Major Upgrade for Mellon Square

Ground has been broken on an $8 million restoration project at Mellon Square in downtown Pittsburgh. Susan Rademacher, parks curator for the Pittsburgh Parks Conservancy, says 55 years ago Mellon Square became the first modern garden plaza in the country built in conjunction with a parking garage....
"Cities like San Francisco had dug out underneath an old park and built a parking garage, but this (Mellon Square) was the first that was conceived of as one piece, one design, with a green roof garden for the public on top of levels of parking."

Rademacher says this was the precursor of the green roof movement and it was the first green space in downtown Pittsburgh even before Point State Park.

Today, the park is in a state of deterioration according to Rademacher because of a lack of regular maintenance. The Conservancy has reached a 30 year agreement with the city of Pittsburgh to provide day to day maintenance.
Phase 1 of the restoration project includes 2 signature pieces: the Cascade Fountain and a new terrace over the retail shops on Smithfield Street.

Rademacher says the mechanics of the fountain have not been replaced and as a result the fountain only works manually when a city employee is on site.
"We're going to put back all the automated controls so the fountain will be running all of the time. We're also going to restore the look and feel of the fountain to the original 1955 design which had a much lighter, more sparkling kind of appearance."

The new terrace will add 15% more usable space which she says will result inf intimate, relaxing green space for lunch and for enjoying the view of the fountain. The first phase will also include restoration of the entry staircases and the reinstallation of the ground level lighting and is to be completed in Spring of 2012.
Support for phase 1 comes from the Colcom Foundation and the Richard King Mellon Foundation. Rademacher says they are continuing fundraising for the completion phase and have received grants from the Heinz Endowments, BNY Mellon Foundation, the Benter Foundation, the Buhl Foundation, Eden Hall Foundation, and W.I. Patterson Charitable Fund.

Meeting Allows Kids to Participate in Play Space Planning

The Pittsburgh Parks Conservancy will take the first step towards creating a play space system in Frick Park with a meeting asking kids what they want it to look like. The play space will be named Kate and Peter's Treehouse after two local children who died in an auto accident two summers ago and loved to play in the park.

Michael Sexauer, Director of Advancement at the Conservancy, says after the accident the children's mother, Amy Ambrusko, and loved ones started to put together money and support to build a treehouse in memory of the two.

He says that when they came to the conservancy with the idea they thought it would be a great way to start redeveloping a play space system. "What we want to do is use this idea of a treehouse; interpret that with a design team into a learning space that will be accessible to everyone, that would be safe. and that would be in keeping with environmental education."

Sexauer says that for the meeting they have recruited kids to come and design what they believe to be the perfect treehouse. He says that they will be provided with craft supplies and then designers will build a plan around what the kids made.

The Conservancy will hold two other meetings in June and July to incorporate visits to the site and presentation of preliminary designs. Construction will start on the site in fall 2011 and end in spring 2012.

New Project in Park

A new project will turn every object in Schenley Park into an opportunity to learn something. The City, in conjunction with The Pittsburgh Parks Conservancy is creating a "learning cloud" where people will be able to point their smartphone, tablet or laptop to a statue, tree or other object and immediately learn all about it. They will also be able to contribute to the description and history of the object.

"This isn't something that we want to see as a musueum piece...this is something that becomes two way interactive," said City Council member Bill Peduto on Friday. He said the project is in beta creation and will be fully functional by spring.

The app is being paid for by the city and N21 LLC, the planning firm that designed it. The Pittsburgh Parks Conservancy is providing the initial information.

Panther Hollow Watershed Restoration

The Pittsburgh Parks Conservancy has received a $1 million grant from the Richard King Mellon Foundation...half of which will go towards restoring the Panther Hollow Watershed in Pittsburgh. The
The Panther Hollow Watershed is an area of land bounded by high points in which all of the water drains to the Panther Hollow Lake in Schenley Park.

Restoration Ecologist Erin Copeland says storm water runoff has caused most of the damage to the Panther Hollow Watershed. She says a forest or wooded area helps absorb and recharge ground water so that it can run smoothly into streams and lakes. However, heavy rainfall and impervious surfaces have caused storm water to rush over land, through pipes and over roads, which in turn causes damage to streams and lakes.

Copeland says restoring the watershed is more complex than just restoring the lake. “If we were to just dredge the lake, then we wouldn’t really fix the problem.” She says the problem begins with the watershed. “You need to work in the upper parts of the watershed first where you’ll have to slow down water and infiltrate it so that as you work down through the watershed.” She says the lake is the end of the watershed and should be restored last.

Copeland says the Conservancy will work with a qualified firm, the city of Pittsburgh and the Department of Public Works to define and achieve a watershed-related goal. She says they’ll be testing management techniques and reducing the negative effects of storm water runoff into Panther Hollow Lake. “Hopefully as a result of this we’re going to be really improving the watershed knowledge of residents that are close to the park.”

On September 15, the conservancy will hold a “What’s in Panther Hollow?” lecture for the general public to cover the ongoing efforts for the restoration of the watershed.

'Parks are Free' Photo Contest

The Pittsburgh Parks Conservancy will hold its second “Parks are Free” photo contest, sponsored by the UPMC Health Plan. Take up to five pictures of anyone or anything in any park and email your entry to photos@pittsburghparks.org by September 30th. Rules and entry instructions are at pittsburghparks.org/photocontest. Each photo must include the photographer’s name, phone number, email address, and the name of the park where it was taken.

The twelve finalists’ photos will be displayed at the Schenley Park Café throughout November and made into a 2011 calendar available at the online store: www.zazzle.com/pittsburghparks. The winning photo will be published in the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, and the photographer will receive an item of his or her choice from the Conservancy’s online store. Last year’s 350 entries included landscapes, wildlife, and people, but any subject is allowed.

Communications Director Laura Cook says the Conservancy has broadened its reach to other city parks over thirteen years and raised almost $50 million to invest in Highland, Frick, Schenley and Riverview parks.

Oak Wilt Still Causing Concern

The Pittsburgh Parks Conservancy and the Pittsburgh Public Works Department are trying to keep one step ahead of the fungus known as Oak Wilt. The fungus attacks and eventually kills oak tress. The green leaves of a tree will dry up and fall off in the summer. The disease can kill some trees in a single season while other trees can hang on for a few years. Earlier this year the city removed about two acres of oak trees from Frick Park and a small group of trees in Highland Park in an effort to stop the spread. Department of Public Works Deputy Director Mike Gable says the fungus usually spreads from one tree’s roots to another tree’s roots where they touch underground. Sap beetles can also spread the disease from tree to tree. Along with removing the infected trees, city crews harvested some healthy trees to create a buffer zone and then dug trenches to keep roots from spreading. Gable says the city has seen signs of oak wilt in Frick Park and Highland Park and are keeping an eye on the trees to see if tree removal and trenching is warranted. It is unclear if the spread of the fungus can be stopped. A recent tree inventory found about 20% of the trees in the city are oaks of one kind or another, with the most common being the pin oak. Gable says he does not know how many trees on private land may be impacted. He says home owners should keep an eye on their oaks and should not trim the trees between April and October. He says cutting a tree creates an easy pathway for a bug carrying the fungus to infect the tree. The Pittsburgh Parks Conservancy will hold a class on oak wilt this Saturday at 9:00am at the Pool Grove Shelter in Highland Park.

Butterflies Focus of Walk in the Woods

The Pittsburgh Parks Conservancy is hosting a special Walk in the Woods today that will look at butterflies in Frick Park. The Walk in the Woods program takes visitors on a tour of a different park each Wednesday night with a focus on a different aspect of that park each week. Today’s butterfly walk steps off at 1:00 from the Frick Environmental Center. Butterfly expert Walt Shaffer will lead the walk. He reminds participants to wear walking shoes and suggest they bring a camera. The conservancy says August is the perfect time to go butterfly watching because many species, like the monarch, are migrating south. The free walk is open to all ages. A full list of the Walks in the Woods can be found on line.

"Walks in the Woods" Program Returns

The Pittsburgh Parks Conservancy has once again launched its Wednesday-night “Walks in the Woods” program. Each Wednesday at 6:30pm from June through September, docents spend about an hour taking visitors on a walk through one of the major city parks. Conservancy spokesperson Laura Cook says the first four walks focus on the master plan for each park. This Wednesday’s walk is at Frick Park. Cook says the master plans were created in 2002 and the city and the conservancy have been working to make them a reality. The conservancy was formed in 1996 at a time when many of the parks had fallen into disrepair. Several of the walks look at the “ecology, history and transformation” of the host park. Cook says the docents are well versed in the parks and do a good job tailoring the message to those on the walks, “Sometimes there are children on the walks, and sometimes the demographics are older. It really spans all over.” Other walks will focus individually on mushrooms, butterflies, lichens and trees. Cook says the tree walks are always well attended. This year those walks will be held June 30th and September 29th. A full list of the Walks in the Woods can be found on line.

Mellon Park Restorations add Touch of Art

In part of the Mellon Park Walled Garden restoration, a nationally-recognized artist has been chosen to create a public artwork in memory of Ann Katharine Seamans. Janet Zweig, of Brooklyn, New York, was picked among 89 artists. Pittsburgh Parks Conservancy Spokesperson Laura Cook says it was because Zweig makes a works with communities surrounding the garden, and also has a strong connection with family of Ann Katharine Seamans. Cook says the details of the artwork will not be confirmed until after a community meeting on April 23, but she says it is to include embedded lights in the garden lawn to represent stars in their exact pattern over Pittsburgh when Seamans was born. Zweig has produced public artwork in several other cities in the country, including Seattle, Santa Monica and Orlando. The finished display is to be open to the public by next spring.

Schenley Gets New 16-foot Flowers

The Pittsburgh Parks Conservancy will light five 16-foot tall metal and LED daffodils this week. The flowers will spring up on the “Big Lawn” in Schenley Plaza facing Forbes Ave. The flowers were fabricated by Louis Emmel Ornamental Iron of Coraopolis and wrapped by Parks workers in strands of green, white, yellow and orange LED lights. Phil Gruszka is the director of parks management and maintenance at the Pittsburgh Parks Conservancy. He says the flowers are meant to be a “harbinger of the harbingers-of-spring.” He says the colors reflect the colors of the flowers that will emerge in a few months in Schenley Plaza and other parks throughout the city. The Conservancy plants 4-8,000 daffodils each fall. Gruszka says the effort has brightened parks and lowered maintenance costs. "The goal of the Pittsburgh Daffodil Project is to plant tens of thousands of bulbs in each of the city's major parks.” He says he would also like to see the number of lighted flowers grow. The conservancy is looking for funding to up the number to 40 or 50 flowers. Gruszka says the flowers are a great way to bridge the gap between holiday lights and the growing light of spring. The LED lights will come on in three stages. The lower foliage of the frames will be lit February 12 followed by the addition of the stems February 16 and then the blossoms will be illuminated February 19. The flowers will be lit daily through April.