A Legacy 

Tyler, 7, and Rya, 4, are growing up on a country lane with dogs, goats, and a horse. A public trail for hikers and riders winds through the woods where they live. During family outings, they visit the farmers market at Anselma Mill in West Pikeland and learn about the animals and birds who share our countryside at the Great Valley Nature Center in Charlestown. Sometimes they visit Warwick County Park or French Creek State Park for a trail hike and a picnic, passing acres of scenic conserved farm fields and woods on their way in the family car. For a special treat, their dad takes them down to French Creek to try their hands at fishing.

Tyler and Rya are able to see and do these things in large part because in 1967 a woman they will never meet, who knew how much the land mattered to her seven children and to the lives of all the children growing up in northern Chester County, founded French and Pickering Creeks Conservation Trust with her husband to protect the land for them and for the children to come.

Eleanor Morris, who passed away in September, didn’t know about Tyler and Rya but she cared passionately about the kind of community they would live in. She worked tirelessly at the Trust to leave behind the things she loved, things that would be there long after she was gone, for generation after generation to enjoy: the beautiful woods, fields, farms, and streams of our region.

This protection, carried on by the board and staff of the Trust, creates real benefits for every child and adult fortunate enough to live here: clean water, country trails and parks for walking and riding, great fishing and hunting, abundant animal and plant life, and delicious fresh food grown by local farmers. All this and financial benefits, too: buyers pay more to live near conserved land, and conserved land uses fewer municipal resources than developed land, costing an average of 36 cents per dollar of tax revenue it generates, thereby reducing the need for local real-estate tax increases.

Paying It Forward

Thanks to partnerships with local, county, and state governments, the Trust is working on several projects that will benefit local residents. These include
• The protection of 200 acres in Charlestown, East Pikeland, and West Vincent Townships;
• The acquisition of the last French Creek Trail linkages in West Vincent; and
• The completion of the 2-year fundraising effort to conserve the 70-acre Thorncroft Therapeutic Equestrian Center in Malvern and create a significant public trail link.

Although the Trust has brought more than $800,000 in taxpayer dollars back home in 2011 in the form of government grants for our projects and programs, not one of these dollars may pay for overhead or salaries. So once again, we turn to you. In the past, your generosity has made a real difference in covering our essential needs. This year, we ask you to consider increasing your tax-deductible gift to help us go forward into 2012 on a sound financial footing.

We will repay your good deed by “paying it forward”, as Eleanor and Sam Morris did, so that Tyler and Rya can hike with their children and grandchildren on a peaceful wooded trail by a pristine creek near home.

Thank you!