The Pennsylvania Turnpike Commission and the Allegheny County Parks Department today dedicated a recently constructed wetland and stream mitigation site on the North Fork of Pine Creek in North Park.
Why is the Turnpike Commission in the wetland business? Widening the turnpike between mileposts 31 and 38 eliminated a wetland, so by law, the commission had to compensate by creating a new one. It happens frequently, according to CEO Joe Brimmeier. 4,000 trees and shrubs are already flourishing on the 1.8 acre site, and four bat houses have been installed.
Volunteers will build a boardwalk from what is now the North Dakota picnic shelter, hopefully by next fall, which will become an educational destination for school groups and others.
Cherokee naturalist Earl Dingus of Latodami Environmental says the new wetland's name relates to the Seneca native tribe that was dominant in the area. He says the name Wahdo:Gwas is a Seneca term for "Rising from the Water".
The wetland will slow down and clean the water flowing through it.
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