Wissahickon Restoration Volunteers

12/24/2025

In 2025, WRV hosted 44 restoration sessions, and you showed up! Together, volunteers contributed over 1,100 hours studying, protecting, and restoring the Wissahickon’s ecosystems. We are incredibly grateful for the time, care, and energy you bring to this work.

Many of our volunteers return year after year. It’s just as exciting to welcome new friends into the WRV community. This past year, more than 30 first-time volunteers joined us after finding WRV through signs in the park, word of mouth, or online.

This year we were also able to bring on five new seasonal contractors to our team, from a range of ages and backgrounds, and two young stewards who completed the first part of our restoration training program. Our volunteers, contractors, and stewards are all motivated by a shared love for the Wissahickon and a desire to give back.

The personal connections we build with one another are just as meaningful as the restoration work itself. WRV is more than the hours we put in or the land we restore; it’s a community brought together by the Wissahickon Valley Park.

Please consider donating to help us continue our efforts in 2025. Thank you for your support!

https://wissahickonrestorationvolunteers.org/donate/

12/15/2025

2025 was an outstanding year for advancing our mission to restore the natural areas of Wissahickon Valley Park. Together, we planted nearly 200 woody plants representing 35 different native species, a significant investment in the park’s long-term health. Please consider donating to help us continue our work in 2026. We appreciate your support! 🌳

Your support helps keep the Wissahickon wild and wonderful.

11/17/2025

What a weekend we had for fall planting! Thank you to the volunteers who joined us with our friends at Saylor Grove Wetlands and at our Blue Bell site. We appreciate all of you! 🙌

11/13/2025

Love Your Park Day is coming up this weekend! This year we're partnering with our neighbors, Friends of Saylor Grove Wetland. Tools and other material will be provided for invasive plant removal, planting, trash pickup, and other cleanup projects. Please join us!

Register for Love Your Park Day here

https://loveyourpark.givepulse.com/event/678677-friends-of-saylor-grove-wetland-fall-2025-love-your-park-community-event

Saturday, November 15, 2025, 10:00AM- 12:00PM

- Light Cleanup
- Bird Talk
- Refreshments (hot coffee, water and donuts!)
- Plant sale and advice on native plants from LandHealth Institute

10/12/2025

Last Saturday we couldn't have had more perfect weather to restore our Blue Bell site near Daniel Street and Hermit Lane. We're working to protect this edge site and connect it to Sam's Forest so we can have one, big, happy area full of biodiversity! We worked on protecting the native species growing from some spreading porcelain berry and japanese knotweed and planted a beautiful oak tree to fill in a gap in the canopy. You should see the pawpaw patch that has started to grow here!

Thank you so much to our volunteers!

10/03/2025

10/03/2025

We had an exciting week last week with back-to-back events at Pachella Field, Sam’s Forest and Courtesy Stable! Thank you to all of our volunteers who came out to support our restoration efforts in the Wissahickon Valley Park!

09/24/2025

This past weekend, we were proud to partner with the Courtesy Stable team for a restoration event aimed at enhancing biodiversity, improving soil stability, and supporting water quality by restoring the area around the Philadelphia Water Department’s water retention area near the stable and Cathedral Run.

We protected our previously planted plants from invasive mile-a-minute and Japanese stiltgrass and planted some new white pines, bottlebrush buckeyes, and southern red oaks!

We have back-to-back events coming up this weekend and Monday if you’d like to join us!!

https://wissahickonrestorationvolunteers.org/events/

09/23/2025

What a crew we had last weekend at Sam’s Forest! We had a big job to do, protecting previously planted trees and shrubs from mile-a-minute and porcelain berry and planting some new tulip poplars to help get that canopy going! Thanks to all those who came out, you always amaze us with what you can accomplish in two hours!

09/11/2025

We'd like to give a big thanks to our volunteers and stewards for braving the rain on Sunday and helping to restore one of our favorite sites near Monastery Stables. The team cut down a lot of privet and worked on planting shrubs like Aronia arbutifolia and Viburnum nudum to reinforce the forest layers.

We have more volunteer sessions coming up…even one this Sunday at Sam’s Forest! Hope to see you there.

09/01/2025

☀️ We hope you’ve had a great summer! While sessions were on pause, we’ve been busy planning a full and exciting fall season of restoration work throughout Wissahickon Valley Park.

🌱We’re kicking things off on Sunday, September 7 at Monastery Bowl, followed by our next session on Sunday, September 14 at Sam’s Forest. Both sites are in need of some love, and your help makes a huge difference.

Can’t make those dates? No worries — we have many more sessions lined up this fall!

Looking forward to seeing you!

Events Join us as we continue to improve our restoration projects in the Wissahickon! Volunteer Opportunities with WRV Sunday, June 1, 2025, 10:00 AM-12:00 PM, Sam’s ForestJoin WRV for restoration in Sam’s Forest — a small patch in the Wissahickon in memory and honor of Sam Ozer. We will be re...