A year after 4,000 tires were found dumped, Tacony Park is much cleaner. And a new preserve awaits.

A little more than a year ago, an estimated 4,000 tires choked a wooded ravine in an illegal dump off Newtown and Adams avenues, a stretch of debris sprawling more than 100 feet through Tacony Creek Park.

It took a human chain of volunteers and a crew of city workers, as well as help from United by Blue, a Philly-based sustainable clothing maker, to haul out the mess.

The discovery, and an Inquirer report, spurred the city into a coordinated response with the Tookany/Tacony-Frankford Watershed Partnership (TTF) to ensure such wide-scale dumping wouldn’t happen again at the park.

Officials say the effort has paid off. That site, along with seven other dumping hot spots in the park, has been cleared, secured, and reclaimed, with neighbors staking a stronger claim to the park, even pursuing illegal tire dumpers to photograph their vehicles.

“For the first time, probably in decades, in this park, we’re not really talking about dumping tires, or ATVs,” TTF Executive Director Justin DiBerardinis said. “Maybe for the first time in a generation we’ve gotten to a point where you come to Tacony Park, you’re not going to see burned out cars. You’re not going to see tire piles.”

He estimates use of Tacony Creek Park has doubled since the cleanup campaign began last April.

Tacony Creek Park spans 300 acres through a densely populated part of the city and is managed by Philadelphia Parks and Recreation. It runs through the Olney, Lawncrest, Feltonville, Juniata Park, and Frankford neighborhoods. It has woods and meadows that provide habitat for more than 100 species of birds and other wildlife.

Officials plan to celebrate a groundbreaking on April 11 of a 49-acre preserve adjacent to the 300-acre Tacony Creek Park.

“It’s one of Philadelphia’s hidden ecological gems,” DiBernardis said.

» READ MORE: Someone illegally dumped 4,000 tires into Tacony Creek Park. It will take a human chain of 100 to clear.

Natalie Walker, the city’s sustainability director, said that while the city has tackled the worst spots, illegal dumping still poses a threat to Tacony Creek Park.

On a recent tour of the park and adjoining preserve, DiBerardinis walked over to the rusted skeletons of three cars, then turned his eyes to a ravine filled with trash.

“It’s heartbreaking,” he said.

The Office of Clean and Green, and the Water Department has joined with TTF to coordinate efforts to continue the fight against dumping.

Walker said a key strategy has been fortifying the park’s perimeters by blocking vehicle access without sacrificing the welcoming green space for pedestrians and cyclists.

The city has organized cleanups and installed fencing, gates, guardrails, and cameras at chronic dumping sites, alongside with specialized bollards and lock covers engineered to thwart bolt cutters. Putting that infrastructure in place required collaboration with SEPTA; PennDot; and CSX, a freight rail carrier.

Walker points to the park’s Whitaker Avenue gateway as an example. A tire dump at the Whitaker Avenue bridge has been cleared, and bollards and cameras shut out, or deter, vehicles. Dumping there, she said, has all but disappeared.

The city’s Illegal Dumping Task Force, spearheaded by the Office of Clean and Green, meets weekly to coordinate efforts such as those at Whitaker Avenue across various municipal departments.

Furthermore, SWEEP (Streets, Walkways, Education, and Enforcement Program) officers and park rangers have been empowered to issue violation notices to offenders.

Walker said violators face fines of $5,000 if materials are dumped from a vehicle. It’s a newer, higher level penalty than in the past. Lower level fines of about $100 are still issued if dumping can’t be tied to a specific vehicle.

To monitor the problem, the city has created a map of dumping hot spots around the city. Of those, at least three have been neutralized.

The city is also collaborating with the Penn Water Center to analyze residents’ 311 calls, hoping to predict and prevent future hot spots.

Community engagement remains a critical component of the overall solution, Walker said.

“We have seen more and more people submitting videos or images,” Walker said. “I wholeheartedly believe that is a critical piece of the solution. We definitely understand that residents are critical to helping us solve this issue.

Walker notes that the high visibility of public cleanups has raised local awareness. Neighbors now utilize the 311 system to submit reports, images, and videos of illegal dumping.

Parks and Rec has tapped a William Penn Foundation grant to hire four park ambassadors who will help educate residents on proper waste disposal.

Even though large watershed parks like Tacony remain vulnerable, Walker is optimistic.

“I think we’re really starting to turn the tide with Tacony,” she said. We’re going piece-by-piece."

A yet unnamed preserve on the grounds of Friends Hospital, the nation’s oldest private psychiatric hospital, is a rare piece of privately owned bucolic land in crowded Northeast Philadelphia. It connects to the Tacony Creek Park Trail via the city’s second oldest bridge and has remained mostly untouched since 1813.

Soon, it will serve as a new, bucolic entrance to Tacony Creek Park.

In 2018, Natural Lands struck a deal with the Thomas Scattergood Behavioral Health Foundation to protect the preserve from development. As part of the deal, the public has gained access to an old-growth forest and wide span of Frankford Creek.

» READ MORE: 50 acres to be preserved at Northeast Philly mental health hospital grounds

On a recent tour of the preserve, DiBerardinis said much has changed for the good since the tire dump was discovered last year.

“You’re coming into a place that looks like a park now,” DiBernardis said. “it doesn’t look like a dumping ground.”

TTF now has an office at the Friends Hospital complex and can coordinate work there for both the preserve and the watershed.

At the preserve, residents can access a parking lot off Roosevelt Boulevard to connect directly to Tacony Creek Park, and use Fishers Lane as a pedestrian conduit. The preserve borders not only the park, but also the 100-acre Juniata Golf Course.

A pond at the preserve is being restored, thousands of trees are being planted, and new trails are planned. Thickets of invasive Japanese knotweed and bamboo have been removed.

Work is funded by $2 million in grants. That includes $1.7 million from the William Penn Foundation, as well as grants from the Pennsylvania Department of Conservation and Natural Resources.

In partnership with nonprofit PowerCorpsPHL, the work will provide paid jobs for 100 young people from North Philadelphia, allowing them to physically build their own community’s nature preserve. Some have already been busy planting trees by a stream, and operating heavy machinery to remove logs and debris.

Some residents like Sonia Rosa are already using the preserve.

She walks there daily with two others, and has noticed the surrounding area has been getting cleaner.

“I’ve been coming here every day for almost a year and seven months,” Rosa said. “For me, it’s a good mental and psychological place. I love the animals, the sound of the birds — everything.