For the Forest Service, the project is a pilot that the agency hopes
will serve as a model for restoring other degraded urban forests.
Researchers say that increasing the number of healthy trees in an area
can improve residents’ health and lives in many ways, from better air
quality to a reduced risk of local flooding.
Some 60% of the trees in the Stillmeadow tract were ash, a variety
that has been decimated across the U.S. by a destructive beetle known as
the Emerald ash borer. Forest Service workers cut down dead and dying
trees, and volunteers helped haul away the logs and debris.
Now, fast-growing willows and poplars — special hybrids designed to
shoot up 6 feet a year — are being planted in an area protected by new
deer fencing the volunteers have installed. The goal is an urban tree
nursery of 3,000 plants that will serve forests throughout the city.
For the church, the restored area will feature walking trails,
prayer circles and meditation stations, with the aim of providing a
peaceful oasis of green space where visitors can enjoy the Peace Park’s
stream, pond and wildlife.
“We all know from research that problems such as asthma, poverty and
heat islands [pockets of especially high summer temperatures] all
connect to the amount of tree cover in an area,” Jenkins said. “Having a
renewed urban forest serves multiple purposes. People in the community
here and the volunteers are all learning from each other, and everyone’s
awareness has increased about the importance of this kind of green
space.”
Students who work with the project describe it as educational,
empowering, rewarding and — most importantly — an opportunity to meet
church members and neighbors, including local teens and young adults,
who are working hard and guiding the plans for what the park will offer.
“This park is 100% for the community, and I really see it bringing a
positive energy to the city,” said Sophie Phillips, a public policy
graduate student who at UD is conducting research on ways that national
and state parks can foster more diversity and inclusion for visitors and
employees. “It will give the community a place they can go to get some
fresh air, a place to participate in really awesome events and a place
to learn about the environment. … This could even raise awareness of job
opportunities for people of color in environmental fields, which are
currently lacking in minority staff.”
Val Gould, also a graduate student in energy and environmental
policy, has focused their academic work on environmental justice and is
writing a master’s degree thesis on the Stillmeadow Peace Park and its
location in the Irvington neighborhood of Baltimore.
“The neighborhood will have an accessible green space that is healthy
and provides numerous opportunities for fellowship, entertainment,
healing and education,” Gould said. “It is my hope that the Peace Park
will continue to bring Irvington residents closer together and empower
the community to fight and unite against the systems that leave their
neighborhood under-prepared to meet future challenges.”
Another active UD volunteer, Grace Hussar, is a junior with a major
in environmental studies and a minor in environmental humanities, who
took a class taught by Jenkins in environmental literature. When she
looked for new opportunities for hands-on experiences, she said, she
found that Stillmeadow offered “the perfect combination” of
environmental fieldwork and community interaction.
And, she said, she expects work at the park to continue to involve and inspire residents and volunteers on an ongoing basis.
“The goal of restoration work is to positively impact the environment
and get things back on the right track,” Hussar said. “The great thing
about it is that it’s a process, one that can and should span across
generations as a collaborative effort.”
More environmental justice projects
Other UD faculty members and students are continuing to work on a
variety of issues related to environmental justice and the
rehabilitation of areas that have been affected by such factors as
industrial pollution, flooding and environmental neglect.
Projects include:
- Jon Cox, assistant professor of art and design, and faculty
members from other departments and colleges have been working with the
Lenape Tribe of central Delaware on several projects, including the
recent cleanup of a quarter-acre plot of tribal land near Cheswold,
Delaware, that had been used as a dumping ground. Volunteers from UD and
the community also removed invasive plants from tribal land known as
the Fork Branch area, and plans call for College of Agriculture and
Natural Resources students to be involved in helping to design a
proposed community center and outdoor recreation area.
- In South Wilmington, Victor Perez, associate professor of
sociology, has long been part of community efforts in the Southbridge
neighborhood to alleviate damage from pollution and flooding, made worse
by sea-level rise. Now, a wetland has been restored in Southbridge, and
the city plans to complete a park this summer to provide a green space
for residents and help control flooding. Perez said he hopes to involve
students in continuing research into what community residents want and
the policies that can be in place to protect them from being displaced
by what is called “green gentrification” of an area.
- Perez is also the author of a chapter on environmental justice in
The Delaware Naturalist Handbook, used by students in UD’s new Delaware Master Naturalist Program.
Blake Moore, an extension agent in natural resources who’s leading the
program for Cooperative Extension, said organizers were committed to
having environmental justice included in the core training for the
Delaware program. As the program develops and COVID restrictions ease,
certified Master Naturalists expect to be involved in a variety of
environmental justice issues, he said.
Article by Ann Manser; photos by Kathy F. Atkinson
Published April 20, 2021