Bird banding activities began at Rushton Woods Preserve in late fall of 2009 with funds donated by the Delaware Valley Ornithological Club.

Since that time, thousands of birds have been documented by our banding team, revealing a vibrant, thriving population of birds that use our open spaces as an important stopover during migration or as a permanent home for their breeding and nesting sites.

Located within an 86-acre nature preserve and adjacent to Rushton Farm, the banding station is uniquely sited to measure bird populations' response to agroecological farming practices and habitat restoration and management.


Join Us for Bird Banding at Rushton Woods Preserve!
Thousands of visitors, school students, college students and grad students visit or conduct research at the Rushton Woods Preserve banding station annually.  Its unique site within an 86-acre nature preserve and adjacent to the sustainable farming operation at Rushton Farm offers a remarkable opportunity to measure birds' response to our land protection, habitat restoration and sustainable farming activities.

Teaching children and adults the value of conservation, the importance of preserving open space, and the value and use of scientific research skills are the passions that we strive to share with all of the participants that visit our bird banding station.

You are invited to visit the Trust's bird banding station where you can observe all phases of bird banding research including:

setting up and taking down mist-nets
taking birds from nets
identifying, aging and sexing each bird
weighing and measuring birds
documenting research into the federal data bank
documenting with photography
Coordinated by Lisa Kiziuk and led by Doris McGovern, both federally and state licensed bird banders, our staff invite you to visit the station during the season to observe our avian research program.

Park in the Rushton Woods Preserve parking lot, located at the southeast corner of Goshen and Delchester Roads, with the entrance on Delchester Road. Walk towards the hedgerows opposite the parking lot and follow the path to the right which eventually turns left and cuts through the hedgerow. Take the left path and follow until you see our banding station.

Our banding program runs Tuesday and Thursday of every week during spring migration (April - May) and fall migration (September - November) as weather permits - we don't band if it rains or if temperatures fall below 40 degrees.  Although the nets are set 45 minutes before sunrise, visitors wishing to see the most birds should arrive no later than 8 am. Action is often constant until about 11 am, after which the nets are closed.

The Trust's Community Farm Program’s centerpiece is Rushton Farm, a beautiful six acre field in Willistown Township that has never been exposed to chemical pesticides or herbicides.  Lined with old hedgerows, the farm is uniquely situated within the 86-acre Rushton Woods Preserve at 911 Delchester Road in Newtown Square, and is open to the public 365 days per year.

The Community Farm Program and Rushton Farm were started in 2007 as a way to engage the community in the Trust’s efforts to protect land and promote sustainable agriculture on conserved land. Since then the Community Farm Program has expanded to feed 130 families in its Community Supported Agriculture (CSA) venture; provides education programs and a research platform for schools, universities and the community; trains aspiring farmers through apprenticeships and internships which teach how agriculture can work in concert with the surrounding ecosystem; donates over 4,000 pounds of food each year to area food banks; harnesses the energy of volunteers who commit over 1,000 hours a year; and works with dozens of other land trusts to help them promote their own farm programs.

Our land feeds our bodies and souls, and it is the most important legacy we can pass on intact to our children and grandchildren. If you’re a landowner looking to preserve your property, learn how to add the land you love to the many acres already protected in the Willistown area.

What is a Conservation Easement?
The primary tool used to protect land from development in the Willistown area has been the conservation easement, a legal document that allows a landowner to retain private ownership and enjoy certain financial benefits while preserving the natural and scenic resources of their land.

A conservation easement permanently limits a property’s uses in order to protect its conservation values.

When you own land, you also “own” many rights associated with it, such as the right to harvest timber, build structures, excavate minerals, etc. When you place a conservation easement on your land, you permanently give up some of those rights in exchange for protecting the specific features of the land. For example, you might give up the right to build additional residences while protecting wildlife habitat.

A conservation easement is a legal agreement that can be tailored to protect the specific conservation values of each property and meet the financial and personal needs of the landowner. An easement on land containing wildlife habitat might prohibit development while an easement on a working farm may allow farming and the building of additional agricultural structures.

When you create a conservation easement with Willistown Conservation Trust, the Trust takes on the responsibility and legal right to monitor and enforce the easement. The conservation easement is recorded on the title to the land, so all future owners are bound by the terms of the easement. The Trust promises to maintain the characteristics you sought to protect, no matter how often the land changes ownership.

The Easement Process
The Trust is prepared to guide land owners through the process of planning a conservation easement.  The steps include:

Defining the landowner’s objectives
Preparation of proposal and cost estimate
Evaluation of the property and natural features
Development of conservation plan proposals
Preparation of plan and draft easement
Preparation of background documentation
Approval, signing and recording of the final easement

  Willistown Conservation Trust Receives Vital Funding to Help                                    Protect Local Water Quality

Willistown Conservation Trust, whose founders have overseen the protection of more than 7,500 acres of open space in the Willistown area since 1979, has received a two-year $352,000 grant from the William Penn Foundation to integrate watershed protection into its land protection, stewardship and outreach activities in the Ridley, Crum, and Darby Creek watersheds, using the successful practices of the Delaware River Watershed Initiative as a model to inform its work.

As part of this grant, the Trust will strengthen its water quality research partnership with Academy of Natural Sciences of Drexel University using its officially designated Field Study Site, which includes the headwaters of three major tributaries of the Delaware River—the Ridley, Crum, and Darby Creeks. A key aspect of that partnership will be supporting the Academy’s development and calibration of water quality modeling tools by building upon water quality monitoring and creating water quality datasets that describe the upper Ridley, Crum, and Darby Creeks.

Additionally, the grant provides funding to:

Develop a strategy for integrating data-driven water quality management into the Trust’s stewardship and land protection activities, and create a communications and outreach strategy to promote lessons gleaned from water quality monitoring and to engage the Ridley, Crum, and Darby Creek headwater communities in watershed stewardship.

Lauren McGrath, director of the Trust’s Watershed Protection Program is excited about the growth potential the grant affords, saying, “This new funding allows us to build upon the progress we have made over the last two years, as we expand our research and contribute to the body of scientific knowledge.”

Receiving this grant also validates the Trust’s focus on water quality. “While our 40-year focus has been the protection of land, we know that healthy water starts with healthy land,” said Bonnie Van Alen. “This grant provides us with vital resources to continue this work that is core to our mission and to show how local conservation can make a broad impact on watershed protection.”

To learn more about the work the Trust’s Watershed team is doing visit wctrust.org/water or contact Lauren McGrath at lbm@wctrust.org.

Willistown Conservation Trust, located in Chester County PA, is a land trust focused on preserving open space and habitat protection in the Willistown area.

The William Penn Foundation, founded in 1945 by Otto and Phoebe Haas, is dedicated to improving the quality of life in the Greater Philadelphia region through efforts that increase educational opportunities for children from low-income families, ensure a sustainable environment, foster creativity that enhances civic life, and advance philanthropy in the Philadelphia region. Since inception, the Foundation has made nearly 10,000 grants totaling over $1.6 billion.

OUR STORY
Willistown Conservation Trust's mission is to: "preserve and manage the open land, rural character, scenic, recreational, historic, agricultural and natural resources of the Willistown area and nearby communities, and to share these unique resources with people of all ages and backgrounds to inspire, educate and develop a lifelong commitment to the land and the natural world.“

Land conservation efforts have been underway in the Willistown area for nearly 40 years. The initial organization, formed in 1979, was known as the Willistown Area Conservation Program and was a satellite program of the Brandywine Conservancy.

With the encouragement of the community and key local conservation leaders, the Willistown Conservation Trust became an independent, community based land trust in 1996 with a committed and active Board of Trustees.  Bonnie Van Alen, who was instrumental in the Brandywine Conservancy program, founded the organization with Alice Hausmann and Kathy McCoy.

Using the Crum, Ridley and Darby Creek watersheds as an organizing principle, the Trust program focal 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 Willistown Conservation Trust program area still remains largely an oasis of green space. With the leadership of the Trust, the community conservation ethic has evolved and strengthened over the years.

The Trust’s programs and services fall into five major categories: (1) Land Protection; (2) Bird Conservation; (3) Habitat Restoration (4) Community Farm and (5) Education and Community Outreach.

Land Protection
Protecting open land in the Willistown area is the Trust’s highest priority. Staff members utilize all available conservation tools, including donated conservation easements from private landowners, the purchase of conservation easements, the purchase of land, seeking and leveraging public funds to acquire land or easements, and accepting donations of land. In addition, the Trust has developed an array of creative and proactive approaches to land protection.

Monitoring all Trust easements annually to ensure that the provisions of the easement are upheld is an important part of our land protection efforts.

Bird Conservation
The Trust’s Bird Conservation Program works to enhance and promote bird conservation in the Willistown area and beyond.  Our primary initiatives include bird banding, bird monitoring, and habitat restoration. Our bird conservation program is nationally recognized, and attracts students, scholars, and scientists from all over the country.

Habitat Restoration
Trust staff members view our protected lands (and those not yet protected) as a large reservoir of natural resources and strive to work with area landowners to manage this land  for the promotion of healthy ecosystems, clean water, and the diversity of flora and fauna. The Trust aims to strengthen its reputation among private and public landowners as an excellent resource for advice on how to help sustain plants and animals that were once common in this area.

Our Land Stewardship efforts focuses on habitat restoration in our nature preserves and develops and promotes guidelines for private landowners.  Native tree, shrub, and wildflower plantings are the most common habitat restoration projects. Our goal is to enhance bird and wildlife habitat and to protect water resources.

Community Farm
The Community Farm program models and promotes sustainable agriculture, producing healthy food for the community while enhancing the area with biodiversity and habitat. Rushton Farm, uniquely situated within the 86-acre Rushton Woods Preserve, is the centerpiece of the program, hosting a 130 family CSA, myriad school groups, volunteer days, and a "Share the Bounty" program that donates thousands of pounds of fresh food to local food cupboards.

Watershed Protection
With over 190 stream miles in Willistown Conservation Trust’s focus area, including the headwaters of Ridley, Crum and Darby Creeks, the goal of the Trust's Watershed Protection Program is to ensure the long-term health of these streams through monitoring, restoration, and best management practices.

Education and Community Outreach
In addition to on-the-ground land protection, stewardship and farm efforts, Trust staff members spend an increasing amount of time on education and  public outreach. Education initiatives include science and discovery experiences for K-12 children, and a breadth of field study research projects conducted by higher education scholars. Through publications, events, educational activities and habitat restoration projects, the Trust aims to raise awareness about the benefits of land protection and stewardship, thus forwarding the Trust’s mission.