White Clay Creek Wild and Scenic River Expansion Act Passes the Senate!

The Senate voted unanimously this past Wednesday to pass the White Clay Creek Wild and Scenic Expansion Act, S.393. This legislation, cosponsored by Delaware Senators Coons and Carper and Pennsylvania Senator Casey will add nine more stream miles under the federal designation, the majority of which are located in Pennsylvania's New Garden Township.

It is now up to the House of Representatives to determine whether this bill will become law. The bill, if enacted by Congress, will provide added protection and enhanced conservation measures with out any added cost to tax payers. Pennsylvania Representative Pitts and Delaware Representative Carney are cosponsoring the House bill, H.R. 869. Please contact your representatives and let them know your support their actions.

Read full article on Senator Coons' Blog

Learn more about the Expansion Act here.

The Fifth Annual White Clay Creek Fest boasts record attendance!

Saturday May 4^th White Clay Creek State Park held the 5^th annual Creek Fest and had record attendance!  With a car count of 400 they conservatively estimated attendance at 1000 people! This is the highest attendance we have seen at Creek Fest, second was 2012 with an attendance of 800. The first 300 people received BPA free water bottles to encourage people to choose tap over bottled water, and White Clay Creek watershed passports were given out to encourage children and families to get out in nature and enjoy the many things that make the White Clay Creek watershed unique. Creek Fest is put on by Delaware State Parks, White Clay Wild and Scenic Program and the National Park Service to celebrate our precious natural resource – the White Clay!  It is supported by Suez United Water, The Friends of White Clay Creek State Park, the City ofNewark and The American Mushroom Institute.  In addition, the PA Friends of the White Clay Creek Preserve led 40 attendees on a pre-fest Mason Dixon Hike. Saturday brought beautiful weather, together with great music by Unity Reggae, the Juggling Hoffman’s and a live bird show by Animal Behaviors and Conservation Connections. We even had a special guest announce the band, Paul Baumbach Delaware State Representative for the 23^rd District.

Families who attended enjoyed crafts, face painting, and watershed related exhibits by local organizations such as Delaware Nature Society, Tri-State Bird Rescue, Wilmington Trail Club, Hale Byrns House, Southeastern Lyme Association, OH Farm and more. New this year were local artists whose work were on display for purchase. People also enjoyed food by Homegrown Cafe, Wood Fired Pizza and UD Creamery.

View photos at: Creek Fest 2013 Flickr and on the White Clay Creek State Park Facebook Page.

Volunteers Remove Invasive Species at Curtis Mill Site in Newark, DE.

 NEWARK — Volunteers helped clear invasive vines and other plants from around White Clay Creek at the site of a future city park Saturday.

“We’re removing some of the invasive plants so the native plants have a chance to come back,” said April Schmitt, a member of the Friends of White Clay Creek Preserve and Wilmington Trail Club.

Schmitt and members of Boy Scout Troop 255 of Newark worked on the project, along with Newark city workers.

The city is planning a public park at the site of the old Curtis Paper Mill, an area with a history stretching back more than 200 years.

The first paper mill there opened in 1798, according to the National Park Service’s Historic American Engineering Record.

In 1848, brothers George B. Curtis and Solomon Minot Curtis bought it and called it “Nonantum Mill,” from the American Indian name of the Massachusetts area where their family made paper. In 1926, the family sold the mill to outside stockholders, who renamed it Curtis Paper Co.

The mill closed in 1975. The city bought it in 1999 and razed everything but the smokestack in 2008. Restoring the smokestack was found to be too expensive, so it, too, was torn down.

Schmitt said the area was choked with multiflora rose, Oriental bittersweet, Japanese honeysuckle and other invasive species.

“The beauty of a forest is to see a diversity of plants,” Schmitt said. “When some of the ones come in from overseas, they don’t have any competitors here, so they just grow and grow and grow, and then they shade out everything else. So you can look in areas and see nothing but three plants, instead of seeing 25.”

Clearing them out helps restore biological diversity to the area, she said.

“The amount of native plants that come back is just astounding,” Schmitt said.

Contact Mike Chalmers at 324-2790 ormchalmers@delawareonline.com. Subscribe at facebook.com/MTChalmers or follow on Twitter at @MTChalmers.