Brandywine Red Clay Alliance

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Brandywine Red Clay Alliance

By Marcella Peyre-Ferry Contributing Writer

The Brandywine Red Clay Alliance has its roots in a time before watershed protection was considered an important issue. In 2015, the Alliance was formed by the merger of the two oldest non-profit small watershed organizations in the country.

The Brandywine Valley Association was founded in 1945 by area businesspeople in the midst of a local industrial revolution. The saw that poorly treated wastewater, industrial waste and soil erosion were a threat to our creeks and water supplies. Seven years later, the Red Clay Valley Association was formed on similar principals. The two organizations had worked independently for decades until they came together seven years ago to combine efforts and streamline operations.

“The work was a lot easier back in the early days than it is now,” executive director and CEO James Jordan said. “Back then you looked at the biggest smokestacks in town and you knew where the problem was—that has changed. The problems have gotten smaller, but they are just as important. The problems are coming from you and me with the urbanization of the area.”

The goals of the Brandywine Red Clay Alliance continue to be watershed restoration, watershed conservation and environmental education with an increased emphasis on land preservation.

On the education front, the Brandywine Red Clay Alliance was seeing 13,000 people a year before the pandemic, mostly at its Myrick Conservation Center. Through school presentations, outreach programs and summer camp programs, the goal of reaching out to young people is achieved.

Programs are designed to complement the materials being taught in the schools and build a sense of stream stewardship in young people. To do that most effectively, projects are hands-on and programs are focused on seeing nature live and up close.

“There’s a disconnect between the children today and the natural environment,” Jordan said. “We have to compete with computers and video games.”

In a related effort, the Brandywine Red Clay Alliance is also working to expand programs that reach underserved communities. “A lot of those community members have grown up in urban environments, so they have not been exposed to nature. We want to get their feet off the concrete,” Jordan said.

In April of this year, to broaden its impact, the Brandywine Red Clay Alliance merged with the Land Conservancy for Southern Chester County. This will result in a closer connection with the Kennett Square and New Garden area communities. “We are excited because this most recent merger will expand our land preservation efforts in the region,” Jordan said.

The Brandywine Red Clay Alliance has eight preserves totaling nearly 1,100 acres with an additional 1,300 acres under conservation easement.

“Currently, we have four additional land preservation projects in progress in Chester County,” Jordan said.

The new merger with the Land Conservancy for Southern Chester County gives the organization an auxiliary office in the heart of the Kennett area at the Chandler Mill Preserve.

“It gives us another hub to do environmental education in the Kennett area. The costs of a merger are expensive, but longterm we’re going to be more efficient,” Jordan said. “What

Courtesy photos

Youngsters enjoy one of the summer camp activities.

One of recently completed stream restoration projects.

On a much smaller scale the organization has outreach programs to help individual property owners reduce runoff or help the environment by adding pollinator gardens. “Who doesn’t like to look at a monarch butterfly out their back window?” Jordan asked. The Brandywine Red Clay Alliance is a non-profit organization that depends on community support from its membership and a limited number of fundraising events.

For more information, visit the website at BrandywineRedClay.org.

happens on land has the most impact on what happens in our streams.”

Meanwhile, the Brandywine Red Clay Alliance is working on a multitude of stream restoration and conservation projects large and small. “The whole objective is for the streams to meet fishable, drinkable, swimmable standards,” Jordan The recently acquired Chandler Mill Nature Preserve said. in the Kennett area.

As work continues for the Brandywine Red Clay Alliance, challenges also increase. “Our storms have become intense. What used to be a hundred-year storm is happening more frequently,” Jordan said. “The other problem is the stormwater has no place to go as we increase our impervious coverage.”

Constant erosion of stream-banks, loss of riparian cover and the stream canopy, all have an impact on water quality. Municipalities are struggling to meet new federal standards for reduction of sediment in the waterways, and the Brandywine Red Clay Alliance is available to help them comply.

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