A partnership between CRC Watersheds, Willistown Conservation Trust & Stroud Water Research Center and CRC’s Sandra Thompson

The Chester Ridley Crum Watershed Association (CRC), Willistown Conservation Trust (WCT), and Stroud Water Research Center partnered to study road salt contamination in Chester, Ridley, and Crum Creeks during the 25th annual stream clean up. The concept for this idea came in 2023 while I was the acting Director of Development, Education & Outreach for CRC. I met with Lauren McGrath,WCT’s Director of Watershed Protection, to see how CRC and WCT could work together to understand conditions in the Chester, Ridley, and Crum Creek watersheds. 

It was during this discussion that I learned about The Darby Creek Community Science Monitoring Program – a partnered project between WCT and Darby Creek Valley Association, which trains volunteers to collect water samples in Darby Creek and test for chloride and conductivity levels. Chloride is introduced in a watershed most often through the application of road salts and can build up in the soils, causing high levels throughout the year. 

Conductivity is a measurement of water’s ability to conduct an electric current, and is often used to measure the impact of human actions on the landscape. Conductivity is often elevated in areas where there are higher levels of impervious surfaces, which are any surface that water cannot pass through – like pavement, rooftops, and sidewalks. There is a close relationship between these two measurements. In the winter, the application of road salt on driveways, roads, and sidewalks drives higher levels of conductivity in waterways – while salt is not the only driver of higher conductivity levels, it is the major contributor in the region. By looking at these two measurements together, we can learn alot about what is impacting the health of these streams very quickly!

As our discussion went on, I suggested that CRC could help to grow the understanding of water quality in the Cheser, Ridley and Crum Creek watersheds as CRC is already so well established in the region with a strong base of driven volunteers and WCT is dedicated to understanding water chemistry in local streams. This connection generated excitement about the possibilities that this might offer and I was encouraged to connect with another partner, David Bressler, Stroud Water Research Center’s Community Science Facilitator, to see how we might have all three organizations work together. Together, we worked with Carly Lare, CRC’s Executive Director, to create a plan to add water chemistry sampling to the 25th Annual CRC Streams Cleanup Day. Because we would be collecting many samples at one time, we called the sample day a Snapshot! With Stroud Water Research Center supplying the chloride strips, WCT providing the technical guidance, sample bottles and analysis space, and CRC bringing volunteers and sample sites together, the Streams Cleanup Snapshot was ready to go! 

CRC’s Annual Streams Cleanup Day occurred this year on March 16th. Each cleanup location was sent instructions and a labeled bottle to collect a stream sample. 30 water samples were returned for testing and on Monday, March 18th, staff from WCT were joined by Susan Day, a dedicated volunteer and Master Watershed Steward, and I to perform chloride and conductivity testing. Over the course of 3 hours, we saw that chloride and conductivity levels were elevated at every site across all three watersheds but there were some locations that were higher than expected (Map 1). 

In Chester Creek, the highest chloride and conductivity levels were recorded in 3 sites in West Chester Borough near the headwaters of Chester Creek, In Ridley Creek, the highest levels were recorded at Houtman Park, and in Crum Creek, the highest levels were recorded at Drexel Lodge Park and just downstream of the Springfield Mall. All of the locations where there were higher than expected levels of chloride and conductivity had two things in common: they were small streams within a highly paved landscape that is salted heavily before and during winter storm events. The size of the stream is very important for understanding how intense the salt readings are – as a stream gets bigger, there is more water, which can dilute the chloride and conductivity readings, making it more challenging to see where problems areas are on the landscape.  Through this sample snapshot, we were able to learn very quickly where some of the problem areas in the Chester, Ridley and Crum Creek watersheds exist.

Now, more than ever before, thanks to many user-friendly, cost effective methods available, volunteers who get involved in ‘Community Science’ can make a huge impact. One of CRC’s greatest strengths is its robust volunteer program which makes an incredible impact every year thanks to an extremely well organized group of about 1,000 volunteers. On this single day, each year, those volunteers spread out among 35+ sites along the three creeks that CRC oversees – Chester, Ridley and Crum – and clean out over 40,000 lbs of trash. This event was a success because CRC’s passionate volunteers came together to improve the health of their watersheds by cleaning up the visible pollution and helped to show where the less visible pollution – salt – is causing problems. Together, we can continue to work to both beautify and  improve the health of Chester, Ridley and Crum Creeks!

Map 1. Stream Cleanup Snapshot Sample Sites. Each point is a cleanup location that collected a stream sample. The size of the point shows the impact of conductivity, with larger points having higher results. The color of the point shows the concentration of chloride at the location, with low levels in yellow, medium levels in orange and high levels in red.

By Aaron Coolman, Motus Technical Coordinator and Avian Ecologist

In January, the Bird Conservation Team traveled to West Virgina to join 150 of North America’s most prominent ornithologists. Attendees came from across the U.S., Canada, Mexico, and regions of Central America. Winter’s blessings were clearly in our favor, greeting us in the mountain highlands of West Virginia in a soft, fleece covering of snow. Dark-eyed Juncos scattered the campus in contrasting shades of charcoal and snow-white bellies atop pink legs, and Carolina Chickadees served as tour guides, escorting the hurried scientists between adjacent buildings. We gathered to meet in person for the first time to discuss the Road to Recovery (R2R) movement which focuses on the effort to recover bird species in rapid decline throughout the U.S. and Canada.

R2R was started on the heels of the famous 3 Billion Birds article published in the journal Science. This groundbreaking publication presented the most comprehensive and up-to-date population trend analysis for 529 species of birds known to breed in the U.S. and Canada, and the results were staggering. Since 1970, nearly 3 billion breeding birds have vanished from our continent. Furthermore, 112 species have experienced a global population decline of 50% over the last 50 years and are expected to continue declining over the next 30 years. These birds have been dubbed the “Tipping Point Species”. As a frame of reference, there are approximately 700 bird species that regularly breed in the U.S. and Canada on an annual basis. This report on impacted species wasn’t a gut punch- it was an abdominal rupture.

The R2R team recognized that the current conservation efforts weren’t working, so they called on a new group of talent to enhance their efforts. Social scientists were hired, and quickly new strategies for on-the-ground conservation were implemented. Instead of remaining siloed in echo chambers of technical language and research publications, social scientists emphasized the importance of engaging community members and local stakeholders early in the planning stages of new or existing projects. As a result, the main theme of this movement is that the “human dimension” is critical to success, yet is frequently left out of the equation by scientists. When time is taken to include those who are impacted by conservation initiatives, projects can move towards a common goal of co-production rather than scientists being seen as “luddites” or enemies of societal progress. Preserving a critical wetland hosting native amphibians, reptiles, and fishes; changing a developer’s plans to include wildlife-friendly designs; convincing a forester to leave a selection of mother trees to promote reforestation and early-successional habitat- all of these scenarios and more come to life when scientists extend beyond their labs and into real conversations with key stakeholders.

After the first day of presentations, I quietly said to my coworkers: “Doesn’t WCT already implement many of these practices?” Lisa Kiziuk, Director of Bird Conservation Program, chuckled and replied: “We absolutely do.” And it’s true. We are oftentimes reaching beyond the boundaries of our preserves to meet the community where they are at. The Grassland Bird Collaboration (GBC) is a prime example. For more than a decade, Zoe Warner, GBC Program Manager, has been monitoring breeding birds utilizing the vast hay meadows of Doe Run in southern Chester County and building relationships with the local landowners and farmers. In 2022, WCT officially created the GBC and has since hosted bi-annual meetings in Doe Run to further engage the community responsible for these grasslands. Farmers and landowners, together with conservation partners, have been invited to share their thoughts and experiences with the program which has produced invaluable feedback. This engagement has been crucial to the success of the program, and since its inception ecosystem indicator species such as Bobolink, Eastern Meadowlark, and Grasshopper Sparrow breeding numbers have noticeably increased throughout Doe Run.

R2R emphasizes that conservation biology requires scientists to work collaboratively. Our efforts are immeasurably stronger when people with diverse skillsets work towards a common goal. These efforts can be focused on single-species recovery, such as the Golden-winged Warbler Working Group or Evening Grosbeak Working Group championed by the R2R movement. Or they can support a hemispheric suite of species, like the Motus Wildlife Tracking System. Motus is a network of Automated Telemetry Receivers that are built and monitored by independent researchers primarily across the Americas, Europe, and Australia. WCT first became involved in this global network in October, 2016, with the first station of many being installed right in our backyard at Rushton Farm. Thanks to our dedicated partnerships with Powdermill Avian Research Center, the Pennsylvania Game Commission, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, Maryland Department of Natural Resources, and many others, the Northeast Motus Collaboration has installed, upgraded, and actively monitors over 160 Motus stations.

As the coverage of this network continues to expand, researchers can now study animal migrations at national and international scales. Our own Shelly Eshleman, Motus Avian Research Coordinator, has been using Motus to analyze migration patterns and habitat use of Eastern Towhees, an early successional or “shrubland” habitat specialist whose population is in precipitous decline. Our colleagues from western Pennsylvania are using the network to investigate migration patterns and population declines of Evening Grosbeaks, perhaps the most charismatic of the winter finches. The GBC has spearheaded an effort to study migrations of Bobolinks in Pennsylvania, Vermont, and Maine to compare how different populations migrate using Motus.

The impetus for our involvement in Motus was an idea from Scott Weidensaul and David Brinker, who together with Lisa thought Motus would be an exceptional opportunity to study the migration patterns of Rushton Farm’s favorite owl: the Northern Saw-whet Owl. I am thrilled to announce that in autumn of 2024, I will be bringing our 7-year Motus journey back to the place it started. Through a collaborative effort with Project Owlnet and the University of Delaware, I will be leading a project alongside Scott and David to study the migration patterns of Northern Saw-whet Owls using the Motus network we have worked so hard to build. I am inspired every day to work with as talented a group of dedicated conservationists and scientists as those at WCT and I am delighted to bring this new project to our organization. The Road to Recovery conference in Shepherdstown taught me many things, but the one that stands out is that we can’t accomplish our goals alone, and certainly not without support from a community. The one we have in Willistown is special.

By John Holback, Stewardship Manager

When I think back on the springs of my youth in southern Chester County, I think of muddy boots and dirty pant legs. I think of those relished lingering snow patches that disappeared slowly in the lowlands and the heavy snowballs that could be made from them. I think of prying free ice sheets from the edge of creek side gravel beds and throwing rocks to break the bergs as they floated down stream. I think of the crocuses coming up and later seeing sprouting daffodils, marking where my dad once made my brother and me “help” bury the bulbs. Spring was, and is still, good in southern Chester County. Now, with several decades of life lived, I have new thoughts of spring; spring cleaning, days getting longer, work getting busier, and taxes. Still, childhood memories endure, and one that perennially returns, especially during muddy lowland hikes, is that of trying to find an uninitiated victim to sniff some freshly sprouted skunk cabbage. I thought I was very clever then and sometimes still do, as I now try to get my nieces and nephews to take a whiff.

I know I am not the only one to opine on this interesting and charismatic plant, but I hope to offer something of a fresh perspective. A little background: Eastern Skunk Cabbage (Symplocarpus foetidus) is a member of the Aroid family, Araceae, and is endemic to eastern Canada down to Tennessee and North Carolina. It is an obligate wetland species, meaning that you will only find this plant growing in wetland conditions. Starting in late winter you will first see the plant’s flowering parts poking up like purple and green alien growths through often still frozen mud and snow due to its thermogenic properties (it creates its own heat). The hood like spathe opens to reveal the spadix – a spike covered by tiny crowded flowers. Sound familiar? That’s because you are likely familiar with other Aroids like Peace Lilly, Jack-in-the-Pulpit, and the new social media favorite, the Corpse Flower. Like many other Aroids, the plant is reasonably toxic. Should you taste it (please don’t), you will learn that the calcium oxalate crystals present in the plant have prominent tasting notes of hot needles and broken glass.

Though there is plenty of skunk cabbage in our region, in Tennessee, it is considered endangered. It might seem strange that a plant that is so abundant here can be considered endangered just several hundred miles away but because many of Tennessee’s lowlands are being destroyed for development, skunk cabbage is now at risk of disappearing there. Our lowlands are at risk too. Development, landscape degradation, and fragmentation cause harm to our natural areas and ecosystems. Excess runoff leads to soil erosion that can fill in and alter the soil chemistry of low areas, making it hard for the plants and animals that have evolved there to survive. According to The Chesapeake Bay Foundation, The Bay’s watershed continues to lose forest land at a rate of 70 acres a day, and while not all of that is skunk cabbage habitat, the impacts trickle down. Next door in the 13,539 square mile Delaware River basin, where we are located, nearly 15 million people and the region’s diverse flora and fauna, require access to clean water – something healthy, intact wetland ecosystems play a critical role in providing.

Perhaps you do not have the attachment to skunk cabbage that I do but I bet you do have a favorite plant, bird, or insect. “Charismatic megafauna” (yes that’s a thing) like the blue whale, gorilla, or bald eagle have served as a rallying point for conservationists everywhere and for good reason. My argument is that “regular ol’ flora and fauna” can be just as charismatic and serve as a rallying point too. I hope this spring, when you find yourself in the wetland areas at Ashbridge Preserve, Rushton Woods, or in your backyard gully, you take a moment to convince someone to sniff the skunk cabbage and remember that it and the wetland ecosystem it depends on are charismatic and important too.

By Erik Hetzel, Director of Land Protection and Public Grants

On December 5, 2023, WCT accepted its first-ever donation of a conservation easement on a property located in Radnor Township, Delaware County. Thanks to the conservation vision of H. Ross Watson, his 5.6-acre property on Langdale Road known as “Frog Hollow” will be preserved for the benefit of its scenic, historic, and natural attributes and forever protected from further development. As natural areas and wildlife habitats in our communities become more and more fragmented due to increased development pressures, we are grateful for the generosity of private landowners like Mr. Watson who have chosen to preserve their land for the enjoyment of future generations of wildlife and people.

In another first for WCT, this conservation project was accomplished in partnership with the Preservation Alliance for Greater Philadelphia, which concurrently accepted the donation of a preservation easement protecting the property’s historic buildings. The Preservation Alliance notes that Mr. Watson’s 18th-century home and other buildings on the site “contribute to the historic sense of place and feeling of the property, and represent a valuable example of a historic architectural style worthy of preservation.”

The conservation easement held by WCT will complement the work of the Preservation Alliance by protecting the property’s important ecological features and wildlife habitats, which include native and non-native non-invasive plant species, riparian resources associated with an unnamed tributary of Darby Creek, a spring-fed pond, wetlands, open grasslands, and steeply sloped woodlands.

Contact Erik Hetzel (ewh@wctrust.org) for more information on conservation easements.

WHAT IS A CONSERVATION EASEMENT? | A conservation easement is a flexible tool that protects land while leaving it in private ownership. It is a legal and binding agreement between a landowner and a qualified conservation organization such as Willistown Conservation Trust. The easement is recorded with the deed to the property, applies to all future owners, and exists in perpetuity. As the holder of the easement, Willistown Conservation Trust agrees to see that the restrictions detailed in the easement are upheld forever. The landowner retains title to the property and continues to have all rights and obligations of ownership except for those rights specifically restricted under the terms of the easement. The retained rights include the right to sell, lease, bequeath, and subdivide the property subject to the terms of the easement.

By Sally Ehlers, 2023 Watershed Protection Program Co-op

For over a century, macroinvertebrates have been our partners in understanding the intricacies of stream health, providing us with valuable insights that shape the conservation efforts of our aquatic ecosystems.

Macroinvertebrates are small organisms lacking a backbone that are visible to the naked eye, which inhabit aquatic environments. They form a diverse and abundant group, but their significance extends beyond mere existence – they are crucial to ecosystem function. By converting organic plant matter into animal biomass, these tiny marvels create a foundation that supports the intricate web of life in our streams and lakes. The diet of larval amphibians, fish, other aquatic insects, and birds are all supported by macroinvertebrates.

Macroinvertebrates are also reliable indicators of environmental health in our streams and lakes. Their presence – or absence – illustrates the overall well-being of these water bodies, making them an asset in bioassessments. Their widespread distribution, sensitivity to changes in water quality, and diverse abilities to tolerate environmental stress make them indispensable tools for monitoring and maintaining the health of aquatic ecosystems. These remarkable organisms help us learn about what is happening in our waterways.

Certain taxa (insect groups) are known to be sensitive to environmental changes and are considered pollution-intolerant. Mayflies are known for their short adult lifespan and are highly sensitive to pollution, making their presence a highly valuable indicator of pristine or recovering water systems. Stoneflies are also sensitive to water quality, especially oxygen levels. Therefore, they are typically found in clear, well-oxygenated streams. Caddisflies are known for their case-making larvae and can tolerate a range of water quality conditions, but some species within this group are also sensitive to pollution.

In addition to these sensitive insects, there exists a cast of pollution-tolerant taxa in these freshwater environments. Some examples that are found in local waterways are midges, worms, and black flies. While not standalone indicators of water quality, their presence and abundance, paired with pollution-sensitive taxa, contribute to a more comprehensive picture of the ecological health of aquatic systems.

Each spring, the Watershed Team heads out to ten sites in Ridley, Crum, and Darby Creeks to collect macroinvertebrate samples using a Surber sampler (a modified net for collecting insects), a scrub brush, and lots of hard work (Map 1). Since these critters hang out at the stream’s bottom, we scrub rocks, letting the stream flow guide the macroinvertebrates into the net. As a Watershed Protection Program Co-op, I had an amazing time assisting with the 2023 sample collection.

Now, my capstone project involves analyzing the data from past years to turn raw survey data into meaningful results. Macroinvertebrate Aggregated Index for Streams (MAIS) scores were calculated which combine several types of data into a single score that is used to classify stream health as “Good,” “Fair,” or “Poor.” Results suggest that on average, most sites are moderately impacted, with “Fair” health (Figure 1). However, DCWM1 (Darby Creek) and WBRC1 (West Branch Ridley Creek) had low MAIS scores, suggesting that these sites are in “Poor” health.

Development on the landscape helps explain why DCWM1 and WBRC1 rank lower in MAIS scores as these sites have 20% impervious surface coverage, the most out of all sample sites. Impervious surface cover refers to structures that are water-resistant such as paved roads, parking lots, and buildings’ roofs. Water cannot penetrate these surfaces and flows directly into waterways, picking up contaminants as it travels. In contrast, forested land allows water to seep into the ground and trees can help reduce the amount of runoff into the stream.

There is a significant negative correlation between percent impervious surface cover and intolerant taxa richness (Figure 2). This means that as impervious surface cover increases with more development, the number of pollution-sensitive macroinvertebrates decreases. Increased impervious surface cover leads to more runoff and contaminants, such as road salts, entering our waterways, and only macroinvertebrates that can withstand these changes can survive. This preliminary data highlights the importance of WCT’s land conservation efforts. Protected open space is critical to keep local streams healthy and macroinvertebrates thriving.

While it will take more sampling years to spot clear trends over time in local streams, the current data from 2018 to 2022 begin to shed a light on the state of these streams from the viewpoint of our macroinvertebrate community, and so far, aligns with existing water chemistry data. Follow along on WCT’s blog to take a deep dive into the data set and learn more about the results of the ongoing macroinvertebrate research effort!

Sally Ehlers | Sally is a senior at Drexel University where she is majoring in Environmental Science with minors in Biology and Writing. Before joining the Watershed Protection Program, she spent six months working at the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration Fisheries Lab in Highlands, NJ. There, she assisted with two ecotoxicology projects, focusing on the early life stages of local riverine and estuarine fishes. As a Watershed Protection Program Co-op over this past spring & summer, she helped collect water samples, run water quality analyses in the lab, maintain equipment, and practice science communication through WCT’s blog and Instagram stories.