Panther Hollow

==Background==
A lake and boathouse restoration is to be studied by those that like to do studies and pass around grant money to consultants and professional service contracts.
====History ====
One hundred years ago, the Panther Hollow Lake in Schenley Park was a Victorian idyll beneath the arched Panther Hollow bridge, complete with genteel boats for rent from the genteel boathouse.
But that idyll was also an example of Victorian earth-moving hubris, and eventually the disrupted earth got its revenge, easing down the slope and silting the man-made lake almost full. Panther Hollow Lake, once six feet deep, is now a two-foot puddle, often covered over with slimy green algae. The boathouse did not fare better, and was demolished years ago.
Pittsburgh Parks Conservancy hope of restoration is part of their Regional Parks Master Plan, a document that should be called a 'lesser plan' because of some serious blind spots in programming.
West Chester-based environmental consultants Cahill Associates has been retained to do the study.
:“Healing the water means healing the land,” Tom Cahill told a crowd of about 40 last week at a lecture at the Schenley Visitors Center. The lake itself is a disruption of the natural watershed – it was built by damming Four Mile Run – but stabilizing the wooded slopes and adding features to catch runoff would help.
Help will come from a local academic study team that will gather data, and from the good people of Pittsburgh, who can volunteer by calling 412-682-7275. Volunteer days are April 8, 22 and 29.
==Insights==
===Steps leading to Panther Hollow fixed===
:By Richard Byrne Reilly, TRIBUNE-REVIEW, April 1, 2008
A flight of steps leading from Anderson Playground to Panther Hollow in Schenley Park is ready for walking.
"The steps were made of sandstone, and over the years had become deteriorated and dislodged. It wasn't safe to use them," said Phil Gruszka, director of parks management and maintenance at the Pittsburgh Parks Conservancy.
The work was completed by the conservancy and the city's Department of Public Works. The $33,000 cost was picked up by a donor.
Panther Hollow includes 80 acres of trails, streams, woodlands and a lake in Oakland. Bikers and runners can frequently be seen using the series of trails that crisscross the park.
Repairing the steps is just one phase of a larger project in which the conservancy and volunteers restore other areas of the park, including removing non-native species that have disturbed the area's ecology, and grading trails that have been washed out by storms. That project is expected to take several years.
Workers will construct a wildflower meadow adjacent to the Schenley Park pool. The meadow will help absorb excess rain and stop erosion that flows down the slope during rain, Gruszka said.
Fixing the steps "makes a major trail connector safe and usable," Gruszka said.
Richard Byrne Reilly can be reached at rreilly@tribweb.com or 412-380-5625.
Back to headlines
category:wellness
category:where