East Allen Township officials marked Earth Day April 22 by working on improvements to a nature space and passive recreation area at Bicentennial Park during a community planting day.

Township officials spent part of the day planting native species at Habitat Park, a 24-acre spot within Bicentennial Park, near the park’s Liberto Lane entrance. Employees from Keystone Cement joined them for part of the day.

“Right now, we’re planting a bunch of different species,” township Manager Brent Green said. “We are going out and planting all native Pennsylvania species. One of them is like an iris. One of them is a fox sedge. We have a pickerel that we have been planting. We have been working and just trying to get this to look more like a native habitat. We held this event today to start that process.”

East Allen Township has worked with the Wildlands Conservancy and Hanover Engineering to take the space and make it a natural area, including streams, buffers, wetland restoration and stormwater management areas, Green said. Additionally, it contains a walking trail that is open to the public.

The township started on the project in 2019 and constructed it last year, Green said, with the trail opening to the public last year. Users are asked to stay on the trail and off the grass areas because of the native plants in there.

A wide range of support is vital to the project, Green said.

“If it were not for the board of supervisors, we would not have been able to do this,” he said. “We’re (also) fortunate with our partnerships that we have had, that the majority of this project has been paid for with grant funding and not local township dollars, so it has not impacted our budget.”

Furthermore, the township will benefit from the project beyond the recreational opportunities for the public, Green explained.

“Most communities are doing stormwater management fees,” he said. “We will not have to do that in the next permit cycle because of this project.”

Some other area communities have had to pass those additional fees onto residents, but East Allen Township will not have to do that, thanks to this work, Green added.

The township planned to hold a second community planting day April 25. However, the township announced on its Facebook page that it canceled it due to the expected rain in the forecast.

There are plans to schedule a work day in the future, Green said. Furthermore, residents are welcome to reach out about volunteering to work on the project.

“If anyone is interested in just planting a little bit, we will go out and get them what they need or if they want to help take care of things at the park, we will help them do that,” Green said.

Anyone interested can call the East Allen Township offices at 610-262-7961 or reach out via email at info@eatwp.org.