Tinicum Conservancy

06/24/2026

"𝗛𝘂𝗺𝗽 𝗗𝗮𝘆? 𝗡𝗮𝗵, 𝗛𝗲𝗿𝗽 𝗗𝗮𝘆!”

Meet one of Tinicum's most familiar - but often overlooked- wild neighbors: the 𝗔𝗺𝗲𝗿𝗶𝗰𝗮𝗻 𝗧𝗼𝗮𝗱🐸

If you've ever wandered through your garden at dusk or heard a long, musical trill on a warm spring evening, you've probably encountered one.

During our recent habitat restoration on the Tinicum Creek in April we encountered serenading chorus of American Toads, and a few weeks later found hundreds of tadpoles feasting on the algae anchored to the stones in the creek

Why should we celebrate them?

𝗡𝗮𝘁𝘂𝗿𝗲'𝘀 𝗣𝗲𝘀𝘁 𝗖𝗼𝗻𝘁𝗿𝗼𝗹 – A single American toad can consume thousands of insects each summer, including slugs, mosquitoes, beetles, ants, and other garden pests—no pesticides required.

𝗔𝗻 𝗜𝗻𝗱𝗶𝗰𝗮𝘁𝗼𝗿 𝗼𝗳 𝗛𝗲𝗮𝗹𝘁𝗵𝘆 𝗛𝗮𝗯𝗶𝘁𝗮𝘁 – Toads breathe and absorb water through their skin, making them especially sensitive to pollution and habitat loss. Healthy toad populations are a sign of healthy forests, wetlands, streams, and backyards.

𝗧𝗵𝗲𝘆 𝗡𝗲𝗲𝗱 𝗪𝗮𝘁𝗲𝗿 𝘁𝗼 𝗥𝗲𝗽𝗿𝗼𝗱𝘂𝗰𝗲 - Although adults spend much of their lives on land, they return to shallow ponds, seasonal pools, and wetlands each spring to breed. Protecting these habitats benefits countless other species as well.

𝗔𝗻 𝗜𝗺𝗽𝗼𝗿𝘁𝗮𝗻𝘁 𝗟𝗶𝗻𝗸 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗙𝗼𝗼𝗱 𝗪𝗲𝗯 – American toads are both predator and prey, helping keep insect populations in balance while providing food for snakes, birds, turtles, foxes, and other native wildlife.

𝗬𝗼𝘂 𝗖𝗮𝗻 𝗛𝗲𝗹𝗽 – Leave a few brush piles or patches of leaf litter, avoid unnecessary pesticides, and protect wetlands and woodland edges. Small actions create safe places for toads—and many other native species—to thrive.

The next time you spot one of these warty little amphibians sitting quietly on a trail or in your garden, remember: you're looking at one of nature's hardest-working conservation partners.

Have you seen an American toad in Tinicum? Share your photos in the comments—we'd love to see them!

📸 John Clement

06/23/2026

Happy Pollinator Week! 🦋🐛🐜🪶🦇🐞🐝

Each year, the last full week of June is an annual international celebration of pollinators.

From bees to butterflies, moths, bats, hummingbirds, beetles, and more, pollinators are often small in size but do superheroes' work in giving us wildflowers, food, and the foundation of healthy eco-systems that we depend on. All through the simple act of pollination.

With so much preserved green space in Tinicum and surrounding townships, there is an abundance of habitat for pollinators in Upper Bucks.

We encourage you to:

💚Pause to appreciate pollinators in the area this week.

🌱Learn about the native plants that support them and consider planting some on your property.

👀Stay tuned for more pollinator posts this week.

📷 Share your pollinator photos with us if you have them.

✍️Let us know your favorite pollinator or native plant in the comments.

📸Photo Credit: Hollie Graze & John Mark Courtney

06/21/2026

Our friends at kindearthgrowers had an awesome 1st day of their Annual Open House native plant sale yesterday!

If you are around between 10am-3pm today, we encourage you to stop by for Day 2 of the open house, and check out their nursery. They will be having a Nursery Tour and Meadow Walk at 1pm today as well.

What an incredible array of locally native plants vital to healthy eco-systems.

Their selection even includes the oft under appreciated but indispensable collection of "graminoids", species of grasses and sedges that are the dominant structural foundation of northeastern US piedmont prairies, stabilizing the soil and supporting specialized pollinators communities through dense root mats and flowering spikes.

If you're thinking of converting some of your yard to habitat, this is a wonderful place to start!

06/19/2026

Our friends at Kind Earth Growers are kicking off Pollinator Week this weekend with their native plant Nursery Tour and Meadow Walk. If you are around in Ottsville Saturday or Sunday, check it out.

We will be celebrating pollinators on our social media throughout Pollinator Week, which runs from June 22nd-June 28th
https://www.pollinator.org/pollinator-week

06/18/2026

We were delighted to present about the good work we’re spearheading in our local watersheds, along with our colleagues at Tohickon Watershed Association, Neshaminy Watershed Association, and Bucks County Conservation District, at the Our Shared Watersheds: Plumstead & Tinicum Neighbors United Through Water event Tuesday night that was co-organized by the Tinicum & Plumstead Township Environmental Advisory Committees.

The evening featured best practices in land use that help promote healthy and accessible water for all, and some of the various ways these local organizations are promoting and advancing them.

In Upper Bucks, having more than 60% of our land area covered in woodlands is a major driver of the high water quality that qualifies Tinicum Creek and many of its tributaries for Exceptional Value status, which we owe in part to the visionary work of all the people in the Conservancy’s 35 years who have helped to protect over 5,300 acres from development. 🪾🌱🏞️

Our Executive Director Eric Anderson educated the audience about the process and benefits of securing conservation easements, which also help protect watershed health, and introduced our "Renewing Tinicum’s Creeks" initiative that is rehabilitating vital riparian buffers (i.e. streambank habitats).

This initiative helps support the magnificent biodiversity along and within waterways, while also absorbing and purifying runoff from precipitation events before it enters local streams.

Thanks to everyone who turned out to the event!

A full livestream video from Tuesday evening can be found at this link https://www.facebook.com/watch/live/?ref=watch_permalink&v=2243101339791000&rdid=jY4iVAa96b6O0vad

06/16/2026

A reminder that we will be joining the Plumstead & Tinicum EACs tonight in Doylestown to discuss watersheds and our restoration effort work aimed at improving the health of Tinicum's waterways.

We hope you will attend!

We are looking forward to joining the Tinicum Township Environmental Advisory Committee and the Plumstead Township - Bucks Environmental Advisory Council on Tuesday for a discussion about the function and stewardship of our local watersheds!

Come learn about what a watershed actually is, how what you do on your property can benefit or harm everyone else in the watershed, and how Tinicum Conservancy has begun working with and on its conserved lands to more actively support better water quality and availability.

We hope to see you there. Free registration https://www.eventbrite.com/e/our-shared-watersheds-tinicum-and-plumstead-united-through-water-tickets-1990001241282

Tohickon Watershed Association Neshaminy Watershed Association Bucks County Conservation District

06/15/2026

🌱Meet Common Mullein

Have you ever spotted this tall, fuzzy plant growing along roadsides, meadows, or disturbed ground and wondered what it was?

Common mullein (Verbascum thapsus) is easy to recognize by its soft, velvety leaves and towering flower stalk. Introduced from Europe centuries ago, it has become widespread across Pennsylvania and much of North America.

Some interesting facts:

-A single plant can produce more than 100,000 seeds.

-Its bright yellow flowers attract a variety of pollinators.

-Historically, mullein has been used in traditional herbal remedies and even as lamp wicks—the dried flower stalks were once dipped in tallow and burned as torches.

-In the present, backpackers and long-hikers refer to it as “nature’s t.p.,” for reasons we’ll let you infer. 🥾

Mullein is a biennial, spending its first year as a low rosette of leaves before sending up a dramatic flowering stalk in its second year.

While it has an interesting history, mullein is not native to our region and can spread aggressively in natural areas, competing with native plants.

Have you ever seen mullein growing near your home or on a hike? What's your opinion - should it be left for the pollinators or pulled up so native plants can grow in its place?

📸PC: John Clement

06/13/2026

Only 1 month until Tinicum Arts Fest!

Seeing so many neighbors at the Tinicum Conservancy table each Arts Fest is one of the highlights of our summer.

We will be tabling again at Arts Fest this year. Will we see you there next month?

Join us in July for the 75th Annual Tinicum Arts Festival - Bucks County's longest running arts Festival and voted "Best in Region" in 2025 (again😀) See you this summer!

06/12/2026

🍄Fungi Friday: Scarlet Red Cap (Sarcoscypha coccinea)

📸✍️Guest post from Tinicum resident Dr. Martie Kyde, PhD:

Once a month on Tinicum Conservancy social media pages, you will meet a fungus, or if you are an experienced mushroom hunter become reacquainted with an old friend, in Kingdom Mycota. Mycota is the Greek word; Fungi the Latin. Both mean mushrooms.

Many folks, acquainted with only supermarket choices, think all mushrooms are brownish, whitish, or some other indescribable shade of blah. That is unfortunate , because nothing could be less true. Mushrooms flaunt every color of the rainbow, and some the rainbow never knew. I call them “rainbows at our feet”. 🌈

As does the spectrum, our calendar begins with red, but there is red, and then there is RED! 🟥

This month’s rather exuberant fellow belongs to a group called the cup fungi. Their reproductive units, ( ascospores) are carried in long tubes (ascus, plural asci) that barely protrude through the surface of the cup, allowing the spores to escape when they are mature. Either the top of the tube weathers off or breaks at a designated weak point to let the spores out.

Few cup fungi are red. They display a variety of colors,- orange, yellow, blue - and of course fairly dull supermarket brownish. They live on various substrates – branches, logs, the ground. One species, Peziza domicilliana, even lives in our houses! It thrives on damp wood, cement, plasterboard, old carpets, and has also been seen outdoors on damp soils. Given a suitably damp cellar, and sufficient time, it can make an old carpet practically disappear.

Pizizas are not poisonous; the airborne spores, however, may cause allergies in sensitive people. Cup fungi are in general, non-edible, but one member, the morel, is considered by many people to be beyond delicious.

06/11/2026

We are looking forward to joining the Tinicum Township Environmental Advisory Committee and the Plumstead Township - Bucks Environmental Advisory Council on Tuesday for a discussion about the function and stewardship of our local watersheds!

Come learn about what a watershed actually is, how what you do on your property can benefit or harm everyone else in the watershed, and how Tinicum Conservancy has begun working with and on its conserved lands to more actively support better water quality and availability.

We hope to see you there. Free registration https://www.eventbrite.com/e/our-shared-watersheds-tinicum-and-plumstead-united-through-water-tickets-1990001241282

Tohickon Watershed Association Neshaminy Watershed Association Bucks County Conservation District