Enjoy the Caln Meadow Park!

The public is welcome to visit the new Caln Meadow Park - located behind the Police Station at 253 Municipal Drive, Thorndale. 
This passive recreation park features a one-acre native wildflower meadow surrounded by a mowed perimeter path, seating (donated by Giant), informational signage, and a "journaling bench" stocked with reference books, blank journals, and pencils. 
The park is open during daylight hours. Please park only in the designated lot. 

Caln Meadow Park Phase I

Expectations - our meadow plants will take a couple of years to establish - different species germinate at different times (the first year will look pretty bad!). 

Now that Phase 1 of the Meadow is established, visitors are welcome to enjoy the area. Limited parking is available in designated spots behind the police station. Keep in mind, the park is only open during daylight hours. 
Caln Township Parks and Recreation along with PennState Extension Master Watershed Stewards and Master Gardeners has launched the first phase of a Native Pollinator Meadow conversion project on township property. With guidance from the PA DCNR and Chester County Conservation District, our goal is to replace a large parcel township-owned turf grass with environmentally beneficial native meadow species. This page aims to report on our progress as well as provide information for those interested creating their own meadows, big and small. 
  • In April 2022, we began prepping the first acre of land for conversion by marking out an acre and applying post-emergent herbicide. We continued to mow the area throughout the spring, summer, and fall.
  • In October 2022, we applied a second herbicide treatment and, two weeks later, lightly tilled the ground to remove the dead turf and expose the soil.
  • 26 volunteers attended a seeding workshop on October 22, 2022 and the entire acre was seeded with a mixture of PA Native Wildflower seeds, native grasses, and a cover crop of annual rye (which will provide erosion and weed control until the meadow plants can get established). 
  • In May, 2023 the PennState Extension Master Watershed Stewards and Master Gardeners hosted a Lawn-to-Meadow Conversion Workshop at Caln.
  • In Summer 2023 - benches and signs were installed thanks to an environmental grant from PA Department of Environmental Protection
  • In Summer 2024, the meadow is starting to look terrific and we provided tours to other municipalities and groups who are interested in installing their own projects. 

Caln Meadow Park Phase 2

In 2024, Parks and Recreation set out to convert a second acre of mowed turf to meadow. We followed the same procedures as we used for the successful Phase 1 section of the park:
  • In summer, herbicide was applied to the area to remove the turf grass and existing invasives.
  • After a second herbicide application in early fall, Public Works staff lightly tilled the area to remove the dead turf grass.
  • In October, 22 volunteers came out to help spread the seed mixture by hand. Again, the mixture included a native flower mix from Ernst Seed, a winter wheat cover crop, and native grass seeds.
Phase 2 was sponsored through a grant received by the PennState Extension Master Gardeners and Master Watershed Stewards from the Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection.

Meadow Resources

"Establishing a Pollinator Meadow from Seed" Xerces Society

"Meadows and Prairies: Wildlife-Friendly Alternatives to Lawn" PennState Extension

News

Daily Local Article - 10/13/2022

Why Native Plants?