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Pauline Berkowitz stood at the edge of the historic Mount Airy Avenue Bridge in Wissahickon Valley Park in Northwest Philadelphia, and peered toward the Wissahickon Creek below.
In the near distance, one of the park’s tall deciduous trees leaned over the waterway — its roots exposed. A number of storms have swept away the soil that once protected the tree, and Berkowitz said that one day the tree will likely fall down.
Berkowitz is the director of capital projects for Friends of the Wissahickon, a century-old nonprofit that aims to conserve and improve the 1,800-acre gorge, which welcomes more than 2 million visitors a year. Now, the organization hopes to receive funding to create a pathway for water to flow down while preventing erosion and runoff.
“While we want people to continue coming to the park to enjoy it, we understand that we need to be creating a balance where we’re restoring the environment, while also creating resiliency, so that we can continue to welcome many visitors for years to come,” said Berkowitz, who has biked and hiked the park since she moved to Philadelphia in 2019.