Landslides, Deer, Crazy Jumping Worms, Vines: The Ecological Threats Facing Riverview Park

We are back in Riverview Park for this episode and the story we want to tell this time is about the very serious ecological threats facing many of our city parks, especially this one. Any geologist will tell you that the geology of Pittsburgh, and especially Riverview Park, is unstable shale. That makes conditions even more favorable than usual for landslides. But there are many other ecological threats facing Riverview. And we’re going to hear about those from Robin Eng, the Ecological Project Manager for the Pittsburgh Parks Conservancy. Robin was born and raised in the Pittsburgh area and has always felt at home in the forests of Western Pennsylvania - including the urban ones. She went to the University of Pittsburgh, where she studied both Ecology & Evolution and Philosophy. Later, she got a master’s degree in Wildlife Biology and Conservation. Robin’s work in both forest ecology and wildlife biology makes her particularly good at understanding and explaining the factors that contribute to a healthy ecosystem.

We met up with Robin in Riverview Park to talk more about landslides, the out-of-control deer, crazy jumping worms, vines — all of it.