Investing in the Delaware River watershed
The Delaware Watershed Conservation Fund supports projects that are making the watershed a better place for people and wildlife now and in the future
By: Mike Slattery/USFWS
As we move through life, we invest in the things we need immediately to get by, like transportation to a job. But whenever possible, we also invest in things that will pay off in the future, like a gym membership.
In the Delaware River watershed, we strive to make conservation investments that accomplish both of those things. Through the Delaware Watershed Conservation Fund, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service and the National Fish and Wildlife Foundation are supporting projects that address conservation needs today and will continue to provide conservation returns tomorrow.
How do we know? Because we are asking the people who know the watershed best to tell us where we should make those investments.
This week, the Service and the National Fish and Wildlife Foundation announced the fourth cohort of grantees for the fund — 32 projects that move the needle in key areas: reducing flooding and runoff, restoring fish and wildlife habitats, improving water quality, and enhancing safe recreational access for the public.
But since launching the fund in 2018, we have built a broader and more diverse coalition of partner organizations to guide a strategic-conservation approach that focuses on short- and long-term needs, and adds up to lasting benefits.
Some needs are plain to see. Like in Chadds Ford, Pennsylvania, a town on the banks of the Brandywine Creek that experienced record flooding at the beginning of September when the remnants of Hurricane Ida swept through the region.
With support from the fund, a project will soon be underway in Chadds Ford to restore natural flow to the creek, a tributary to the Delaware River. The Brandywine Conservancy and Museum of Art — which was damaged by flooding during the storm — will lead the effort to remove the breached Hoffman’s Mill Dam, connecting 1.4 miles of impounded water to 7.7. miles of free-flowing water downstream. The work will payoff by reducing flooding risk, opening habitat for migratory fish species like American shad, and making the river safer for paddlers by removing a submerged hazard.
Other needs in the watershed are evident by something we don’t see: racial, ethnic, and economic diversity in decision making about conservation, and access to nature. Increasingly, we are investing in projects that break down barriers created by the historic and systematic exclusion of certain communities from the benefits of conservation.
In Camden, New Jersey, the Upstream Alliance will lead a grant-funded effort to engage communities in the vicinity of the Cooper River — once heavily polluted, now on the rebound — that have previously not had access to recreational opportunities on the waterways that are in their backyard.
The grantee will work with partners to develop and promote recreational fishing and paddling programs, create job opportunities for local youth to lead outdoor programming, and to include residents in habitat restoration and community science efforts to keep their river healthy.
Some needs are about fostering connections. In Wilmington, Delaware, the National Wildlife Federation will partner with Delaware Interfaith Power and Light, the Delaware Nature Society, and Delaware Center for Horticulture to assist more than 20 congregations in the city in becoming “Sacred Grounds” sites. The program works with religious congregations, houses of worship, and faith communities to create wildlife habitat, and actively connect faith practices with environmental stewardship.
By planting native wildflower gardens on their grounds, the congregations will create network of pollinator habitat across the city, providing a way for congregants to connect with nature close to home.
Independently, these projects add value to their communities because they reflect local priorities, needs, and voices.
As part of a growing network of projects that have been supported by the fund since its inception — 123 and counting — they add up to something greater than the sum of their parts. Together, they are helping to ensure a sustainable future for the fish, wildlife, and people who make their homes in the Delaware River watershed.
Mike Slattery is the Landscape Partnership Coordinator for the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service North Atlantic-Appalachian Region, and facilitates the growing partnership behind our Delaware River Basin Restoration Program.
