WILLISTOWN CONSERVATION TRUST

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Migration Mystery

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Where Do Migrating Birds Fly?
First State-wide Motus Array Will Help Provide Some Answers

The Northeast Motus Collaboration (NMC) is a partnership that was organized to fill a gap of Motus receiver stations in the Northeastern United States. The NMC is comprised of Willistown Conservation Trust, the Ned Smith Center for Nature and Art In Dauphin county, and Project Owlnet, headed by Lisa Kiziuk, David Brinker, and Scott Weidensaul respectively.

Fueled by an unparalleled passion for birds, a remarkable team assembled by the NMC completed the first state-wide array of receiver stations in Pennsylvania this past July, constructing 18 towers in 17 days. The network promises new hope for scientists who are working to save declining bird populations. And now that the state-wide array is in place, conservationists, students, and citizens can look forward to a plethora of eye-opening new data about where and which species are migrating through Pennsylvania. The information will help both bird and land conservation organizations like the Trust learn which places are most critical for birds’ survival and most worthy of protection.

The team’s response to the challenges presented by the installation of the towers is an extraordinary story of resilience, persistence, technical problem-solving ability, and physical endurance. Each tower had its own unique set of challenges, as the different installation sites included fire towers, rooftops, mountain tops, meadows, a greenhouse, and a cell phone tower. The installation tested the team’s mechanical, electrical, computing, solar, and crane-renting skills, just to name a few.

The project began with hundreds of deliveries from Amazon arriving at the Trust’s office almost daily beginning in June. All of the pieces and parts for the 18 towers were gathered in the tractor shed at Rushton Farm where the team began sorting through the labyrinth of boxes and crates and mapping out their plan of attack across the state of Pennsylvania. “As prepared as we thought we were, almost every tower required some piece of hardware that we did not already have in our kit,” shares Todd Alleger, one of the members of the technical team. “From bedrock to soft soils, we saw every site condition imaginable, and now we are experts in installing a tower using something appropriately called a duckbill anchor,” reports Alison Fetterman, the team’s project coordinator.

Viewing tools and applications that display the data gathered at Motus receiver stations are continuing to evolve, and we look forward to sharing them via our website as soon as they become available. In the meantime, visit motus.org and zoom in on the Motus Network map and Explore Data/View Tracks sections to see some of the migration data gathered to date.

Ross Wood (Bird Studies Canada), Jon Rice (Carnegie Museum of Natural History), and Alison Fetterman (Willistown Conservation Trust) pose with landowner Jay Drasher alongside the newly erected tower installed at Neversink Mountain Preserve in Berks County. Ross Wood (Bird Studies Canada), Jon Rice (Carnegie Museum of Natural History), and Alison Fetterman (Willistown Conservation Trust) pose with landowner Jay Drasher alongside the newly erected tower installed at Neversink Mountain Preserve in Berks County. Todd Alleger works on a receiver station from a rented cherry picker in Blue Marsh and Waggoner’s Gap, PA. Todd Alleger works on a receiver station from a rented cherry picker in Blue Marsh and Waggoner’s Gap, PA. Motus technology employs a miniaturized radio transmitter that is attached to a bird’s back. The transmitter emits a pulse that is picked up by any Motus receiver station near where the bird flies. Motus provides bird migration data that is shared with major bird research facilities globally. Motus technology employs a miniaturized radio transmitter that is attached to a bird’s back. The transmitter emits a pulse that is picked up by any Motus receiver station near where the bird flies. Motus provides bird migration data that is shared with major bird research facilities globally.

New Conservation Easement Protects Remaining 30 Acres of Hi Bid Farm

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KSL Photos 075

The last 30 acres of the beautiful 55-acre Hi Bid Farm were permanently protected from development today, when conservation buyer Caroline Moran signed a conservation easement at the Trust’s office. The land will remain privately owned by Ms. Moran, and the easement limits the number of primary residences permitted on the land to just two, instead of the seven which would have been permitted without the conservation easement. The easement specifies the locations of any future buildings and ensures that the existing woodlands and sensitive streamside areas near the property’s headwaters to the Ridley Creek remain undisturbed in perpetuity. Two new trails are also outlined in the easement, which make important permanent connections to the wider trail network to the north and to the east.

“Caroline is a true hero of the countryside”, stated Trust Executive Director Bonnie Van Alen. “She loves this land and has made a remarkably generous commitment to protect and care for it so that future generations of people and wildlife can enjoy it forever. “

The entire 55-acre Hi Bid farm was purchased by a partnership of private individuals organized by the Trust and Delchester Group, Inc. in January of 2015 to hold the land until conservation buyers like Ms. Moran could be located. The Hi Bid project represents the 15th Community Conservation Partnership, resulting in nearly 2,000 acres of the Trust’s focal area protected in this way. These partnerships are a testament to the extraordinary commitment of the Willistown community to come together to preserve critical properties that might otherwise have been developed.

As is true of all conservation easements, the protection afforded by Hi Bid’s conservation easements remain with the land perpetually, even if the land is sold in the future. And as one of the most important parts of its mission, Willistown Conservation Trust stewardship staff will visit the land annually to monitor the condition of the property and provide management suggestions as requested.

Willistown Conservation Trust Receives William Penn Foundation Grant to Advance Watershed Protection

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May 8, 2017

Newtown Square, PA – Willistown Conservation Trust, whose founders have overseen the protection of more than 7,200 acres of open space in the Willistown area since 1979, has received a two-year $410,000 grant from the William Penn Foundation to increase its capacity for watershed protection, announced President and Executive Director, Bonnie Van Alen.

The Crum Creek is one of four major tributaries to the Delaware River with headwaters in the Trust’s geographic focal area.

As part of this grant, the Trust’s geographic focal area which encompasses the headwaters of four major tributaries of the Delaware River—the Chester, Crum, Ridley and Darby Creeks, will become an official Field Study Site for the Academy of Natural Sciences of Drexel University and other organizations. In collaboration with scientists from the Academy and other institutions with expertise in watershed protection, the grant will enable the Trust to develop and implement best practices for enhancing water quality, and to share its findings with other land trusts throughout the region and the country.  “Since our inception we have cared deeply about water quality and know inherently that all of our land protection and stewardship efforts directly improve it,” said Bonnie Van Alen. “But this grant will enable us to increase our expertise in watershed protection, and to create dedicated research sites where we can collaborate, measure and share the results with others.”

The grant will provide funding to hire a Field Site Coordinator, four Drexel University Co-op students, and several interns over the two year period. Guided by methodology developed by the Delaware River Watershed Initiative (DRWI), the Field Study team will identify watershed protection priorities and improvement projects. Findings from the project will be used to enhance water quality in the four local headwater streams, and will be presented to land trusts and other organizations with a goal of encouraging them to undertake similar watershed initiatives. 

Willistown Conservation Trust is recognized as a national leader in Bird Conservation, Agroecology and Habitat Restoration, and the staff at the Trust is excited to be adding a watershed protection component that will unleash a powerful synergy between programs. The resulting increased watershed protection knowledge will be incorporated into the Trust’s education and outreach curricula, which reaches a broad array of students from elementary to university level and suburban to urban communities.

The William Penn Foundation, founded in 1945 by Otto and Phoebe Haas, is dedicated to improving the quality of life in the Greater Philadelphia region through efforts that increase educational opportunities for children from low-income families, ensure a sustainable environment, foster creativity that enhances civic life, and advance philanthropy in the Philadelphia region. In partnership with others, the Foundation works to advance opportunity, ensure sustainability, and enable effective solutions. Since inception, the Foundation has made nearly 10,000 grants totaling over $1.6 billion

501(c)(3) EIN 23-2841453