hope you will join us to celebrate through service to our waterways!

This is a volunteer event and attendance is free.

Clean Water Act Festival

ASCE Pittsburgh and Friends are hosting a series of events and a water themed festival the weekend prior to the 50th Anniversary of the Clean Water Act. The festival will include food trucks, educational water activities for all ages, local artists, a river trail bike parade, free rowing lessons provided by Three Rivers Rowing Association, a free tree giveaway by Tree Pittsburgh, and a free shirt for the first 200 guests!

This partner event is free and no registration is required.

Milkweed Madness!

Ready to get knuckle deep in the gnitty gritty? Help us get a jump on spring by assisting us in processing milkweed and honeyvine seeds!

What we prepare during this event will be planted in 2023 throughout the Nine Mile Run Ecological Restoration Area in Frick Park. These plants are critical to the survival of the monarch butterfly and a variety of pollinators.

This volunteer event is free, but registration is required.

Giving Tuesday 2022

Move over Black Friday, it’s time for Giving Tuesday, the annual National Day of Giving, just in time for the winter holiday season.

Join UpstreamPgh throughout the day as we work off our turkey dinners in your email inboxes, on our social media channels, and of course on the official Giving Tuesday website as we head towards our fundraising goal. We hope you’ll support us!

This day-long event is virtual with donations suggested.

Winter Holidays Party

Join the staff and Board of UpstreamPgh as we bid goodbye to 2022, say hello to 2023, and add some light and warmth to the winter weather!

Snacks and light refreshments will be provided, along with good company and cheerful decor! Keep an eye on your mailboxes for a formal invite with more details closer to the event.

This event is free to 2022 donors and pay-what-you-can for non-donors.

Questions?

Email info@upstreampgh.org

Or visit us at: www.upstreampgh.org/get-involved/events

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Learning from Nature Environmental Education

Backpacks for Our Future Nature Lovers

written by Lindsey-Rose Flowers

This fall, look out for something new and exciting from UpstreamPgh at some of our local libraries in the Woodland Hills and Wilkinsburg School Districts. We recently received grant funding from The Rita McGinley Fund of The Pittsburgh Foundation and the Grable Foundation to create nature backpacks and distribute them to local libraries. Each backpack will have its own theme and will have all sorts of fun materials that folks can use in self-guided nature exploration. Every library will have one backpack for each of the following four themes: trees, “nature in my neighborhood,” birds, and insects.

These grab-and-go packs will allow people of all ages to engage with the environment around them in a flexible and meaningful way, as well as provide fun and educational bonding experiences for families. The goal of the nature backpack lending project is to foster appreciation for local ecosystems and empower learners to make positive changes in their neighborhoods.

We are launching the program with our tree-themed backpack which will have four different tree ID guides, arts & crafts materials, binoculars, a magnifying glass, a scavenger hunt, and a booklet with activities for folks of all ages. A list of companion books will also be available for patrons to peruse if they want to delve deeper into learning about trees.

We believe that educating the public and encouraging lifelong learning will lead to a greater appreciation of the nature that is all around us. In turn, we hope that these simple backpacks will inspire people of all ages to protect and steward this beautiful place we call home.

Backpack and kit modeled by Kiloh Flowers & Leslie Simonds

Connecting with Nature in Fall & Winter

I Bought a Pumpkin, Now What? written by Lindsey-Rose Flowers

If you were to mosey past my house after Halloween, you would likely find a carved pumpkin way past its prime sitting in the yard. While this may be my local racoon and squirrel population’s idea of a smorgasbord, perhaps it is not your cup of tea.

If you are looking for some alternatives to the Flowers’ family method, here are a few ideas:

1) Throw it in your compost heap. Pumpkins are a great source of nitrogen for your soil. A special surprise may greet you come summer if you threw it in whole (think seeds).

2) Cut up the flesh, steam it, and puree it for a delicious, fresh ingredient for pumpkin soup.

3) Scoop out the seeds, rinse off with water, lay out on a baking sheet, and season to your liking. Roast in the oven at 350F for 12-15 minutes and now you’ve got tasty snacks!

4) Not into cooking? Keep it around to use it in your Thanksgiving decorating endeavors.

Seasonal & Sustainable Eats: Lala’s Curried Pumpkin Soup contributed by Leslie Simonds

Ingredients

½ lbs of sliced mushrooms

½ cup of diced onion

2 tbs of butter

3-4 tbs of flour

2 cups of pumpkin puree or 1 small can of pumpkin puree

Directions

3 cups of vegetable broth

1 can of evaporated milk

1 tbs of honey

1½ tsps of curry powder

tsp of salt

tsp of pepper

tsp of nutmeg

Saute onions and mushrooms in butter (until onions are translucent). Stir in flour and curry powder. Gradually add broth. Bring to a boil then reduce heat and simmer until thick. Add pumpkin, evaporated milk, honey, salt, pepper and nutmeg and return to a boil. Remove from heat and let rest at least 5 minutes before serving. This is a great soup to make ahead of time, as it reheats beautifully. We don’t recommend freezing though, as the mushrooms break down.

Investing in Your Water Opportunities to Contribute

Thinking Upstream at Home: Residential Solutions written by Aaron Birdy

When we launched our first rain barrel initiative in 2005, we understood the importance of engaging watershed residents and providing them with tools to manage rain where it falls. These early initiatives were no drop in the bucket, and if you drive around the East End you will see these early barrels still collecting water when it rains. We then added rain garden design to our toolbelt, an option that not only captured rainwater, but also added a touch of sustainable beauty to one’s yard.

These still remain the bedrock of our residential stormwater management programs to this day. Our 116 gallon Hydra rain barrel is the only slimline rain barrel you can find in Pittsburgh. Both our Hydra and Nine Mile Run barrels can be seen around the city, turning rain into thriving flowerbeds. Our landscape architect is waiting to make your home more sustainable and manageable for years to come.

Interested in any of these at your home? Reach out to us today! www.upstreampgh.org/services/

Supporting Our Work Upstream

written by Taylor Wilkerson

Our brand, UpstreamPgh, is a commitment, not just to our watershed but to our entire community. Large and small, everything we do impacts our waterways, and, likewise, our waterways impact every aspect of our lives as humans. From the water in our taps that hydrates us and keeps us clean, to the water that carries our waste to treatment plants, to the natural bodies of water that inspire and awe us, we would not survive without it.

But this relationship we have with water is not perfect. As much as we need access to clean water to survive, we do not always put back into it what we take. We are all one big community on this planet, and that means we have to think big for long-term, equitable and sustainable solutions for all of us.

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This is why we work Upstream. We take on problems at the root, addressing things like local water quality issues where they start: with urban flooding, human pollution, and a dearth of diverse urban ecosystems. We educate, so that the communities we assist can then become the stewards of their own environments and relationship with water. We build the belief, one neighborhood or person at a time that a healthy ecology means a healthy community.

Our job is big and we cannot do this work alone. We do not do this work alone. Continue that legacy today by funding the work we do to create, maintain, and steward a healthier ecology for us all.

Donate!

2022 SUPPORTERS

3 Rivers Wet Weather Inc

American Eagle Outfitters Foundation

Anonymous Funds of The Pittsburgh Foundation

Center for Civic Arts Colcom Foundation

Courtney Babcock Borntraeger Foundation

Dylan Todd Simonds Foundation

Earth Volunteer Fund

EarthShare

Frick Educational Fund of the Buhl Foundation

The Gammarus Fund of The Pittsburgh Foundation

The Grable Foundation

The Heinz Endowments

Henry John Simonds Foundation

The Jack Buncher Foundation

The Laurel Foundation Patagonia - Pittsburgh

Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection, Growing Greener +

The Pittsburgh Foundation Pittsburgh United PNC Charitable Trusts

The Posner Foundation of Pittsburgh

The Richard King Mellon Foundation

The Rita McGinley Fund of The Pittsburgh Foundation

Thomas L. Nied Funeral Home Wade Trim

W.I. Patterson Charitable Fund

Thank You To All Our Supporters

MATCHING GIFTS Google AKRF

IN-KIND DONATIONS*

3 Rivers Outdoor Company ALCOSAN

Behar-Fingal Graphic Design

The Braddock Carnegie Library C.C. Mellor Memorial Library C.C. Mellor Memorial Library Forest Hills Branch Carnegie Free Library of Swissvale

Civil and Environmental Consultants

Cool Hand Carpentry and Landscaping Eastridge Branch of the Wilkinsburg Public Library Field Environmental

Humane Animal Rescue of Pittsburgh TestAmerica Wilkinsburg Penn Joint Water Authority Wilkinsburg Public Library

*In-Kind denotes donations of items, equipment, services, time, or software to the organization.

Non-Profit Org U.S. Postage PAID Pittsburgh, PA Permit No. 23321 Pennwood Avenue Suite 202 Pittsburgh, PA 15221

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