WILLISTOWN CONSERVATION TRUST

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In The News

News and announcements near and far about Willstown Conservation Trust staff, programs, and partnerships. Click the links to read the articles in full! Articles are ordered oldest to newest.

Staff and Events

WeConservePA:
"Founder and President Bonnie Van Alen Steps Down from Willistown Conservation Trust"

Daily Local News:
"Willistown Trust’s Van Alen steps aside"

Main Line Today:
"Incoming Willistown Conservation Trust President Kate Etherington Traces Her Passion for Conservation to Her Local Roots"

The Malvernian:
"An Open Space Savior Steps Down: Bonnie Van Alen; A Conservation Legacy"

County Lines Magazine:
"Barns & BBQ Tour is Back"

The Malvernian:
"Appreciate the Wildflowers at WCT's Wildflower Week July 18 -24."

Environmental Voices: The PennFuture Podcast:
Bonnie Van Alen - A Lifetime of Achievement in Conservation

Newtown Square Friends & Neighbors; Newtown Edgmont Friends & Neighbors:
"Discover Willistown Conservation Trust Your Local Environmental Nonprofit"

Main Line Tonight:
"Inside Willistown Conservation Trust’s 11th Annual Barns And BBQ"

County Lines Magazine:
"A Walk Through the Preserves"

Land Protection

County Lines Magazine:
"A wealth of open space comes from private philanthropy"

IN Great Valley Magazine:
"Celebrating Willistown’s Conservation Partners We’re not done yet!"

WillisTowne Crier:
"Willistown Township & Willistown Conservation Trust Celebrating Decades of Community Conservation Partnership​"

Daily Local News:
"Commissioners add to Chester County Open Space"

WillisTowne Crier - eNews Edition:
"Kirkwood Preserve Expansion: Over 12 Acres Added"

Patch:
"Willistown Conservation Trust Awarded $525,400 In Grants"

MyChesCo:
"$525K Awarded to Further Land Conservation Efforts in Chester County"

The Malvernian:
"Get Ready to Get Outside: Learn About the Nature Preserves in our Area"

The Malvernian:
"Land Conservation 101"

Daily Local News:
"ChesLen marks milestone open space achievement"

Daily Local News:
"Chester County conservation projects get $2.8 million in state funding"

Daily Local News:
"Willistown trust adds 12 acres to Kirkwood Preserve"

My ChesCo:
"Willistown Conservation Trust Celebrates 12 Acres Added to Kirkwood Preserve"

WeConservePA:
"Willistown Conservation Trust, Chester Co. Commissioners, PA DCNR, and Willistown Twp. Celebrate 12-Acre Addition to Kirkwood Preserve"

Vista.Today:
"Willistown Conservationists Might Have Reason to Rejoice Over M. Night-Purchased Property"

Daily Local News:
"Willistown’s historic Kirkwood Farm sold, but development not on agenda"

Patch:
Conservationists' Fingers Crossed Shyamalan Preserves Willistown Farm

CoStar:
"‘Sixth Sense’ Director Thwarts Potential Development of Rockefeller Farm"

Newsmax:
"M Night Shyamalan Buys Rockefeller Family Farm for $24M"

Chester County Government:
"Commissioners Award $2.5 Million in Open Space Preservation and Park Improvement Grants"

The Patch:
"$2.5M Preservation Grants Awarded By Chesco Commissioners"

The Patch:
"Malvern Voters Favor Preservation Of Land Off Ruthland Avenue"

Philadelphia Inquirer:
"M. Night Shyamalan to sell 90 acres for preservation in Chester County - Philadelphia Inquirer"

Main Line Tonight:
"Willistown Twp.’s Kirkwood Farm Will Become A Nature Preserve"

The Patch:
"M. Night Shyamalan Is Preserving Willistown Farm"

PhillyVoice:
"M. Night Shyamalan sells 90 acres of Chester County farm to preservation group"

Daily Local News:
"Director M. Night Shyamalan says ‘Action!’ on move to conserve historic Willistown land"

Vista Today:
"M. Night Shyamalan to Sell 90 Acres of ‘Spectacular Landscape’ at Kirkwood Farm"

Stewardship

County Lines Magazine:
"Longing for Life Beyond the Lawn"

County Lines Magazine:
"Late Blooming Wildflowers"

County Lines Magazine:
"Running with the Land"

Chester County Press:
"During pandemic, conservancy leaders encourage public to seek solace at local nature preserves"

The Malvernian:
"Rethinking Lawns: Fighting Climate Change with Native Plants"

The Malvernian:
"Rain Gardens: Digging Deeper"

West Chester Award Program:
"Ashbridge Preserve Receives 2022 Best of West Chester Award"

Daily Local News:
"Willistown Conservation Trust gets $260,000 grant for lawn conversion program"

Sierra Club Pennsylvania
"Planting with Purpose: Nurturing Native Flora in Pennsylvania Homes"

WCU The Quad:
"Malvern Residents Work to Save Wildlife Habitat"

County Lines:
"This Spring, Add Some Biodiversity to Your Yard"

Daily Local News
"West Chester Council to Consider Converting Turf to Meadows"

Watershed Protection

Patch:
"Berwyn-Stream Health Study for the Darby Creek Headwaters"

Daily Local News:
"Willistown land trust records microplastics in local watersheds"

MyChesCo:
"Willistown Conservation Trust Finds Microplastics in the Headwaters of the Ridley, Crum, and Darby Creeks"

WeConservePA:
Willistown Conservation Trust Publishes Comprehensive “State of Our Streams” Report

Daily Local News:
"Willistown Conservation Trust finds elevated levels of chemicals in local waterways"

Coalition for the Delaware River Watershed:
"Member Spotlight: Following Years of Research, Willistown Conservation Trust Finds Water Quality Impairments in the Headwaters of Ridley, Crum, and Darby Creeks"

MyChesco:
"Willistown Conservation Trust Finds the Headwaters of Ridley, Crum, and Darby Creeks Are Impaired"

MSN:
"Morning Briefing"

Land Trust Alliance: Mid-Atlantic Field Notes Newsletter:
"Willistown Conservation Trust assesses, improves local water quality"

The Malvernian:
"What's Flowing Into Our Streams"

Radnor Conservancy Newsletter:
"Community Science Monitoring"

The Malvernian:
"The Price of Safe Travel"

PA Senator Comitta:
"Comitta, Shusterman Announce Funding to Protect Willistown Watershed"

Frontiers in Ecology and the Environment:
"Fostering ecological understanding in and engagement with local communities"

Daily Local News:
"New funding will improve local watersheds in West Chester area"

Stroud Center:
"Why Volunteers Are Tracking Down Road Salt in Streams"

Stroud Center:
"We The Community Scientists"

Community Farm

Independent Study:
"The Bees of Rushton Farm: A Pollinator Perspective on Sustainable Agriculture"

County Lines Magazine:
"The Buzz on Bees"

County Lines Magazine:
"Feeding a Community, One Garden at a Time"

Local Farm Products in Chester County:
"Willistown Conservation Trust's Rushton Farm"

County Lines Magazine:
"The Latest Buzz at Rushton Farm"

Bird Conservation

County Lines Magazine:
"Igniting Fascination through Birdscaping"

County Lines Magazine:
"The Bluebird Keeper"

Penn Today:
"Rare sparrows make a guest appearance at Penn"

WillisTowne Crier - eNews Edition:
"Significant Decline In Bird Populations Reported"

"2021 Annual Songbird Report"

County Lines Magazine:
"Beyond Bird Banding"

The Malvernian:
"A Shared Love of our Feathered Neighbors"

The Malvernian:
"Beauty in the Brambles"

Bluebird Trails & Tales:
"Rushton Nature Keeper 'Graduate' Restores Historic Bluebird Trail to Willistown"

NewScientist:
"Birds wearing tiny trackers reveal migration routes in amazing detail"

County Lines Magazine:
"What’s Ornitherapy?"

Kindred Podcast:
"A Great Migration | A Conversation with Shelly Eshleman, MOTUS Avian Research Coordinator at Willistown Conservation Trust"

USGS:
"Chance Encounters of a Northern Saw-whet Owl"

The Malvernian:
"A Sense of Wonder"

Birds Caribbean:
"Friendships Forged Through Feathers: Musings on the Migration of Two Caribbean Naturalists to Pennsylvania"

Vista Today:
"Willistown Conservation Trust, Natural Lands Work to Reverse Decline of Grassland Birds in Chester County"

Daily Local News:
"Mushrooms and meadowlarks? What’s the connection in Chester County?"

MY ChesCo
"Grant Awarded to Promote Grassland Conservation and Protect Bird Species in Chester County"

County Lines Magazine:
"A Big Journey for a Little Owl"

"2022 Kirkwood South Bird Monitoring Program Report"

Education

County Lines Magazines:
"Who Will Protect the Environment?"

Newtown Square Friends and Family Magazine:
"Kate Garchinsky: Newtown Square's Award-Winning Illustrator"

The Malvernian:
"Nature Escapes for Kids Build a Toad Abode with Your Children"

Motus

Guanacaste Dry Forest Conservation Fund:
"Not One, But Two Motus Bird Banding Stations and Counting"

Caledonian Record:
"Bird Researchers In Search Of NEK Sites To Host Data Receiving Towers"

Sierra Magazine:
"What Happens to Birds and Butterflies When They Migrate?"

Granite Geek:
"Sensors small enough to ride on a butterfly are changing wildlife biology​"

Monadnock Ledger-Transcript:
"Harris Center teams with wildlife tracker​"

New Hampshire Union Leader:
"Stoddard tracking station technology can zero in on butterflies, bats"

Guana Caste Dry Forest Conservation Fund:
"ACG's First MOTUS Station Coming in 2021"

Monadnock Ledger-Transcript:
"​Harris Center teams with wildlife tracker​"

Harris Center for Conservation Education:
"New Motus station will contribute to migration research"

The Daily Gazette:
"Strawberry Fields Nature Preserve serves double duty as host to bird-monitoring station"

New Jersey Conservation Foundation:
"Tracking Winged Travelers"

St. Croix 360:
"Nature center adds first St. Croix Valley antenna to wildlife-tracking network"

Brandywine Conservancy:
"Preserved Lands in King Ranch area of Chester County Offer Hope and Summer Home for Bobolinks​"

New Hampshire Union Leader:
"​Tiny transmitters can track migration of Monarch butterflies"

Maine Audubon:
"U.S. Fish & Wildlife Provides Grant to Track Species of Greatest Concern to New England​"

Medium.com:
"Moving Targets"

Carnegie Museum of Natural History:
"U.S. Fish & Wildlife Provides 1.35-Million-Dollar Grant to Consortium Building a Network to Track Migrating Wildlife"

Fosters.com:
"​NH Fish & Game to lead revolutionary migration tracking system"

The Berlin Sun:
"U.S. Fish & Wildlife provides grant to track species of greatest concern in New England"

Pittsburgh Post-Gazette:
"Mini radios will help scientists study monarch butterfly migration"

WWWNYTV:
"SUNY Potsdam joins global network to track migratory birds"

Berkshire Eagle:
"Migratory birds have been dying in huge numbers. A proposed radio tower in the town of Washington could help researchers understand why"

OUR NATURE PRESERVES

Our nature preserves are open to the public 365 days per year from sunrise to sunset, providing natural places that offer peace and respite for all. Willistown Conservation Trust owns and manages Hartman Meadow, Ashbridge, Kirkwood, Kestrel Hill and Rushton Woods Preserves. We maintain these lands to preserve and enhance … Learn more about our nature preserves.