Croydon Woods Cleanup Draws Volunteers to Clean Woods

Community organizations, nonprofits and community members took to the chilled Croydon Woods in Bristol Township Saturday morning to clean up the 80-acre wooded wetland property.

The weekend cleanup was put on by the Heritage Conservancy and the Greenbelt Overhaul Alliance of Levittown (GOAL). The Heritage Conservancy is dedicated to protecting and preserving different open s paces, farmland and wildlife habitats in Bucks and Montgomery counties. In a similar fashion, GOAL’s goal is to keep communal spaces clean for community enjoyment.

The Heritage Conservancy came into possession of the property about two years ago, buying it from Dow Chemical for just over $2 million. In those two years, the Heritage Conservancy has been responsible for a number of cleanups at the property.

“We need to really plan around the needs of the specific properties,” explained Shannon Fredebaugh, senior community engagement associate for the Heritage Conservancy.

The wide array of properties that the conservancy oversees and provides stewardship for means that each and every property needs a different plan of attack. At Croydon Woods, trash and other items have been dumped on the wooded property, Fredebaugh explained.

Croydon Woods is located very near to little league fields and Keystone Elementary School. Students go on field trips to the space to learn about and connect with nature.

“It’s a really awesome opportunity for kids to get outside and connect with nature,” Fredebaugh said.

Volunteers used a backhoe, their hands and carts to remove a variety of trash and debris from the scenic property that sits in heavily populated Lower Bucks County.

GOAL has a long history of coordinating with other groups to accomplish greater goals, explained Ed Armstrong, the president of GOAL. Over the years, GOAL has worked on a number of community cleanups, including the Martin Luther King Jr. day cleanup of the Bristol Marsh.

“GOAL is a network organization and is really a community brick,” explained Sharon Furlong, a member of GOAL.

“The work that a group on the environment and a community space has a profound psychological effect on the people living there,” Furlong said. She added residents taking ownership in their space gives people a boosted sense of place.

The cleanup is a product of the Lower Bucks Environmental Stewardship Team, a subgroup of the Heritage Conservancy dedicated to serving Lower Bucks County.