Many Hands Make the Work Easier...

By Jon Campisi
Star Staff Writer

“One, two, three, eyes on me!” Arte Verbrugghe bellowed as the group of youngsters simmered down and gathered for the morning instructions. The associate director of North Light Community Center in Manayunk is no drill instructor, but he knows how to command attention. He also knows how to organize a mass cleanup of one of the community’s most treasured waterways, as was proven by the volunteer effort that took place last Friday along the stretch of the Manayunk Canal from Leverington Avenue to Green Lane.

Youth from North Light’s summer camp joined Philadelphia Water Department employees, representatives of the Schuylkill Project (an arm of the Manayunk Development Corp.), and a group with the Environmental Protection Agency’s Student Environmental Development Program to clean litter, remove invasive plant species and stabilize banks along the Manayunk Canal Towpath.

“I feel good,” camper Joseph Gratzinger, 8, said during a break. “I thought it was good because we’re ... helping our environment stay healthy.” Gratzinger’s only other exposure to the canal was during a previous summer camp outing, at which time he and others in the group came across a gosling caught in fishing line. Verbrugghe was able to free the bird, and the students learned an important lesson about keeping the area free of debris. “I think it’s very good because it helps the water, and more animals will come if the water gets cleaner,” fellow camper Amin Hedgman, 8, said on what he learned during the cleanup effort. “Littering is very bad for you.”

In addition to the group of campers, ages 3 to 12, around eight employees with the Philadelphia Water Department joined in on the activities, supplying tools, bags, mulch, and manpower. “It’s a never-ending process,” PWD crew chief Robert “Pat” Ford said of the ongoing work to keep the canal a viable waterway. PWD workers are on a constant mission to keep the canal free of debris, Ford said, and do their best to skim algae off the surface. “It needs work, just like everywhere else in the city,” he said. Ford said events like Friday’s volunteer cleanup greatly assist his department with its charge, since manpower can often be limited, and the canal requires almost constant care. The Water Department has worked with groups such as The Schuylkill Project and the Friends of The Manayunk Canal in the past, Ford said, but this was the first time it teamed up with North Light. The fact that the local community center saw the importance of rehabilitating the area was inspiring, he said.

“They know that they’re helping clean up the canal, to keep the animals from being hurt, to keep the litter off the ground. They know that plants keep our parks looking pretty,” camp counselor Latifah Williams said. Williams, who has worked with North Light on and off for three years, said the event gave the young people real-world experience, a chance to really make a difference in their community.
“Anything that keeps them hands-on, they love,” she said. Andros Spear, 5, seemed to like the idea of getting his hands dirty.“I like it,” Spear said of his task of planting flowers, something he had done in the past at his grandparent’s house.

Larry Brown, director of the EPA’s Mid-Atlantic Region Student Environmental Development Program, said his group joined in on the cleanup because it tied into the program’s mission of teaching youngsters the importance of community service. The free summer program, which is open to eighth-graders from throughout the Delaware Valley, also teaches children job skills, life skills, self-esteem, “and basically anything we can teach them to be better leaders, better adults,” Brown said. “It’s definitely holistic, and in six weeks, we will teach them anything we can teach them about life.” Brown said each summer, SEDP tries to participate in some type of outdoor service activity in the region. This year in Washington, D.C., for example, students in the program helped remove invasive plant species along Interstate 495, more commonly known as the Capital Beltway.Although the students get to participate in only one community service activity per summer session, they are encouraged to bring what they learn back to their respective home communities, “and engage themselves in other ways,” Brown said.

Martin Pulli, a Manayunk business owner and Manayunk Development Corp. board member, stopped by to check out the cleanup. Pulli praised the efforts of the volunteers, saying it’s a crucial part of the puzzle to get the canal back to working condition.
“There’s a lot to do, but we’re trying to bite off pieces,” he said. Pulli said the canal, once an important part of local industry, used to haul in goods to the textile-rich neighborhood. But the advent of the steam locomotive eventually rendered the canal obsolete. Since that time, the canal has sat almost unused. There is, however, an ongoing effort to bring the canal back to its former glory, this time serving recreational opportunities as opposed to manufacturing purposes.
“It’s environment first,” Pulli said. “This is all ex-industrial. This waterway was created by industry, for industry.” Pulli said the MDC has a long-term goal of working with area schools and universities, using the historic canal as a backdrop when it comes to environmental education. Students can learn firsthand of the canal’s significance, while at the same time understand the importance of the waterway and paralleling Towpath from an environmental perspective.

Pulli said the ultimate goal is to have the canal function again, but problems persist, such as shallow depth, and no fresh water source feeding into the waterway.
The Water Department continues to oversee maintenance of the canal, but work can be expensive, and there’s a lot of area to cover, Pulli said. Just last week, a piece of Styrofoam could be seen floating along the canal, passing by a broken lawn chair overturned on the banks of the waterway. The PWD tries to keep the area clear of debris, but it can be a daunting task, the water department’s Ford said.

Pulli said the MDC also has a goal of getting the state Department of Environmental Protection involved in the canal’s refurbishment, which would come in handy when looking to improve storm water management conditions. This would involve removing “hardscape and replacing it with semipermeable surfaces.” Better storm water management would help improve flooding in the region, Pulli said. And if it’s one thing Manayunk has been known to experience, it’s floods during high-water events. Pulli said the MDC has also brought in Fairmount Park arborists to remove invasive plant species and replace them with native ones. And since there’s been an ongoing effort to reintroduce native shad into the nearby Schuylkill River, Pulli also sees an upgraded canal as a “great way to raise endangered species.”

To learn more about the Manayunk Canal and Towpath, visit www.manayunkcanal.org.