6:00pm – 7:00pm

Friday, March 26
Saturday, March 27
Friday, April 2
Saturday, April 3
Friday, April 9

Location:
Roxborough Reservoir
Port Royal Ave. and Lare St. (just off Ridge Ave.)

The toads are migrating! Join us for this fun family toad walk during the toad migration right here in Philly’s Roxborough neighborhood. Learn why toads head out onto this mysterious journey every spring, crossing busy roads to get there. Hike up to the Roxborough Reservoir (a special place that’s rarely seen) to see where they go. Learn about their fascinating life cycle and listen for the toads’ weird calls. Afterwards, meet the volunteers who help the toads cross the roads, or stay and volunteer on your own or as a family! Walks are led by Fairmount Park and Schuylkill Center. Rain or shine. Bring a flashlight. Free. Parking is along Port Royal Avenue, just off Ridge Avenue, and at the ballfield on Port Royal Ave. For more information, visit www.toaddetour.com or call 215.685.9285.

The Upper Roxborough Reservoir is a 34 acre site bounded by Summit Ave., Port Royal Ave. ,Eva St and Lare St. It had been an active water purification/holding site from 1892 until the early 1960s when it was decommissioned. Since then it has been largely “reclaimed by nature”, The Reservoir has two basins, one dry and the other generally filled with water ranging anywhere from several inches to a few feet deep. The Reservoir is home to a large number of small mammals and the wet basin hosts a significant variety of bird life. As some of you may also have heard it is the place to which thousands of toads from the surrounding woods migrate in the spring to mate.

Upper Roxborough Civic Association has been at the forefront of efforts to preserve The Reservoir from threats of development over the course of 10+ years and is now coordinating the restoration of the site- the removal of invasive species and their replacement with native plants.We are also involved in the mundane tasks of picking up the trash and keeping the pathway which runs around the top of the site clear and we have been working to open up other aspects of the site which help to reveal its history. We have had conversations with the new Commissioner of Parks and Recreation which we hope will lead to the site being taken over by his department. If that occurs, it would not only insure the site’s preservation as a natural area but would accelerate our efforts at restoration.

Lots more photos available at Flickr.