GROVE CITY, Pa. – A plan to improve the area surrounding Wolf Creek on the Grove City College campus is poised to begin with the help of recently awarded grants for $50,000 from the Richard King Mellon Foundation and $19,830 from the Foundation for Pennsylvania Watersheds.

The College plans to start construction on the Wolf Creek North Trail project this summer. The project will stabilize the creek where it flows through the campus, re-establish and preserve some of the creek banks and establish a nature trail connecting downtown Grove City with East Main Street. It will also provide a small park for students and Grove City residents alike. The project is being funded entirely through private sources.

The project’s first phase slated for this summer will focus on stabilizing the creek, dressing up Rainbow Bridge’s piers exposed following the removal of the dams and improving bridge lighting. Construction will continue over the next two summers. The Watersheds funding will cover the costs of the creek stabilization; the Mellon grant will be used for the restoration of Wolf Creek and to establish a nature trail and small park for school and public use. In addition to the grants, the College has committed $700,000 to the project.

Wolf Creek, part of the Ohio River Drainage Basin, divides the College’s upper and lower campuses and flows into Slippery Rock Creek. The College’s section serves as both biology class lab space and as a place for recreation and tradition. Countless weddings have been photographed on Rainbow Bridge. Anglers fish on the College portion throughout the year. With the removal of two dams in 2004 and 2006 respectively, Wolf Creek’s altered current through the College’s property threatens to erode two different points of the shoreline at bends in the creek. By restoring the stream to its natural channel, the banks will be better protected.

In addition to restoring the natural structure and function to the stream system, the North Trail project will provide public green space for the College and greater Grove City communities. Other benefits include: a public natural area for fishing, walking, biking and picnicking; restoration of 1,000 to 1,500 feet of stream and about six acres of land; and a portion of the land adjacent to the creek planted with beneficial and native plants.

Founded in 1947, the Richard King Mellon Foundation is among the largest independent foundations in the United States. The foundation makes grants focused on regional economic development, the quality of life in southwestern Pennsylvania, land preservation and watershed restoration and protection with an emphasis on western Pennsylvania.

The Foundation for Pennsylvania Watersheds, formerly known as the Western Pennsylvania Watershed Program, is a grant-making foundation that invests in efforts to protect healthy, natural streams around the state – and also to clean up pollution and repair damaged wildlife habitat. To date, it has assisted more than 150 different groups, funded more than $5 million in projects, leveraged more than $80 million in additional investments and restored nearly 600 miles of polluted streams and rivers.