UpstreamPgh just launched a new plan for restoring and strengthening Nine Mile Run, which touches all of Wilkinsburg and parts of East Hills, Homewood, Point Breeze, Edgewood, Squirrel Hill, and Swissvale. The plan is called Ripple: An Environmental Justice Plan for Nine Mile Run Watershed and is intended to “address issues watershed-wide, such as urban flooding and the health of the Nine Mile Run stream in Frick Park, with a focus on tackling the environmental injustices that exist in the watershed,” according to their website.
Continue reading to see how Neighborhood Allies has contributed to this important environmental and community-based work!
The plan outlines 10 distinct projects “focused in environmental justice areas and in urban streams, make[ing] the watershed a model for climate justice.” These proposed projects would occupy sites that are spread across the entire footprint of Nine Mile Run and include distinct water capture districts in neighborhoods where flooding and other water-related issues occur often, hilltop properties such as parking lots where green infrastructure could help to slow rainwater and redirect it for better uses, and more.
The Ripple Plan also includes restoration projects in Fern Hollow – the lowest point of the watershed. UpstreamPgh began this work in January 2022, when the Fern Hollow Bridge collapsed into the stream, prioritizing protection and then restoration of Fern Hollow.
The Neighborhood Allies Social Impact Design (SID) team was proud to work with UpstreamPgh on the creation of the Fern Hollow Vision Plan from February 2023 to February 2024. The SID team worked with UpstreamPgh to collect community feedback through community meetings and visioning walks through Fern Hollow, as well as responses to a community survey and in-depth conversations with the UpstreamPgh team. We provided 224 technical assistance hours, resulting in over 400 residents engaged.
With this community input, we collaboratively envisioned several community-inspired interventions in the Fern Hollow Valley, specifically near the Wetland Zone and Confluence areas. You can read our in-depth design proposal here.
Since then, UpstreamPgh has worked with countless other community partners and residents to bring these designs closer to fruition as part of the comprehensive Ripple plan. The future plans for Fern Hollow prioritize the community’s needs and desires we discovered through our community engagement processes, while also getting specific about design constraints, project scope, and green infrastructure. You can read the entire Fern Hollow Restoration Schematic Design Memo, presented by Ethos Collaborative, here.
In the images below, you can see that the expanded project proposals include many of the interventions from the 2024 Vision Plan. At the Confluence site, the design suggestions include covered benches, improvements to the bathrooms to make them usable again, and informational signage. In the Wetlands Zone, the project scope will include the new boardwalk with restoration of plants below and around it, as well as an overlook area with additional seating. Click on the images to enlarge them.
Stay up to date on all things Ripple at this link.
