Conservation

Education

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In 2016, we secured commitments for $1.3 million in easement funding. This includes $765,000 from Kennett Township (Open Space Funding), $300,000 from Chester County (Preservation Partnership Program), $160,000 from the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania (Department of Conservation and Natural Resources), and $75,000 from private sources.  Funds from these sources were combined with $800,000 in county and federal grants received in 2015 to complete the easement of Barnard’s Orchard.

We received $300 000 in other grants from a total of 19 funders in 2016, the result of 64 grant proposals: $35 000 in seed funding for the expansion of Drop-In On Nature and the creation of a Forest Kindergarten; $100 000 from the Welfare Foundation for the Chandler Mill Nature Preserve; $116 000 in other grant funding to complete the fundraising for the Chandler Mill Nature Preserve capital campaign; $15 000 from the Crestlea Foundation to support a technology upgrade for the upcoming Interpretive Nature Center. We expanded our reach, receiving grants from new funders (Subaru of America Foundation, Curran Foundation, Wawa, Genuardi Family Foundation).  We added a new corporate giving program: Environmental Resource Management (ERM) who is partnering with TLC for the Teens Turning Green Internship Program. We re-applied to the PA EITC program, and conducted outreach to local businesses.

We held events that raised more than $18 000, a significant increase over last year. The Stateline Woods Run for Conservation raised over $15 500, including over $11 000 in sponsors. At the Dog Days of Summer, 18 sponsors and vendors raised over $3 000. We befitted from important partnerships: Brandywine in  White help with the purchase of Barnard's Orchard, while the Wild and Scenic Film Festival helped to raise other funds for TLC. And 2017 is off to a great start, with a profit of more than $26 000 from the 2017 Hootenanny Winter Beer Garden.

Engagement

A total of 201 volunteers from 9 organizations helped to lead the charge in 2016: along the riparian corridor on Kennett Greenway, a total of 23 volunteers from Wawa and the Garage Youth Group planted a total of 80 trees; at Stateline Woods, a total of 112 volunteer from Voya and Westtown School cleaned up invasive hedgerows and planted 75 trees; at Stateline Woods, 16 volunteers from Johnson and Johnson conducted maintenance on 60 planted trees; on Earth Day, 7 TLC staff cleaned up Stateline Woods nursery and transplanted native tree saplings; 9 TLC board members helped plant 1000 native pollinator plugs at New Leaf Eco Center; 28 volunteers from the Downingtown Methodist Church Youth Group cleaned riparian buffer planting in Chandler Mill Nature Preserve, and; 6 Boy Scout volunteers from Troop 28 cleaned out fence row along Chandler Mill Rd.

We hosted a wide range of events. This included 7 programs held at TLC preserves, At Stateline Woods, we hosted PA Master Naturalist and the Stateline Trail Race (a record 244 runners), and celebrated the Summer, Fall, and Winter Solstice.  At the Marshall Bridge Preserve, we hosted the PDGA Disc Golf Tournament.  At the New Leaf Eco Center, we hosted Open Hive Days. We also manned Outreach booths: West Chester Growers Market, Kennett Square Mushroom Festival, Kennett YMCA, Jennersville YMCA (“Wellness Wednesday”, “Healthy Kids Day”), H.A.C (x3), Traditions at Longwood, Auburn Open House, Exelon Eco-fest, Canine Partners for Life Open House, Patagonia Screen Printing at TCO, WCU volunteer fair, Newlin Grist Mill Archaeology Festival, Unionville Fair, Historic Haunting with Friends of White Clay, and the PA Hunt Cup.

We engaged the community in many other ways. We increased membership by over 20%,  to a total of 631.  Board Members doubled the number of donors to 71, and solicited endowments from 37 donors. We implemented a Membership Strategic Plan to achieve 6 touches throughout the year (Hard Copy & Digital), including mailing Brochures, New membership or renewals, Newsletters, Annual Giving, Endowment, and Thank You’ s. We hosted a summer and autumn Local Whips event, and acquired six new members. We added 9 new Business members (Winner Audi, Starvegut Farms, To-Jo Mushrooms, Citadel, Bryn Mawr Trust, and Wawa) to reach a total of 29. We expanded our social media reach, with 99 Instagram posts, and 375 Facebook posts. 735 more people liked TLC’s page on Facebook in 2016, and we ended 2016 with 2,221 total page likes and more than 18 000post likes. We made 54 Constant Contact Campaigns in 2016.

Support

See what we conserved

In Kennett Township

See what we conserved

In Southern Chester County

133 new acres brings our total to 915 acres conserved. We now own an additional 44+ acres in Kennett Township. This includes the Langsam parcel (4+ acres), which bridged two preserved parcels, and the transfer of 40+ acres of Brokaw property for the Chandler Mill Nature Preserve. We eased an additional 56+ acres in Kennett Township, with the additional of Barkingfield Park and adjacent parcels. Barnard’s Orchard agricultural easement in Newlin Township added 69+ acres. This brings the total land conserved to 915+ acres, 269+ of which is owned outright by TLC.  For 2017, we are working on projects that total approximately 560 additional acres. This includes projects in Kennett, Newlin/West Bradford, and Elk Townships.

We completed many preservation projects. At Stateline Woods Preserve, we built stream crossing and trail addition along West perimeter, improved demarcation of our parking lot, and oversaw management of agricultural land leases. At Marshall Bridge Preserve, we redesigned trails, and oversaw management of agricultural land leases. At New Leaf Eco Center, we installed a native pollinator garden. For the Kennett Greenway Project, we oversaw rehabilitation of Parrish section after flood damage, and planted approximately 100 trees along the Red Clay Creek. We oversaw hunting teams across all three preserves, and maintained parking areas at 6 locations. And across all of our properties, we maintained all grass trails with weekly mowing, maintained all wooded trails with at least monthly trimming, and treated dog waste composters monthly to achieve optimum digestion.

200+ programs reached 3000+ participants in 2016. At Bucktoe Creek Preserve/Bucktoe Annex, we held 192 program days for a total of 1 937 participants: hawk watch days (91); early childhood education programs (51); public schools (25); after school (16);  under-served community groups (3); private schools (4); Community Read (2).   We held an additional 17 program days at other TLC sites for a total of 189 participants, and 9 program days at outreach events reaching 935 participants. Programs included Wildlife in Winter, Full Moon Owl Prowls, Wild Foraging, Drop In On Nature Playgroups, Spring Break in Nature, Open Hive Days, Hawk Watch, Weekly Adult Bids Walks, and Monthly I-Spy Birding. Seven PA Master Naturalists completed core training and will be conducting service projects and volunteering for the upcoming year. We also partnered with 8 groups for private programs (La Comunidad Hispana, Tick Tock, The Garage, CCIU, Patton Middle School, After the Bell, Girl Scouts, Cub Scouts).

We also hosted a range of interns.  This includes 2 students with autism from the Chester County Intermediate Unit, as part of their transitional Work Programs. In addition, we oversaw three interns in a variety of development projects, and  7 seasonal volunteer interns local high schools and universities totaling 768 hours from May until August.