Timeless. and Just in Time. Saving Bryn Coed NATURAL LANDS
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The magazine of Natural Lands No. 150 | Spring/Summer 2017 natural lands timeless. and just in time. saving Bryn Coed NATURAL LANDS . SPRING/SUMMER 2017 1 contents from the president natural lands As children, most of us learned about the concept of community in social number 150 • spring/summer 2017 timeless. and just in time. studies class. We studied different types of communities, though usually our editor Kirsten Werner perspective was decidedly local. For me, it was the corner of Chester County 4 The 1,505-acre Bryn Coed Farms art director Holly M. Harper that I called home. could have been a sprawling contributors Oliver Bass, Ann Hausmann, Molly Morrison, Erin As we age, our concept of community tends to expand. We come to appre- housing subdivision, but McCormick, Ann Rhoads, Bea Rider ciate the complex web of interrelationships that tie us all together across Natural Lands has other plans. boundaries. For those of us involved in conservation—or anyone who has spent much preserved forever. 10 scout’s honor. time in nature—questions about the essential importance of interconnec- tion were long ago put to bed. Over the centuries, scientists have revealed Natural Lands has helped layers of links among all life that are nearly impossible to fathom. Dr. Seuss preserve nearly 8,500 acres famously put it this way in The Lorax: of former Girl and Boy Scout “…I’m also in charge of the brown Bar-ba-loots, who played in the Camps, including Camp shade in their Bar-ba-loot suits and happily lived eating truffula Hidden Falls. fruits. Now, thanks to your hacking my trees to the ground, there’s Natural Lands not enough truffula fruit to go ‘round.” Hildacy Preserve 1031 Palmers Mill Road, Media, PA 19063 In this issue of our refreshed magazine, you’ll read about one such special 2 NEWS t 610-353-5587 | f 610-353-0517 relationship—that between a tiny, beautiful wildflower and a large, shaggy [email protected] | natlands.org bison that once roamed this part of our world. Our staff is testing a creative way to replicate the 4 1 SAVING OPEN SPACE The official registration and financial information benefits of that relationship at one of our nature preserves. recent land conservation of Natural Lands Trust, Inc. may be obtained from the Pennsylvania Department of State by calling Human community is essential to the work of conservation, as well. Our cover story celebrates successes. toll free, within Pennsylvania, 1-800-732-0999. Registration does not imply endorsement. a conservation success made possible by one such community, which has come together in an 18 CARING FOR NATURE Information filed with the Attorney General extraordinary way to save one of the largest remaining unprotected properties in the region. concerning this charitable solicitation and the meet Cooper. resident percentage of contributions received by the Indeed, we like to think of Natural Lands less as an organization and more as a community— charity during the last reporting period that were wood bison. dedicated to the charitable purpose may be one made up of tens-of-thousands of preserve visitors, members, volunteers, landowners, com- obtained from the Attorney General of the State of New Jersey by calling 973-504-6215 and is munity and government leaders, and others without whom land could never be saved, wildflow- 20 CONNECTING PEOPLE available on the internet at www.state.nj.us/lps/ TO THE OUTDOORS ca/charfrm.htm. Registration with the Attorney ers never restored, and the joy of nature never shared. General does not imply endorsement. our preserves. your muse. Thank you for being part of the thriving and ever-growing Natural Lands community. #naturallands MOLLY K. MORRISON, PRESIDENT facebook.com/NatLands twitter.com/natlands instagram.com/natural.lands Axelrod Mae cover photo: Mark Williams 2 NATURAL LANDS . SPRING/SUMMER 2017 3 news how conservation works. instant playground. Natural Lands has been protecting and we can assure you that the work with a landowner who chooses to open space for nearly 65 years. is never boring or routine! There is, protect her or his land). just add kids. In that time, we have completed however, a common thread to every So how does it all work? Here’s a hundreds of conservation projects conservation story (hint: it begins peek under the hood. W A playground is more than a playground. It’s a brain- expander, friend-maker, and muscle-builder. Play is central to a child’s ability to grow into a productive adult. vulnerable open space Which is why Natural Lands teamed up last fall with the City of Coatesville, PECO, KaBOOM!, and more than 200 volunteers to build a new playground at the city’s Patton NO is the landowner interested Park… in less than a day! Recipe for play: Start with one park in in conservation? The completed playground—which includes swings, slides, and climbing equipment—will help hundreds of need; add a committed corporate partner, one YES will landowner donate easement? kids enjoy more time outside. part community vision, lots of coffee, and a The initiative was part of Natural Lands’ broader, land still dash of optimism. Stir well. Fold in 200 eager at risk NO does the landowner wish YES NO YES long-term effort to improve access to the outdoors for to retain ownership? : Brittni Albright Coatesville residents. W volunteers. Allow six hours to rise. Enjoy! is there a graphic NO conservation owner? YES Earlier this spring, members of our to a public garden, which is slated to will the landowner donate the land? YES land is saved : Ethan Kauffman, hare repair. stewardship staff carefully removed open to the public in spring 2018. the iconic wooden rabbits that Other work includes construction NO watch over County Line Road from of a visitor center and terrace that bottom left, their perch at the edge of Stoneleigh, will serve as a space for programs is it eligible for grants? the 42-acre Villanova estate that was and special events. We’re also cre- : Mae Axelrod, : Mae donated to Natural Lands in 2016. ating an open-air pavilion for more NO YES These charming carvings were cre- informal classes. Existing struc- top left, ated by local chainsaw artist Marty tures, such as the main house and Long in 2002 at the request of John carriage house, are being retrofitted and Chara Haas, the former estate to serve the needs of the organiza- owners—Haas is derived from the tion with offices, volunteer spaces, growing greener. German word for “hare.” Exposure and meeting rooms. to the elements over the years had Concurrently, our new staff of six Since 1999, Pennsylvania’s Growing improvements completed. local parks need significant improve- taken its toll on the sculpture, so we full-time horticulturists has been Greener funding program has been But funding for the Growing ments, and 1,500 family farms are on hired the original artist to recreate hard at work tending to the gardens an essential tool for ensuring access Greener program is at an all-time the waiting list to be preserved. it on a new, 12-ton white oak stump at Stoneleigh, breathing new life into to open space, parks, clean water, low, having suffered a 75 percent Legislators from across Penn- generously donated and craned into the living displays with the addition local food, and much more. Thanks to decline in the past decade. That’s a sylvania are working to reverse the position by Shreiner Tree Care. of native plants. W Growing Greener, more than 80,000 problem, given that 19,000 miles of decline in Growing Greener. W This is just one of many projects acres of open space and 78,000 acres the state’s streams and rivers are still See photos and more at natlands.org/ To learn more and to offer your support for underway at Stoneleigh as we work stoneleigh. of farmland have been preserved, unsafe for drinking or recreational increased funding for Growing Greener, visit to convert this once private estate and some 500 local and state parks use, the majority or the state’s 6,000 growinggreener3.org. 4 NATURAL LANDS . SPRING/SUMMER 2017 5 timeless. and just in time. It’s quiet here. There is the occasional sound of a distant airplane overhead or a barking dog, but, for the most part, Bryn Coed feels like another century and a simpler time. Just birdsong, rustling meadow grasses, tree branches sigh against a spring breeze. The rolling fields are dotted with 19th-century stone farmhouses and barns; only the overhead power and telephone lines : Mae Axelrod : Mae offer evidence of contemporary life. right For many, this seems like heaven on earth. To a developer, the 1,505 acres known as Bryn Coed Farms are the perfect setting for a sprawling housing subdivision. : Mark Williams, For Natural Lands, it’s an opportunity to save one of the largest remaining above unprotected swaths of land in the greater Philadelphia region. r NATURAL LANDS . SPRING/SUMMER 2017 7 In 1964, brothers Richard, Daniel, and William Dietrich asked to embark on an unconventional journey—one building the foundation began acquiring adjoining farms in rural Chester Springs, that would preserve their family legacy but would be Funding support from Chester County, the Common- Chester County. They’d noted with consternation in- much more complex than a typical preservation effort. wealth of Pennsylvania, and the three municipalities creasing encroachment of development and wanted to Fortunately, they were open to creative solutions and, in which the property is located was key to crafting a protect what they could of this bucolic valley.