(April 2007, #006)

For Immediate Release

WILMINGTON, Del., April 24, 2007 — Spanning 325 square miles in Pennsylvania and Delaware, the Brandywine watershed is one of the largest tributaries of the Delaware Estuary. Because of the Brandywine's dramatic drop in elevation, numerous mills flourished along its banks during the 18th, 19th and 20th centuries. The mills required dams, which inadvertently reduced passage for spawning fish.

In the late 1600s, before the first dams were constructed, the Brandywine supported tens of thousands of American shad. Like salmon, shad hatch in freshwater streams and rivers. They migrate to the ocean where they live for four to six years before returning to their home streams to spawn. Shad were an important food source for Native Americans as well as early European settlers. The spring shad run up the Schuylkill River is credited with helping to save General Washington's hungry troops at Valley Forge during the Revolutionary War.

Today, if the remaining dams allowed fish to swim upstream, five migratory fish species-including American shad-could return to spawn in the Brandywine.

The Brandywine Conservancy has long recognized that the restoration of migratory fish would bring enormous environmental and recreational benefits to the Brandywine. Populations of birds and mammals (e.g., heron, mink, fox) would likely increase due to the augmented food supply. Restoring these important species to the river would increase the biological vitality of the watershed and contribute to recreational fishing.

In 2003, the National Fish and Wildlife Foundation (NFWF), led by support from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), awarded a grant to the Brandywine Conservancy to study the feasibility of bringing back shad and other fish to the Delaware portion of the Brandywine River. During the first phase of the study, Robert Lonsdorf, senior planner for the Conservancy's Environmental Management Center, established relationships with the 11 dam owners in Delaware to assess their willingness to be involved. The owners of the dams range from private individuals to the City of Wilmington and State of Delaware. The Conservancy also undertook extensive research on available options for enhancing fish passage, successful fish restoration efforts in other rivers, and related environmental and permitting issues.

Building on relationships with the dam owners and on completed research, the Conservancy produced a feasibility study in the spring of 2005. The study (available online at www.brandywineconservancy.org) describes engineering options such as fish ladders, rock ramps and partial or full removal of dams to provide fish passage. In addition, the study outlines costs, required permits, and possible funding sources to implement the restoration effort. To promote public interest, the Conservancy also created an informative slide show on American shad.

Currently, the Conservancy is collaborating with DuPont, Delaware Department of Natural Resources and Environmental Control (DNREC), Natural Resource Conservation Service (NRCS), and the City of Wilmington to implement fish passage on the dams they own. Work is underway with the remaining Delaware dam owners to develop site-specific concept and design plans to provide fish passage. DNREC has already received and the City of Wilmington is in the process of applying for funding from NRCS to implement fish passage. Finally, NFWF has recently funded a feasibility study on dams in Pennsylvania to determine how best to restore migratory fish to the Pennsylvania portion of the Brandywine.

Working as a project coordinator, the Conservancy will facilitate and administer the subsequent steps in this exciting effort to reintroduce native species after a 300 year absence.

Since 1967, the Brandywine Conservancy's Environmental Management Center has provided conservation solutions to landowners, farmers, municipalities and developers. The Conservancy's professional planners, natural resource managers and specialists in historic preservation, horticulture and landscape architecture provide the sophisticated experience needed for comprehensive land planning.

For more information about the Conservancy's programs and services, call 610-388-2700 or visit the Conservancy's website at www.brandywineconservancy.org.

Media Contacts:
Halsey Spruance or Lora Englehart at 610-388-8337