Eight Unsung Spots #3: Highland Park Seasonal Pools

What do you get when you cross a lawnmower with a huge, completely flat field of grass that just happens to be located at the foot of a very steep hill?
If you answered “a maintenance nightmare,” you’ll appreciate one of the Conservancy’s lesser-known capital projects, known as the Highland Park seasonal pools.  Once a large [...]

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A glimpse into the past

It’s been a busy few weeks of looking toward the future at the Parks Conservancy: breaking ground on the restoration of the Mellon Park Walled Garden, getting set to develop a plan for restoring Mellon Square downtown, setting up lecture series and symposia, to name a few.  But then one day I got an e-mail [...]

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Nature by design

This is an article I originally drafted for Sylvan Communities magazine, but I thought I’d share it here as well.
It’s easy to forget when taking a walk through the lush woodlands in our regional parks that these natural wonders are actually designed landscapes.  When Frick, Highland, Riverview, and Schenley Parks were being developed from the [...]

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