Rushton Woods Preserve
An Eight-Acre Preserve in the Making
from the Spring 2009 Sycamore
A story of great neighbors, a “love for the land” and proof that “good deeds beget good deeds”.
That the Willistown Conservation Trust is now enjoying the exciting possibility of increasing the Rushton Woods Preserve to eighty acres over the next couple of years is proof of the adage that “good deeds beget good deeds”. The story began in 1986 when Elizabeth and William Van Alen took the bold step of placing a conservation easement on their land at Delchester and Goshen Roads when donating easements was still a new and courageous thing to do. While the easement allowed for four house sites on the eighty acres, it precluded outright development of the land in perpetuity. (Love for the land and good deed #1).
Fast forward to 2003, when Janet and John Haas visited the 30 acre portion of the Rushton Woods fronting on Delchester Road (see map p. 3) and were inspired by its majestic beech, hickory and oak canopy trees (some over 200 years old) and the health of the understory of native shrubs and wildflowers. At about the same time, experts from Audubon Pennsylvania had identified the Rushton Woods as a prime stop-over and nesting habitat for the many migratory songbirds that visit it each year, and one of the most critical sites for bird conservation in Audubon’s newly designated Ridley/Crum Important Bird Area. Later that year, Janet and John and the Haas Charitable Trusts enabled the acquisition of the thirty-acre Rushton Woods by the National Audubon Society. (Love for the land and good deed #2). In 2007, National Audubon transferred the woods to the Willistown Conservation Trust with an agreement to eliminate all building rights under the original easement and to ensure that it be preserved and managed as primary woodland habitat forever. It is now known as the Trust’s “Rushton Woods Preserve”.
The next chapter in this conservation story focuses on the remaining critical fifty-acre tract of land that lies between the thirty-acre Rushton Woods Preserve and Goshen Road (see area labeled “Rushton Woods Preserve Addition” on map p. 3). This land was also part of the original Van Alen conservation easement and is home to a rich array of natural, scenic and recreational resources and habitat types including mature woodland, wetlands, wooded riparian areas, emerging native grasslands, old hedgerows and an extensive network of established riding trails. Additionally, six acres of this parcel has provided the site for the Trust’s popular Community Farm Program and Rushton Farm CSA for the past year or so.
Needless to say, all of us at the Trust have had a compelling dream to acquire the fifty-acres to add to the Rushton Woods Preserve and to create a new eighty acre preserve in the heart of the Willistown countryside.This acquisition by the Trust would not only further protect all of the wonderful critical resources of the property but it would make the land accessible forever to everyone in our community and beyond. It would provide a resource for Trust educational and stewardship programs, events, recreational opportunities and a permanent home for the Community Farm Program and Rushton Farm CSA.
Enter now Rushton Land Associates, LLC, a remarkable partnership of friends and neighbors who, even in the face of the current economic downturn, have recently banded together to acquire the fifty-acre Rushton Woods Preserve Addition as a “straw party buyer” on behalf of the Willistown Conservation Trust. Agreements have been signed; the partnership will acquire the Preserve Addition in June 2009, and will hold it for the sooner of three years or until the Trust has been able to raise the funds to acquire it. The sale to the Trust will be at a price significantly below the appraised fair market value of the land, i.e. at a “bargain sale” price. (Love for the land and good deed #3). The challenge now is for the Trust to raise the funds for the final acquisition over the next couple of years. With the encouragement of the Chester County Preservation Partnership Program, the Pennsylvania Department of Conservation and Natural Resources, and the help of our good friends and supporters, we are determined to make it happen. (Future good deeds #4 through ??)
When I look back over this story of love for the land and the series of good deeds that have brought us to this point in the making of the Rushton Woods Preserve, I think … what if the Van Alens had not chosen to donate the conservation easement back in 1986; what if Janet and John Haas had not made the extraordinarily generous contribution to National Audubon to purchase the thirty-acre woods; and what if the friends and neighbors in the Rushton Land Associates partnership had not cared enough to purchase and hold the fifty-acre preserve addition to give the Trust time to buy it? And then I think … so many what ifs could be applied equally to the 140 landowners who have now donated conservation easements and the array of conservation partners who have helped create the 6,000 acres of open space that we now enjoy. The answer, I believe, is that we would all be the poorer in spirit, and the beautiful Willistown countryside would be a very different place from that which we know and love today. Thank goodness for friends and neighbors, for loving the land and for all of the good deeds … past, present and future!
- Bonnie Van Alen
