WILLISTOWN CONSERVATION TRUST

DONATE

Willistown Conservation Trust Accreditation Renewal Public Notice

By

The land trust accreditation program recognizes land conservation organizations that meet national quality standards for protecting important natural places and working lands forever. Willistown Conservation Trust is pleased to announce it is applying for renewal of accreditation. A public comment period is now open.

The Land Trust Accreditation Commission, an independent program of the Land Trust Alliance, conducts an extensive review of each applicant’s policies and programs. In 2008, Willistown Conservation Trust was one of the first land trusts nationwide to be awarded accreditation by the Commission. According to Kate Etherington, the Trust’s President and Executive Director: “Earning and maintaining our accredited status is more than a badge of honor—it’s a reflection of our deep commitment to doing conservation work with integrity, transparency, and long-term vision. It means our supporters, landowners, and partners can trust that not only are we protecting the most important places in our region, but we’re doing it responsibly and with the highest professional standards guiding every step.”

The Commission invites public input and accepts signed, written comments on pending applications. Comments must relate to how Willistown Conservation Trust complies with national quality standards. These standards address the ethical and technical operation of a land trust. For the full list of standards see http://www.landtrustaccreditation.org/help-and-resources/indicator-practices.

To learn more about the accreditation program and to submit a comment, visit landtrustaccreditation.org, or email your comment to info@landtrustaccreditation.org. Comments may also be mailed to the Land Trust Accreditation Commission, Attn: Public Comments, 36 Phila Street, Suite 2, Saratoga Springs, NY 12866.

Comments on Willistown Conservation Trust’s application will be most useful by July 1, 2025.

Willistown Conservation Trust to Establish a Public Preserve on Recently Sold Kirkwood Farm Property

By

A conservation outcome for Kirkwood Farm has been guaranteed, thanks to Willistown Conservation Trust who — with support from conservation partners and donors — will purchase 90 acres of the 218-acre Kirkwood Farm property for the creation of a public nature preserve. 

Kirkwood Farm — located on Plumsock and Providence Roads across from Willistown Conservation Trust (WCT) headquarters — was originally listed for sale during fall of last year, and in March 2023, movie director and screenwriter M. Night Shyamalan purchased it, ensuring that its 218 acres would not be lost to development. WCT had been invested in Kirkwood Farm’s fate for years, and the environmental nonprofit worked with Shyamalan to finalize its sale and plan for its future — a future that now includes further protective measures and this vision for a preserve, as outlined in the agreement of sale signed on June 2.

The future preserve boasts rolling hills and grasslands
View of the future preserve from Plumsock Road

WCT President and Executive Director Kate Etherington notes, “The chance to acquire and protect another portion of Kirkwood Farm is a dream come true for Willistown Conservation Trust. This future preserve will be an incredible asset to our community by providing public open space for all to enjoy, while protecting its abundant natural resources for generations to come.”  WCT Board Chair John Stoviak adds, “We are very grateful to Willistown Township, Chester County, Firstrust Bank, and WCT’s supporters for helping WCT pursue this game-changing opportunity.”

Originally 550 acres and owned by descendants of the Rockefeller family with a history that can be traced back to the 1700s, Kirkwood Farm sits at the heart of the Willistown countryside. Prior to its sale, it had been owned by the Rockefeller family for over 100 years. In 2004, WCT helped save a portion of the Farm by purchasing and protecting 95 acres as nearby Kirkwood Preserve located at 855 Grubbs Mill Road in Newtown Square. 

The future preserve’s beauty and natural resources include rolling hills and grasslands, mature woodlands, and two headwater tributaries to the Ridley Creek, designated as High Quality Waters by the Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection. The land provides prime habitat for numerous species of wildlife and includes critical areas for declining numbers of nesting and migratory birds. 

It is also an important connective piece between other local public preserves — including Rushton Woods Preserve, Kirkwood Preserve, and Okehocking Preserve — and once WCT establishes new trails here, it will enhance the greater network of hiking and riding trails enjoyed by so many. Additionally, WCT intends to restore habitat, create stream buffers, and plant native wildflower meadows to benefit wildlife.

WCT has already received funding for this project from private donors, in addition to a $500,000 grant awarded by the Chester County Commissioners that will go toward the anticipated $9 million purchase price and additional endowment.

Say County Commissioners Marian Moskowitz, Josh Maxwell, and Michelle Kichline, “The beauty of Kirkwood Farm can be found in both its spectacular landscape and vistas, as well as its ability to be publicly accessible in the near future, with planned parking and connections to surrounding preserved land. We are very pleased to partner with Willistown Conservation Trust on this project and thank them for their diligence in ensuring this portion of Kirkwood Farm remains forever protected.” 

The 90 acres is not open to the public at this time. To learn more about this preserve in the making, please visit wctrust.org/future-preserve

Press Contact: Monica McQuail, mjm@wctrust.org

An Intro to Easement Monitoring

By

By Stewardship Director Andrew Kirkpatrick

Every fall, the Stewardship Team heads out to monitor all of our conservation easements. In the greater Willistown area, we hold 96 easements covering 120 parcels owned by individual landowners. It is an opportunity for us to build relationships with our conservation partners, check in with everyone, and make sure that the terms of the easement are being followed. In recent years, with more properties being purchased by 2nd– and 3rd-generation easement owners, it provides us an opportunity to educate these new landowners about the importance of conservation easements and what it means to “run with the land.”

“WCT’s Stewardship staff helped us gain a complete understanding of the Conservation Easement on our property. They worked with us to make certain that improvements [we were planning] to our property were in compliance with easement while maintaining an environment healthy and beneficial to the land and the wildlife that enjoys it.”

Holly Spinner, owner of Roskamp Farm

The conservation easement is a legally binding agreement between a landowner who is the grantor, and Willistown Conservation Trust who is the grantee. The grantor gives up certain development rights on their property by limiting the number of house sites, the house size, the amount of impervious surfaces, and adding protections to critical habitats like streams, wetlands, and forests. In some cases, landowners also add in trail easements to ensure that trails that have been used by equestrians in our community are protected in perpetuity.

Early communication is the key for our landowners to comply with the easement. WCT is a partner in protecting the conservation values of the property. We work hard to help our landowners achieve their vision for their property while not compromising the values established by the agreement. Sometimes issues arise that require further attention to resolve. In most cases, we are able to work with the landowner to ameliorate the situation. However, if the matter is more serious, we consider it a violation and require the landowner to remediate the problem in a timely fashion.

Lucky for us, those instances are rare. Monitoring is one of our favorite times of year because we get to see the properties that have been protected and meet with landowners to answer questions and offer guidance. In the last year, we have formalized this approach with our Habitat at Home program where we visit any member of the community looking for advice to increase the quality of habitat on their property for birds, pollinators, or other wildlife. We work with our Watershed Protection program to coordinate with landowners who are interested in stream health and riparian buffers. Our Bird Conservation program offers expert advice on creating habitat that supports our feathered friends, and they also install bluebird and kestrel boxes. WCT offers these services to support our community in being better stewards of the land that generations have worked so hard to protect.

Introducing WCT’s Strategic Plan

By

STRATEGIC PLAN | 2023-2025
Saving, Studying, and Sharing Land, Water, and Habitat


WHERE HAVE WE BEEN?

Land conservation efforts have been underway in the Willistown area for over 40 years. A satellite program of Brandywine Conservancy, formed in 1979, was known as the Willistown Area Conservation Program. With the encouragement of the community and key local conservation leaders, Willistown Conservation Trust (WCT) became an independent, community based land trust in 1996 with a committed and active Board of Trustees.

Using the Crum, Ridley, and Darby Creek watersheds as a boundary guide, WCT’s traditional program area encompasses 28,000 acres in Chester County and portions of Delaware County, and is located approximately 20 miles west of Philadelphia. Despite tremendous growth pressures that have converted many neighboring communities into vast tracts of sprawl development, the WCT program area still remains largely an oasis of green space.

Successful land conservation and stewardship paved the way for major growth within the organization. Since its founding, WCT has grown to include a suite of activities focused on science, stewardship, education, and community engagement. In addition to Land Conservation and Land Stewardship, these core activities include Bird Conservation, Community Farm, Watershed Protection, and Outreach and Education. This holistic approach to conservation explores the connections among land, birds, habitat, agriculture, and water, and educates the public on these connections.

Our land protection and stewardship efforts have been focused on the Willistown area; however, our work has a regional and national impact on conservation.

WHERE ARE WE GOING?

Over the next three years, as our land protection efforts thrive and new opportunities in our traditional program area diminish, we anticipate a growing emphasis on habitat conservation and restoration, education and community outreach. Within these conserved lands, we will use our growing body of research in bird, water, and agro-ecology to inform best practices and engage with the community to educate and inspire an ethos of conservation and care of our land, waters, and habitat where wildlife thrives. In addition, we will identify and consider land protection and conservation opportunities outside of our traditional program area that fulfill service gaps in surrounding communities and meet vital conservation needs, as we interact and collaborate with new communities and organizations.

We will continue to be a robust organization that is well established, broadly supported, and attracts leaders at the forefront of the conservation field. Our science-based programs will contribute research to inform conservation priorities and best practices on a regional, national and international scale. We will attract a diverse group of staff, Trustees, and volunteers who are deeply committed to the mission of WCT and bring a variety of perspectives, skills, and experiences to our work. We will offer robust community and educational programs that attract a wide swath of participants. We will use our established expertise and connections for the conservation benefit of communities outside our traditional area of focus.

To read our Strategic Plan in full, click the cover below:

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

By

image.png
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.”

image.png

“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.