Spring: Before You Know It!

With all the sunshine and melting snow we’ve seen over the past few days, it’s hard not to turn your thoughts to spring, when everything in the parks will look new again and there will be tons of opportunities to get outside.  We’ve got a busy slate of events coming up starting in March, including half [...]

Read Full Post »

Give Me Shelter: Riverview Park Evolves

Since I have fun compiling them and it seems like you folks have fun reading them, today it’s time for another history post.  This time we’re shining a spotlight on the development of Riverview Park.  In looking back through old photos and documents, it seems that in some ways the story of Riverview is a [...]

Read Full Post »

Leaf-Peep Show

Now that the leaves are starting to crackle under our feet more than sparkle on the trees, I thought it was time for a retrospective of some of the photos I’ve taken in the parks so far this season.  Since we’ll be posting snow photos before you know it, I’m having fun looking back at [...]

Read Full Post »

Recapturing what’s lost: Riverview and Highland Parks

Two more weekends, two more meetings: here’s your last chance this fall to provide input on our Regional Parks Master Plan update. Riverview Park Saturday, October 30 Riverview Park has a wide expanse of woodland and a maze of trails throughout most of its 287 acres.  Then, in the park’s center, there is a ridgetop [...]

Read Full Post »

Be a park planner for a day

Back in July, we told you we were starting the process of updating the 2000 Regional Parks Master Plan.  We gained a lot of great information from the folks who attended our special Walks in the Woods led by some of the team leading the planning process.  Now we’re ready to solicit a little more feedback [...]

Read Full Post »

More from the ESA conference

The city of Pittsburgh has great parks! When the Ecological Society of America held its annual conference here in Pittsburgh in early August, we had the opportunity to show the rest of the world our splendid parks. The Parks Conservancy organized informal tours of each of the city’s four regional parks, Schenley, Frick, Highland, and [...]

Read Full Post »

Volunteer this week!

We’ve got two volunteer opportunities for you this week.  One is tonight at the Highland Park Entry Garden from 6:00 to 8:00pm, where you can help out the Men’s Garden Club of Pittsburgh in its regular “Wednesday weeding” of the flowerbeds.  There’s plenty of stuff to pull, and honestly, we can’t think of a better time [...]

Read Full Post »

Different every day

This winter provided no shortage of stunning park scenes to photograph (ah, remember when the rivers were frozen?  Good times).  But for any given stretch of days, things would be pretty much the same–snow, bare limbs, plants with no foliage.  That’s why I can never wait for spring to come around, because it feels like [...]

Read Full Post »

A first time for everything

I woke up Sunday morning feeling adventurous.  The day before had been filled with sun, and I had done nothing but waste it, or so I felt.  So despite a cold and headache I headed out into the fresh air around 10am to drink some coffee before embarking on what turned out to be a [...]

Read Full Post »

Four Unsung Spots #2: Snyder’s Point in Riverview

This is the second in our series of Unsung Spots in the Parks. The most common question I’m asked about Riverview Park, either by people who’ve never visited or those who have been there many times, is “Where’s the river view?”  Back when the park was created in 1894, it was composed mainly of pastures [...]

Read Full Post »