The Fox Fields entrance signs at Mill/Radnor Road and Bryn Mawr Avenue were last refurbished eight years ago and are showing signs of wear. The signs will be refurbished by Woodmasters who have done excellent work for us for more than 30 years. We expect the work to be complete by the Spring.
Monthly Archives: February 2019
2018-19 Winter Deer Cull
Since 2012, we have had an arrangement with Chester Valley Deer Management Association, who were recommended to us by Radnor Township Police and include members of the Radnor Police, among others. We have done this to cooperate with the Township to reduce deer overpopulation and the safety and nuisance problems it presents. They work with Cornerstone Association as well. The township deer control effort and the findings which led to it are described our website at http://foxfields.net/?p=36 . They were commended by Radnor Township for their efforts, http://www.radnor.com/DocumentCenter/View/5653 , and are one of two associations authorized by Tredyffrin Township as well, http://www.tredyffrin.org/services/police/departments/animal-control/deer-management. Their crossbow activity is, for safety reasons, limited to deer stands in ravine area by Ithan Creek (arrows are aimed down vertically from a deer stand rather than horizontally) and not in the Open Space near homes, although they might have one or two men walk in the Open Space along Meadowbrook Run (without bows) to drive the deer toward the ravine. They donate the venison from deer they cull to food banks. This year, they culled five deer from our herd, about average for the past several years.
2019 Winter Maintenance by Ithan Creek and Blue Route Noise Barrier
As those of you who attended may recall, at last year’s Annual Meeting in May, the Board committed to change its approach to maintenance of the area of the Open Space in the ravine area adjacent to Ithan Creek.
In any event, in late January 2019, our landscape contractor performed maintenance in the Open Space next to Ithan Creek and along the Blue Route noise barrier. Our contractor cleared a meadow area of approximately 3 acres using a skid loader and brush hog. The workers also cleared brush adjacent to the entrance at Bryn Mawr Avenue, and behind homes above the ravine and adjacent to the noise barrier. The clearing continued along the barrier through Radnor and Haverford and behind the pines we planted when the Blue Route opened
The landscapers said that the cutting of invasive vines performed last year appeared to have been effective. (It will take a year or two for the dead vines to fall from the trees.) They cut additional vines this year. The clearing of the meadow area should make it easier to continue to monitor and remove invasive vines.
Our landscapers could not work in the meadow area close to Bryn Mawr Avenue because releases from a broken storm sewer pipe owned by the the Township or PennDot have saturated the ground in that area and caused ponding. They are also unable to access the Blue Route side of Ithan Creek, where PennDOT’s poor maintenance makes invasive species a major problem.
We intend to demand that the Township repair the broken stormwater pipe. We believe it constitutes a public health hazard (mosquitoes infected with the West Nile Virus were found in that location last year) as well as an impediment to our maintenance efforts.
We plan to remove brush in this area once or twice each year.
While we do not recommend walking in the meadow area, the view of Ithan Creek from above the ravine is impressive.
A presentation showing conditions in this area before and after the work was performed, as well as the broken storm water pipe, can be accessed by clicking here.