One by one, the fields and farms of Ellen Lea's childhood are disappearing.

"When we were children, my mother would point out places and say, 'this used to be a field and that one a farm,' and we would think, 'Oh mom you're so old,'" Ellen said. "I find myself saying the same thing to my children but now, it's everyday instead of once a year. It's happening so much faster now."

Ellen and her brothers had spent their childhood days riding horses, frolicking in fields or chasing crawfish in the Wissahickon Creek. Their great uncle's farm was a 300-acre natural playground, not only for them but also for other children and adults who lived in the area. At that time in Montgomery County, land was still open, and people less conscious of property lines.

"We grew up with open land," Ellen said. "It's ingrained in us."

Ellen's mother, Jane O' Neill, inherited her bachelor uncle's farm and found herself fielding calls from developers offering big money. As she counted the new developments consuming the land around her, she began to wonder about her property's future.

Jane decided to ask her children how they felt about preserving the land.  The family's unanimous decision was to forgo their inheritance and make a multi-million dollar gift to the community.

The land was donated to the Wissahickon Valley Watershed Association. It is a welcome addition to the Association's 22-mile strip of permanently protected land along the creek, aptly named the Green Ribbon Preserve.

"It's one of those properties with memories that mean more than any amount of money that would have come from cashing out," said Jane's son, Jake Lea.

On a map, the Wissahickon Creek is a ribbon of blue, ensconced by a ribbon of green-the Green Ribbon Preserve.

The Wissahickon Valley Watershed Association's preserve provides open space, scenic beauty, wildlife habitat and a trail linking communities from northern Montgomery County to Philadelphia.

The preserve also protects water quality, absorbing the pollution from storm water runoff before it reaches the stream.

"I call it the Big Sponge," said Carol DeLancey, director of special events for the Wissahickon Valley Watershed Association.

The Wissahickon Creek starts as a trickle behind the Montgomeryville Mall. From there, it flows for 22 miles, past the homes and businesses of 253,700 people, before emptying into the Schuylkill River. Along the way, it meanders through 11 Montgomery County municipalities, several Philadelphia neighborhoods and Fairmount Park.

A drinking water intake on the Schuylkill River, just a short distance downstream from the confluence with the Wissahickon Creek, serves 300,000 people.

WVWA conserves land by buying and accepting donations of land and then maintaining it. It also buys and accepts donations of conservation easements — keeping land in private ownership but with permanent restrictions on development. *

"It has been amazing," said Phoebe Driscoll, who owns conserved land along the creek and volunteers as an Association board member. "Some parcels took us 20 years to achieve."

Read the remainder of the article at the PA Land Trust Association website. To read more success stories, visit this PLTA webpage.

11/29/2008