WILLISTOWN CONSERVATION TRUST

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Chester County Commissioners, PA DCNR, Willistown Conservation Trust, and Willistown Township Celebrate 12-Acre Addition to Kirkwood Preserve

November 2, 2022 By CommIntern

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Photo from L to R: Julie Graham (WCT), Drew Gilchrist (PA DCNR), Judy Thomas (Chester County Parks & Preservation), Jeanne Swope (WCT Volunteer), Ted Leisenring (Willistown Township Open Space Review Board), Erik Hetzel (WCT), Michelle Kichline (Chester County Commissioner), Bill Shoemaker (Willistown Township Supervisor), Josh Maxwell (Chester County Commissioner), Kate Etherington (WCT), Bonnie Van Alen (WCT), Mary Hundt (Willistown Township Parks & Recreation), Beth Hucker (WCT), Brook Gardner (Willistown Township Open Space Review Board), Molly Perrin (Willistown Township Supervisor). Chester County Commissioner Marian Moskowitz joined Willistown Conservation Trust at Rushton Conservation Center prior to the Kirkwood Ceremony.

Willistown, PA — On Monday, October 24 Willistown Conservation Trust welcomed the Chester County Commissioners, the Pennsylvania Department of Conservation and Natural Resources (DCNR), and Willistown Township to Kirkwood Preserve (855 Grubbs Mill Rd., Newtown Square) to commemorate an additional 12 acres added to the 83-acre Nature Preserve owned and maintained by Willistown Conservation Trust.

Partners in attendance at the ribbon cutting ceremony included Willistown Conservation Trust Executive Director Kate Etherington and Director of Land Protection Erik Hetzel; Chester County Commissioners Michelle Kichline and Josh Maxwell (County Commissioner Marian Moskowitz joined WCT before the ceremony); the PA DCNR Grants Coordinator Drew Gilchrist; Willistown Township’s Parks & Recreation Director Mary Hundt, Board of Supervisors Chair Bill Shoemaker, Supervisor Molly Perrin, Open Space Review Board Chair Ted Leisenring and Open Space Review Board Member Brook Gardner; and Chester County Preservation Programs Coordinator Judy Thomas.

This ceremony honored the partnering funders who were vital in the acquisition and permanent protection of this additional 12 acres of public open space. The project was financed and made possible by a grant from the PA DCNR through the Keystone Act of 1993 to WCT; grant funds provided by the Chester County Commissioners through the Chester County Landscapes 21st Century Fund; and the Willistown Township Open Space Fund.

Chester County Commissioners Marian Moskowitz, Josh Maxwell, and Michelle Kichline note, “The beauty of Chester County’s open space program is found not only in thousands of acres preserved, but also in the partnerships that make it happen. We are admired by communities across the commonwealth and the nation, and this is because all preservation partners — be they the State, the County, our municipalities, and conservancies like Willistown Conservation Trust — always make smart, well-planned investments in open space.”

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“Kirkwood Preserve is a special place,” says WCT Executive Director Kate Etherington. “Nestled among privately conserved lands, its protection preserves an important greenway, scenic vistas, important habitat for grassland birds and other species, meadows abundant with pollinators, and a prime section of Crum Creek. Additionally, Kirkwood provides ample recreational activities for the community with miles of pedestrian and equestrian trails.”

With the additional 12 acres comes a new trail within the Preserve — one that will provide access to many more miles of trails on adjacent conserved lands throughout the Willistown Countryside.

Says PA DCNR Grants Coordinator Drew Gilchrist, “The DCNR is pleased to partner with Willistown Conservation Trust and other funding partners in the preservation of this important parcel. With its preservation, the land will continue to provide essential environmental services, wildlife habitat, connect existing preserved land and expand the local trail network for all to enjoy and appreciate.”

Thanks to Willistown Township funding, WCT intends to install a stepping stone creek crossing along Crum Creek, which will connect the main portion of Kirkwood Preserve to this new addition. This creek crossing will also provide access to a portion of the existing Preserve that has not been accessible to the main area. WCT anticipates the creek crossing installation beginning in early fall of 2023, though walkers and hikers are currently permitted to cross the creek to access the Kirkwood Preserve addition. Proper footwear is advised.

Says Bill Shoemaker, “The celebration of this addition to the Kirkwood Preserve marks another chapter in the longstanding partnership of Willistown Township and WCT. The expanded parking lot and the soon-to-be-added stepping stones across the creek make the Preserve even more available for people to enjoy. The advantages of preserving open space resources are so important to this community, and Willistown Township is proud to be a part of this today!”

This open space is also part of a larger 16-acre conservation project across Grubbs Mill Road that will enable the preservation of an historic farmstead dating from the late 18th century that includes an iconic Chester County bank barn. Portions of the property that are not subject to the Kirkwood acquisition have been placed under conservation easement and restricted from any further development, allowing for the preservation of an historically significant landscape that embodies the rural character of the Willistown countryside.

Filed Under: Conservation, Land Protection, Nature Preserves, Stewardship, Trails

2022 Lenape Sojourn

September 29, 2022 By Lauren McGrath

By Watershed Protection Program Director Lauren McGrath; Photos by Kate Etherington

On August 16, 2022, Executive Director Kate Etherington and the Watershed Team attended the Lenape Nation of Pennsylvania’s 5th Rising Nation River Journey and signed the Treaty of Renewed Friendship. The Lenape people are the original inhabitants of Delaware, New Jersey, Eastern Pennsylvania, and Southern New York, and were stewards in the Delaware River Watershed for over 10,000 years before the arrival of European settlers. 

The group of nearly 50 individuals and organizations gathered in the sunny courtyard of Founders Hall at Haverford College, a longtime collaborator with the Lenape Nation, to celebrate the culmination of the River Journey. The ceremony began with smudging, or burning of ceremonial incense, performance of drumming and singing and the sharing of Lenape stories to share the significance of this event by Chief Shelley DePaul, Chief Gentle Moon Demund, and Tribal Council Storykeeper, Adam Waterbear DePaul. The Treaty signing then began, with supporting organizations and individuals taking turns to sign the document. “WCT recognizes the Lenape Nation as the original stewards of this land, and as an organization working to protect the land and waters within the Delaware River Watershed, we are honored to be invited to sign this Treaty, to carry on the tradition of land and water stewardship, and look forward to learning from and partnering more closely with the Lenape Nation in the years to come,” said Kate Etherington. The three week River Journey takes place every four years in August. The goal of this trip down the Delaware (or Lenape Sipu), is to “promote awareness that the Lenape people living in Pennsylvania are carrying on their ancestral traditions, culture and spiritual beliefs, and that they are engaged in numerous projects to provide practical ways for all citizens to respect and protect our homeland and the health, welfare, and future of the next seven generations of our children”1 as well as to elevate that Pennsylvania is one of the only states that does not recognize its indigenous peoples. 

Musicians opened the ceremony with traditional drumming and singing (Photo: Kate Etherington)

The Treaty of Renewed Friendship is an acknowledgement that the Lenape are the indigenous caretakers of these lands and signatories agree to support the Lenape Tribe in their own unique way including: Hosting Cultural / Educational programs, partnering as caretakers of the Lenape homeland and Delaware River, assisting in Lenape Language revival projects, assisting in displays/exhibits of Lenape culture, helping the Lenape people to obtain and/or protect sacred land sites, encouraging updated curriculum in public schools, attending Lenape functions, volunteer service and support, distributing information, financial assistance1. In signing the Treaty of Renewed Friendship, WCT joins a growing list of like minded organizations to collaborate and work towards shared goals of moving forward in our work of promoting respect and protecting the natural environment for future generations. Click here to read the full Treaty.

Chief Shelley DePaul introduces and reads through the Treaty of Renewed Friendship in advance of the signing (Photo: Kate Etherington)

From a historical perspective, WCT’s program area contains at least one important landmark in Lenape Nation history. Okehocking Reservation (a portion of which is now known as Okehocking Preserve), is one of the first Reservations in the United States and many of the Lenape People were moved onto this parcel of land as colonization settled into the Southeastern Pennsylvania landscape. The majority of the Lenape in this Reservation were forcibly removed and driven westward to form communities in Oklahoma, Kansas, Ohio, Indiana, Wisconsin in the late 1800’s2. 

In addition to the historic significance of the Lenape People in Chester County, there is a growing understanding in the scientific and land trust communities that to create climate resilient environments, we must turn back to the ancestral stewards of the landscape and work towards incorporating the knowledge and ethic of these cultures into the work of conservation. WCT is grateful for the opportunity to sign the Treaty of Renewed Friendship with the Lenape Nation of Pennsylvania and focus efforts in the next four years to elevate their voices and knowledge, grow in our understanding of stewarding the landscape, and building meaningful connections with the natural environment.  

Click here to learn more about the Lenape Nation of Pennsylvania and to see upcoming events and educational opportunities (including language classes!) from the Lenape Nation, and be sure to visit the curated exhibit at Haverford College from January through July of 2023.

Wanishi! 

References: 

  1. https://www.lenape-nation.org/
  2. https://glenprovidencepark.org/2011/11/21/the-okehocking-before-the-settlers/

Filed Under: Conservation, Education, Land Protection

Advocacy Alert! PA Growing Greener Would Invest Millions in Conservation and Outdoor Recreation

June 1, 2022 By Kate Etherington

Dear Friends and Neighbors, 

Currently, there is a proposal in the Pennsylvania General Assembly called Growing Greener 3, and its funding affects our livelihood, along with the success of all conservation and environmental organizations in Pennsylvania. Our friends at Natural Lands wrote this message on the importance of using our collective voice in support of Growing Greener 3 this week, and we couldn’t have said it better ourselves! Read below and help us Invest in Nature.

Growing Greener 3 would invest $500 million in:

  • conservation of open space and farmland, 
  • clean water initiatives, 
  • upgrades in state parks and forests, 
  • projects to reduce flooding, and
  • trails, greenways, and parks. 

There are two pieces of good news, and one problem. First, there is bipartisan support to use federal American Rescue Plan Act funds for these local investments. Second, Pennsylvania revenues are at all-time highs — we can afford to make this happen.

The problem is this: the representatives and senators who are championing this legislation tell us they are not hearing about it from their constituents. 

This is where you can help. Would you please take just a moment to tell your elected officials that this investment is important and urgently needed? THIS WEEK is the most important time to get the message out. 

Here’s what you can do:  

  • Call or email your representative and senator. You can find your legislators at this link.
  • Tell them that the issues listed above are important to you.
  • Ask them to support Growing Greener 3.

Ask them to talk to their leadership in the House/Senate to urge their support of Growing Greener 3. Please share this message with friends, neighbors, and family who also might be willing to make a call.

Here’s a sample email you can copy and paste: 

I’m writing to urge Senator/Representative X to support Growing Greener 3. Our district needs investment in clean water, open space and farm conservation, vibrant parks and trails, outdoor recreation, and projects to reduce flooding. Please tell your leaders in the Senate/House that our district needs this funding. It’s important to me to have safe places to get outside, clean water to drink, and fresh air to breathe. Please make sure that Pennsylvania is investing in those things on our behalf. 

Thank you for making your voice heard, and for speaking up for nature!

Sincerely,

Kate Etherington

Cover Photo by Jennifer Mathes

Filed Under: Conservation, Land Protection, Nature, Stewardship

Step Back in Time with Owen McGoldrick

May 24, 2022 By CommIntern

All photos are currently on display and for sale in the Rushton Conservation Center, May 17 – August 28.

INTRODUCTION BY OWEN MCGOLDRICK

The color photographs were made using a 4×5” Linhof view camera. Notch and clip marks are shown to emphasize a bygone era, which involved carrying a heavy view camera and tripod, loaded with Kodak or Fuji film, and taking a picture somewhere on the grounds of what is now part of the Kirkwood Preserve, or in the very accommodating and voluminous interior of our mid-19th century farmhouse and barn.

Dr. S.H. overlooks Grubbs Mill and Goshen Roads

“Silo Cap” was one of the very first photos shot with a 35mm Pentax for a beginning photography class at the Columbus College of Art, Ohio. Our family lived in the lower house of Massey Farm (always referred to as White Horse Farm by our clan) from 1963 to 1990. The photographs in this exhibit depict the house, barn and fields that surrounded the fence line.

The landowner, Dr. Robert Strausz-Hupé, lived in the mansion at the top of the hill. He was an Austrian immigrant with Old World ways, a plume of cigarette smoke and cravat. He served as a statesman, professor at Penn and a term as the US ambassador to NATO, as well as Turkey, Sweden and Sri Lanka.  Dr. S. H. could be stern, especially when it came to our lawn mowing abilities, or lack thereof; however, he was also generous, allowing us to use his glamorous swimming pool every summer day from 5 to 6 pm. What a relief it was to jump into that cool water on a hot, muggy summer afternoon. The pool was surrounded on three sides by apple trees which offered useful content for two of the pictures in this exhibit, not to mention homemade applesauce.

Here’s a tidbit. Mrs. Strausz-Hupé once called my mother and asked frantically if we had a car to pick up Dr. S. H. and a military general at the Philadelphia airport. Being the only resource available, off I went to pick up the good doctor and General Alexander Haig in the family VW. As a longhaired 16 year old with limited driving experience, it was a bit soon to be chauffeuring major political figures of national importance. After I dropped them off, mom asked me what they talked about. I replied, “Mostly themselves.”

Tidbit #2. Dr. Strausz-Hupé had an aesthetic streak. He was the first person to turn me on to the 18th century British artist and poet, William Blake. There we sat in his study with little hippie me looking at color plates of this visionary artist. Blake is still one of my favorite historical figures, and not only visually, but the whole daring philosophy of his creative universe is something to behold.

Growing up on a farm with a big barn to play in, acres of fields and woods to explore, and Crum Creek to swim and fish in, was more than a fair deal for any childhood. How remarkable it is that those fields and creek are today’s Kirkwood Preserve! Deep appreciation and a little awe goes to Bonnie Van Alen, Kate Etherington, Willistown Conservation Trust and the active group of local citizens for taking action and saving the day.

The select group of images were recently scanned and retouched in Lightroom and Photoshop and printed within the last two months on Epson Premium inkjet and Kodak professional paper. This is known as “straight photography,” where all effects happened on site and outside the camera, without machinations in Photoshop to create the visual results. The transparencies came out of a 40-year hibernation in carefully stored boxes through many a move, and now my old friends have returned.

GALLERY DESCRIPTIONS

All gallery photos are on display and for sale at the Rushton Conservation Center, May 17 – August 28.

1. The Barn is a Camera | A window shines a sunbeam inside the west storage room, or hay mow.

cam·er·a ob·scu·ra : a darkened box with a convex lens or aperture for projecting the image of an external object onto a screen inside. ORIGIN early 18th century: from Latin, ‘dark chamber.’

2.  Silo Cap | One of the earliest photos from the first year of photography at the Columbus College of Art and Design. I wished I’d thoroughly documented the silo since we have so few photos of it. It was demolished later that year in 1977, after being deemed an unsafe structure.

3. Inside Looking Up | Inside the silo looking up at the deteriorating rooftop. A worker would have stood on those steps and lifted the sileage from the outside on an “elevator,” which was actually no more than an iron bucket. Dangerous work.

4. Black and Light | The result of a photography assignment using Dektol as a developer for B&W film. Or was it M-D3? It gives a grainy, high contrast look to the print. I took two negatives and sandwiched them. The barn’s a camera, a playground, a studio, a subject, an object.

5. Northwest Side | I took this snapshot in the mid-1990’s. Those doors are usually called “X-braced” and lead into the upper threshing room. The double decker barn traces back to English antecedents. A recent shot of one of the storage rooms is shown below.

6. The Exemplar | I remember floating by that oak tree in a great flood in June, 1968. There was a continuous wave at the bottom of Barr road.
Crum Creek was flowing to the right of this tree at about a 5-foot depth, a moving lake 10 times its normal size. That’s when I went for a swim and my friend Tom thought I was drowning so he made Boy Scout signals on the edge of the field. You can still see the high water mark from that storm event, put there by the township on telephone poles.

 7. Pennsylvania Landscape | “Tootsie Roll” bales somewhere on Davis Road looking south. Archetypical Pennsylvania farmland nostalgia. For some reason, I think of the Civil War when I look at this print.

8. Cow Palette | Living amongst the Holsteins brought up mischievous thoughts of the black and white tonal scale in photography. But I didn’t expect the cow to be waiting for me on top of the hill. Hello Ansel Adams Zone System. That’s Crum Creek in the far ridgeline.

9. Speed of Light | From the third floor west bedroom looking into Wyeth country.

10.  A Single Excellent Night | The title comes from the name of an ancient Buddhist text. That’s a 35mm slide projected from a Kodak projector of a TV still shot (was it a Magritte documentary?) into the far room. I painted the walls yellow and asked a friend to pose with an umbrella. She put on my bowler hat. I wish I still had that bowler hat.

11. Flag Composition | Still life arrangement courtesy of the Strausz-Hupé apple grove. The antique dress was courtesy of mom’s shop in Berwyn. It was a lot of work to get those apples into our enclosed yard in cosmic order. The flag was a family heirloom from family ancestor and WWI flying ace, George Evans. One time I showed the photograph to the father of a very good friend who exclaimed, shocked and angry, “But that’s desecrating the flag!” (The flag should never touch the ground, let alone decaying apples.) You can’t predict some people’s reactions. But I got his point.

12. Thornley Bush III | I found this natural oddity and stuck it between barbed wire and a fence rail just outside of the mudroom. One time the field behind caught fire from an unmonitored rubbish burn and the fire department had to be called out to douse the flames. The next year the field grass grew back very, very green and healthy. Sometimes calamity brings an improvement.

13. Still Life with Moonrise | A Kodak projector beams a slide of the moon in the third floor bathroom. I was big into projecting slides into interiors and exteriors, and then photographing the on-the-site collage with a view camera. That’s called analog. Ya dig?

14. Three Tree Hill | A saddle sloped hill that was great for tobogganing. Brought to you by billions of years of tertiary history and a 4×5 view camera. Somewhere near those trees I remember there was a salt block for cows. After some research, sodium in the salt helps with the absorption of calcium and helps to avoid “grass tetany.” I tried licking that maroon colored block once as a kid and never did get grass tetany after that.

15. Priest at Crum Creek 

Crum Creek. I wonder what the Lenni-Lenapes called it?

This is a shot of Father Dinda launching a toy boat. He was a real fun character who used to come into my mother’s antique shop in Berwyn. Mom would always have some interesting items in the shop and that’s how I came to borrow the boat.  I love Father Dinda’s self-satisfied grin – a man of the cloth comfortable in his…cloth. How I got him on that rock I’ll never know.

We used to go swimming in one spot called the Sheep hole, where the creek was six feet deep. There was a rope swing on a pine tree, and swing we did into beautiful Crum Creek. I would get a stick and put a piece of bacon on a hook and fish from a large rock. In those summer days in the 60’s, I’d often see rainbow trout, which was always tantalizing because not once did I ever catch a trout with bacon. They don’t go for worms either. I’d inevitably catch a sunfish. This was Huck Finn style fishin’. One time I took my catch home and put him in our aquarium. We called him/ her, Sunny, he/she lasted all summer.

Right across from the big rock where I always sat, there was, and thankfully still is, a magnificent oak tree. Around the time I took Father Dinda’s picture, I set up the view camera in front of a tree in all its autumnal glory, The Exemplar.

16. Portrait of Father Dinda

17. White Horse Farm, 1900 | The house on the hill is the mansion where the Strausz-Hupé family lived.

From the Chester County Historical Society Archives.

18. The Lion in Winter | The home had a great fireplace. An excellent home for the holidays.

19. Beatle John | My brother John Pancoast posing in front of the apple cosmos in Alfie’s yard. It could have been a great album cover. John used to go to parties and tell everyone he was George Thorogood’s brother. It worked.

20. First Polaroid: Forebay | A copy of the very first Polaroid trying out a new view camera in 1981. Perspective issues!

Filed Under: Conservation, Education, Film, Land Protection, Nature Preserves, Photography

WCT Update: Promising News about Kirkwood Farm

April 14, 2022 By Kate Etherington

Dear Friends and Neighbors,

Last month, I shared with you that Kirkwood Farm — a 218-acre parcel in the heart of the Willistown countryside between Providence and Plumsock Roads surrounded by conserved lands and a critical component of an established greenway — was listed for sale. I am excited to announce that a positive outcome has been reached, and as hoped, Kirkwood Farm is now under agreement of sale with a conservation buyer. 

The buyer and family love the property and surrounding countryside, and they are excited by the opportunity to own and preserve it. I am confident that they will be great stewards of the land, dedicated to protecting the farm’s special natural and scenic resources. Over the course of the next several months, WCT hopes to engage in discussions with the buyer to collectively determine the best way to protect this treasured part of the Willistown countryside forever. 

Our community is grateful for the hard work of local conservation groups and individuals, who remain committed to the protection of this special property, and for your continued support and shared concern for the future of our natural spaces.  

Sincerely,


Kate Etherington

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Filed Under: Conservation, Land Protection

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