44 Distillation Guidebook Co-Lab • 9.18–9.19 2025 Resilience Park Prior Use and Decline Kevin Lahoda The site that became Resilience Park was a vacant lot with a history of unlawful dumping and invasive plants. What was the history and condition of the land when you first encountered it, and what did that tell you about how urban parcels tend to get abandoned in cities like Allentown? Maggie Wallner Yes, from what I’ve been told by a combination of area residents and city staff, the conditions of the lot were less than inviting for many years. However, that’s not quite the state the space was in when my colleagues and I were made aware of it. Thanks to a collaborative clean-up effort between Allentown’s Environmental Advisory Council, city staff, and hardworking volunteers, several dump-truck loads of trash, as well as INTERVIEW The Small Cities Lab spoke with Maggie Wallner, Conservation Ecologist at the Lehigh Valley Conservation District, a partnership of conservation professionals working to protect Lehigh County’s diverse natural resources through leadership, technical assistance, education, land protection, promotion of sustainable development, and protection of water and soil quality. The conversation explored the process of reclaiming a neglected slope along the Trout Creek in downtown Allentown PA.
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