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PA Horticultural Society, Keep PA Beautiful Pick Community Greening Award Winners
The PA Horticultural Society and Keep PA Beautiful this week announced the winners of the 2009 Community Greening Awards.

The Awards recognize those who have made a difference by planting and maintaining quality green spaces that are open to the public.

The winners in Pennsylvania include:

Overlook Elementary School, Abington
Cedar Creek Park Fragrance Garden, Allentown
Mid Way Manor Early Childhood Center, Allentown
Trax Café, Ambler
Miller's House Garden, Bethlehem
Chichester Ave. & Interstate 95 Ramp Exit, Boothwyn
Worrall Elementary School, Broomall
PennDOT Garden, Conneaut Lake
Sandy Run Wetland Restoration, Fort Washington
13th & Otter Streets Community Garden, Franklin
Glenside Riparian Buffer & Outdoor Classroom, Glenside
The Richard E. Thorn Memorial Gardens at Donohoe Center, Greensburg
Lower Salford Township Park, Harleysville
Young Life of the Steel Valley Community Garden, Homestead
Masons Mill Park, Huntingdon Valley
Kimberton Waldorf School, Kimberton
Colonial School District/McCarthy Park Restoration & Stormwater Management Project, Lafayette Hill
Manor Road Right-of-Way, Lafayette Hill
Miles Park, Lafayette Hill
Lansdale Main Street Planters, Lansdale
Mifflin County Library, Lewistown
Dorothy Hermani Mini Park, Milton
Half Moon Inn, Newtown,
Mary, Mother of the Redeemer Parish, North Wales
Naturescapes, Paoli
Chestnut Hill Historical Society & Friends of the Wissahickon Headquarters Native Demonstration Garden, Philadelphia
Society Hill Towers, Philadelphia
Pine Grove Canal Butterfly Garden, Pine Grove
Boulevard of the Allies at Parkview Avenue Landscape, Pittsburgh
Brighton Road Gardens, Pittsburgh
Chestnut & East Ohio Streets Garden, Pittsburgh
East Liberty Blvd. Planting, Pittsburgh
Green Tree Parkway Garden, Pittsburgh
Herron & Hancock Lot, Pittsburgh
Highland Park Bridge Garden, Pittsburgh
Laura's Blumen Garden, Pittsburgh
Mechanics Retreat Park, Pittsburgh
Riverfront Park, Pittsburgh
General Robinson & Anderson Streets, Pittsburgh
Center Square Red Lion Planting, Red Lion
Welcome to Red Lion Planting, Red Lion
Anthony Selin Park, Selinsgrove
Brownsville & Maple Springs Roads Garden, South Park
Wehr's Dam Covered Bridge Park Butterfly Garden, South Whitehall Township
Garden of Hope Native Plant Garden, Springfield
Springfield Library 75th Anniversary Garden, Springfield
Marketplace at the Telford Train Station, Telford
Grist Mill Park, Towamencin Township
Mills at Rose Valley, Wallingford
Martin's Tavern, West Chester
Meadowood, Worcester
Edward H. Parry Bird Sanctuary Riparian Buffer Enhancement Project, Wyncote
Wynnewood Train Station, Wynnewood
The Highlands at Wyomissing Grounds and Resident's Gardens, Wyomissing
Blue Star Memorial ByWay Garden, York

One Project Example

PECO
 received the Pennsylvania Horticultural Society’s Community Greening Award this week for its three-year project to create a meadow of native grasses attractive to wildlife on an 18-acre utility right of way in Lafayette Hill in Montgomery County.

The award demonstrates that utilities can balance the need to meet clearance standards under electric transmission lines for reliability and sensitivity for the environment.

PHS selected PECO for the award from among 80 nominees statewide. PECO’s project was done in cooperation with Whitemarsh Township, the Wildlife Habitat Council, and the Game Commission.

PECO’s Stephanie Everett-Johnson of the company’s environmental services group and Alex Brown, a project manager for the utility’s vegetation management program, accepted the award. The PHS recognition is the fifth environmental award for PECO this year.

The Manor Road project involved eliminating exotic and invasive plant species that had dominated the utility’s electric transmission right of way and planting a mix of native grasses such as Niagara Big bluestem, Little bluestem, Indian grass, and Side Oates Grama to spread and flourish. PECO’s project also added bird and bat boxes to attract wildlife and restored stream banks with additional plantings. Weeds Inc. of Aston supported PECO on the project.

“Each year, PECO takes on several projects to restore native plant species to our rights of way and improve biodiversity to attract wildlife. We are proud of the PHS award as an example of our commitment to the environment,” said Mike Heffron, PECO manager, environmental services.

The work was planned as part of the company’s maintenance strategy for the right of way. It is a part of roughly 1,000 miles of transmission corridors across the Philadelphia region PECO maintains to meet federal standards for electric reliability. Those standards do not permit trees under transmission power lines. The native grass meadow will allow better storm water management, provide the cover for wildlife, and reduce long-term maintenance costs, said Brown.

11/16/2009

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