Allentown's Park Dilemma

Last night, I had an opportunity to listen to some environmentalists express their wish list for our park system. I noticed an irony that they would never acknowledge. Although they support, in lockstep unison voice, riparian zones, they are equally concerned about invasive species. Seems as if these riparian, no mowed zones, are ripe for the proliferation of invasives. The control and removal of the invasives requires much more manpower than just cutting the grass; much more manpower than the park department and/or volunteers could ever realistically expend. I have heard, through numerous sources, that even the riparian zones that were supposedly expertly planted,  by the Wildland Conservancy, had no follow up maintenance. Invasives had to be controlled by mowing in the fall. In other words, these are taxpayer, grant funded science experiments, which compromise both the view and access to the streams, for no real purpose other than making the ecology types feel better about themselves. Perhaps, the classic park designers of yesteryear, actually knew more about sustainability than our green friends realize.

This classic postcard, circa 1945, shows Lehigh Parkway's east entrance, with the Boat Landing. In 2009, with help from friends, I uncovered the previously buried Landing. Support our historical park system.