The fate of Trewellyn Park
A brilliant dainty bird intrigued the regional birding community when discovered in the moist woods of Lower Gwynedd’s Trewellyn Park. The Prothonotary Warbler, a songbird known to live in southern swamps, settled in the natural habitat off the hustle and bustle of Sumneytown Pike. Many an intrepid birder searched for this rarity, most came away disappointed. Yet, the Prothonotary Warbler was tantalizingly seen by many observers from May to June of 2017. A footnote for mainstream society but a loud resonance for a species on the move northward in the era of climate change.
The Trewellyn Creek which graces Trewellyn Park is the centerpiece of a tract of land still owned by Merck. Leased for a dollar a year, Lower Gwynedd has managed the park as a public facility when in fact it was never public land. The creek, a tributary of the Wissahickon Creek, is one of the cleanest water sources for the Wissahickon.
Like the fate of the Prothonotary Warbler and Trewellyn Creek, their collective future is in doubt. Recently, Merck decided to sell their entire 150 acre tract to the highest bidder. The Siemens facility was vacated as Merck refused to continue Semen’s lease. Rumor has it that there is an interested buyer who will pay handsome price well north of $10 million.
But this outcome could have had a different ending. In 2015, representatives of Merck sat with me to agree on the preservation of the Dodsworth Run Preserve, a ten acre tract of land hugging the Wissahickon Creek in Upper Gwynedd Township. That property was donated to the Wissahickon Valley Watershed Association with a grateful improvement worth $200,000 courtesy of Merck. At that time, they agreed to give the Wissahickon Valley Watershed Association the right of first refusal to acquire the property prior to offering it on the open market. There does not seem to have been any effort to accomplish this either by Merck or by the Wissahickon Valley Watershed Association.
Instead, Lower Gwynedd Township is hoping that the land deal will preserve the fate of the Trewellyn Park but there are no guarantees. The Township wants to keep the park. There is no guarantee that the buyer will perpetuate the special lease of what was once parkland. There is no guarantee that the Wissahickon Valley Watershed Association will exert leadership to preserve what is arguably the largest tract of open space to come on the market in years in the watershed. As the former Executive Director of the Association, preservation of this land would have been my highest priority.
There are no guarantees that the Trewellyn Creek will enjoy it clean water quality. Nope, there are no guarantees that the Prothonotary Warbler will return to the moist woods of the Trewellyn and flirt with the birdwatchers of the region. I can guarantee that all too often the fate of these jewels of nature are lost to the bulldozer before anybody raises a hand. It’s time to wait a minute; in the second richest county in the Commonwealth and the 51st wealthiest county in the nation, we cannot find the political will and funding to preserve Trewellyn Park? Really?