Monday, May 08, 2006

The Willistown Conservation Trust and the Kirkwood Preserve



Yesterday afternoon we enjoyed a lovely tour around some of the local area, including a short visit to The Kirkwood Preserve, part of the Willistown Conservation Trust area. Unfortunately (or perhaps, fortunately), dogs are not permitted in the Kirkwood Preserve, so we weren’t able to hike in on this particular day.

The Willistown Conservation Trust serves an important purpose for the local community, and their mission is stated at their site as follows:

“The mission of the Willistown Conservation Trust is to preserve the open land, rural character, scenic, historic and ecologically significant resources of the Willistown area and nearby communities, with particular emphasis on the Crum, Ridley and Darby Creek watersheds.”

This effort is especially important around here where developers are happily buying up farm and forest land to remove existing green spaces and replace them with high-priced, enormous homes packed together on small parcels of land. It turns a good profit I’m sure, but such practices are nothing but bad news for the local environment.

7 comments:

  1. FrankenGirl, it's really quite exciting to learn about local conservation efforts like this one, especially in the face of so much imminent development. If I was brimming with cash, I would buy up as much green space as possible, and bequeath it all to those who would be certain to continue to preserve it for generations to come!

    For now though, I'll just keep planting trees wherever I go, and rooting for all those great organizations who can accomplish more on a broader scale. :)

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  2. Good to hear about trusts like this.Amidst all the cacophony of developments this indeed comes as a whiff of fresh air.The need of the hour is more such ventures.

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  3. JLB, I did plan to get involved in some conservation effort at a later date though I know I shouldn't wait. I did mull about this with regards to East Africa where I used to go to its safaris and the landscape there really is something else. And I remember that the shadowed trees against the twilight in Harare, Zimbabwe made such a poignant picture against the darkening sky that I never saw a dusk quite like that anywhere else. It was a romantic, surreal scene that needed no words to shape its mood. The trees made their own.

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  4. Tahrman, I couldn't agree more!

    Susan, if you're interested in East Africa, I think you might really enjoy Crystal's blog Wide Open Wonder... she's headed there now! Here is the link:

    http://wideopenwonder.blogspot.com/

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  5. This conservation effort sounds so worthwhile. In the middle of it all, are those beautiful, intoxicating and irredicient trees!

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  6. Hi JLB, thanks. I've checked out Cystal's very efficent travelling blog. It's wonderful and practical..she thinks of everything and certainly lives life to the full with her delightful, adventurous spirit. I ended up adopting a virtual penguin.

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  7. Barbara, it's a wonderful effort which I am excited to learn more about. Coming up I'll share a few more pictures from my brief exploration of the area immediately surrounding the parking lot. The Kirkwood preserve runs along a couple creeks I plan to explore, and the Willistown Conservation Trust encompasses a great deal more!

    Susan, Crystal's blog is a lot of fun, and she's got quite an adventure ahead of her! I guarantee that you'll enjoy what she chooses to share.

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