The Land Trust Accreditation Commission has renewed the accreditation of the Brandywine Conservancy & Museum of Art
By Steven Brodsky
I’m happy to share this news release from the Brandywine Conservancy & Museum of Art with the readers of the Entertainment, Culture and More column:
Chadds Ford, PA, May 13, 2025 — The Brandywine Conservancy & Museum of Art is pleased to announce it has achieved renewal of its accreditation from the Land Trust Accreditation Commission, an independent program of the Land Trust Alliance. The prestigious land trust accreditation program recognizes land conservation organizations that meet national high-quality standards for protecting important natural places and working lands forever.
Since 1967, the Brandywine Conservancy & Museum of Art has been a leader in protecting and conserving the land, water, natural and cultural resources in southeastern Pennsylvania and northern Delaware—with over 70,700 acres of open space permanently protected to date. It was also one of the first conservation organizations to be awarded accreditation by the Land Trust Accreditation Commission in 2008. Since then, the Brandywine Conservancy has successfully completed the rigorous accreditation renewal process three times, maintaining its accreditation status for nearly two decades.
“We are thrilled to have received our third accreditation renewal through the Land Trust Accreditation Commission,” commented Stephanie Armpriester, Director of Conservation and Stewardship at the Brandywine Conservancy. “This award is an affirmation of our commitment to excellence in all aspects of our innovative conservation work and serves as a guiding framework for maintaining the highest national standards that the Brandywine has consistently maintained over the years.”
The Land Trust Accreditation Commission conducts an extensive review of each applicant’s policies and programs every five years. During the renewal process, the Brandywine provided extensive documentation and was subject to a comprehensive third-party evaluation prior to achieving this distinction. The process also allowed Brandywine staff the opportunity to review and revise its current organizational policies and standards to ensure it was continuing to meet and exceed the highest accreditation standards set forth by the Land Trust Alliance. As a result of these efforts, the Land Trust Accreditation Commission awarded renewal accreditation, signing its confidence in the Brandywine’s capability to protect land and steward its easements in perpetuity. Accredited land trusts now steward more than 50 million acres—that’s approximately 23 times the size of Yellowstone National Park.
“This accreditation renewal not only acknowledges our past work, but it also ensures that the Brandywine continues to hold itself to the highest professional standards in the land trust field now and in the future,” noted Grant DeCosta, Director of Community Services at the Brandywine Conservancy. “It provides confidence to our landowners, constituents, members and donors that this organization can and will responsibly fulfill the promise of preserving and stewarding natural resources for generations to come.”
“The role of renewing accreditation has always been to maintain public trust in the accreditation seal by ensuring accredited land trusts continue to meet national standards,” said Melissa Kalvestrand, executive director of the Commission. “The Brandywine Conservancy & Museum of Art has been part of this program for more than 15 years and we are proud to recognize its commitment to conservation excellence.”
A complete list of accredited land trusts and more information about the process and benefits can be found at www.landtrustaccreditation.org.
About the Brandywine Conservancy:
The Brandywine Conservancy protects water, conserves land, and engages communities. The Conservancy uses a multi-faceted approach to conservation. Staff work with private landowners who wish to see their lands protected forever and provide innovative community planning services to municipalities and other governmental agencies. The Conservancy currently holds more than 510 conservation and agricultural easements and has facilitated the permanent preservation of over 70,700 acres of land. The Conservancy is a program of the Brandywine Conservancy & Museum of Art.
About the Brandywine Conservancy & Museum of Art:
The Brandywine Conservancy & Museum of Art preserves and promotes the natural and cultural connections between the area’s beautiful landscape, historic sites, and important artists. The Conservancy protects the lands and waters throughout the Brandywine Valley and other priority conservation areas, developing sustainable approaches to emerging needs and assuring preservation of majestic open spaces and protection of natural resources for generations to come. The Museum of Art presents and collects historic and contemporary works of American art, engaging and exciting visitors of all ages through an array of exhibitions and programs. The Brandywine unites the inspiring experiences of art and nature, enhancing the quality of life in its community and among its diverse audiences.
About the Land Trust Accreditation Commission:
The Land Trust Accreditation Commission inspires excellence, promotes public trust and ensures permanence in the conservation of open lands by recognizing organizations that meet rigorous quality standards and strive for continuous improvement. The Commission, established in 2006 as an independent program of the Land Trust Alliance, is governed by a volunteer board of diverse land conservation and nonprofit management experts. For more, visit www.landtrustaccreditation.org.
Posted 5-19-25
National Safe Boating Week to take place May 17-23, 2025
By Steven Brodsky

Photo by Steven Brodsky
Always stay safe when boating.
From a news release that was issued today, May 15, 2025, by the Pennsylvania Fish and Boat Commission (PFBC):
PFBC Celebrates National Safe Boating Week with Statewide Kickoff Event
Today, the Pennsylvania Fish and Boat Commission celebrated the upcoming National Safe Boating Week, which will occur May 17-23, 2025 with statewide kick-off event at the PFBC’s Fort Hunter Access along the Susquehanna River in Harrisburg (Middle Paxton Township, Dauphin County).
During this special week, conducted in partnership with the National Safe Boating Council and other boating safety advocates across the country, the PFBC reminds all boaters to follow a basic safe boating checklist before and during each boating adventure.
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Always Wear a Life Jacket
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Never Boat Under the Influence of alcohol or drugs
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Have a Float Plan to let someone know where you’ll be boating
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Check the Weather Forecast before and during your trip
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Take a Boating Safety Education Course
National Safe Boating Week is celebrated annually, just ahead of Memorial Day, which is considered the unofficial start to the summer boating season across Pennsylvania. The week is a celebration of the Commonwealth’s vast boating opportunities, as well as a reminder that safety should be a priority before and during every boating adventure.
Waterways Conservation Officers will be on patrol throughout the upcoming holiday weekend and throughout the summer to conduct safety checks and look for signs of impairment. Just like operating a motor vehicle on the road, in Pennsylvania, a person operating a boat is over the legal limit if he or she has a blood alcohol concentration of point-zero-eight (0.08%) or higher.
The PFBC also reminded boaters and anglers that two Fish-for-Free Days will happen on Sunday, May 25, 2025, and Friday, July 4, 2025. On these days, anglers do not require a fishing license, but regulations including seasons, sizes, and creel limits, still apply.
Posted 5-15-25
A reminder from the Pennsylvania Game Commission to leave young wildlife alone
By Steven Brodsky
For the benefit of young wildlife and the readers of this column, I’m sharing this just-issued news release from the Pennsylvania Game Commission in its entirety:
SPRINGTIME ALERT: LEAVE YOUNG WILDLIFE ALONE
Whether in their backyards or high on a mountain, it’s almost certain Pennsylvanians will encounter young wildlife this time of year.
While some young animals might appear to be abandoned, usually they are not. It’s likely their mothers are watching over them from somewhere nearby.
So when encountering young wild animals, whether deer, birds, raccoons or something else, the best thing you can do is leave them alone.
“During this time of year, it’s common for people to see young wildlife and mistakenly assume that they are abandoned or in need of help,” said Matthew Schnupp, the Game Commission’s Bureau of Wildlife Management Director. “As well-intentioned as they are in trying to help these animals, the reality is that the mother is probably nearby and waiting for you to leave so she can return. The best approach when encountering any wildlife is to simply let them be.”
Adult animals often leave their young while they forage for food, but they don’t go far and they do return. Wildlife also often relies on a natural defensive tactic called the “hider strategy,” where young animals will remain motionless and “hide” in surrounding cover while adults draw the attention of potential predators or other intruders away from their young.
Deer employ this strategy, and deer fawns sometimes are assumed to be abandoned when, in fact, their mothers are nearby.
The Game Commission urges Pennsylvanians to resist the urge to interfere with young wildlife or remove any wild animal from its natural setting.
Such contact can be harmful to both people and wildlife. Wild animals can lose their natural fear of humans, making it difficult, even impossible, for them to ever again live normally in the wild. And anytime wildlife is handled, there’s always a risk people could contract diseases or parasites such as fleas, ticks and lice.
Wildlife that becomes habituated to humans also can pose a public-safety risk. Some years ago, a yearling, six-point buck attacked and severely injured two people. The investigation into the incident revealed that a neighboring family had illegally taken the deer into their home and fed it as a fawn, and they continued to feed the deer right up until the time of the attack.
It is illegal to take or possess wildlife from the wild. Under state law, the penalty for such a violation is a fine of up to $1,500 per animal.
Under no circumstances will anyone who illegally takes wildlife into captivity be allowed to keep that animal, and under a working agreement with state health officials, any “high risk” rabies vector species confiscated after human contact must be euthanized and tested; none can be returned to the wild because the risk of spreading disease is too high.
Animals infected with rabies might not show obvious symptoms, but still might be able to transmit the disease. Though any mammal might carry rabies, the rabies vector species identified in the agreement are: skunks, raccoons, foxes, bats, coyotes and groundhogs.
People can get rabies from the saliva of a rabid animal if they are bitten or scratched, or if the saliva gets into the person’s eyes, mouth or a fresh wound.
Only wildlife rehabilitators, who are licensed by the Game Commission, are permitted to care for injured or orphaned wildlife for the purposes of eventual release back into the wild. For those who find wildlife that truly is in need of assistance, a listing of licensed wildlife rehabilitators can be found on the Pennsylvania Association of Wildlife Rehabilitators website, www.pawr.com.
If you are unable to identify a wildlife rehabilitator in your area, contact the Game Commission by phone at 1-833-PGC-WILD or 1-833-PGC-HUNT.
Posted 5-14-25
Are you ‘listening’ to the heavens’ declaration of the glory of God?
By Steven Brodsky
… Spring outdoor activities accompany opportunities to “hear” that declaration!
King David “heard” it.
Penned by King David, Psalm 19:1-3: “The heavens declare the glory of God; and the firmament sheweth his handywork. Day unto day uttereth speech, and night unto night sheweth knowledge. There is no speech nor language, where their voice is not heard.”
Posted 5-5-25
The Brandywine Conservancy has launched the Brandywine Native Garden Hub, an interactive website for those interested in the native plants of Pennsylvania and northern Delaware; the new website includes information on more than 250 native plant species
By Steven Brodsky
… The Brandywine Native Garden Hub website will be a great resource for many of you.
The Brandywine Conservancy issued this press release yesterday:
Chadds Ford, PA, April 14, 2025 — In celebration of National Gardening Month, the Brandywine Conservancy is thrilled to announce the launch of the Brandywine Native Garden Hub, a new online resource designed to inspire gardeners of all levels and skillsets. The Brandywine Native Garden Hub is a free, user-friendly website that serves as both an educational guide and an interactive database for anyone interested in incorporating native plants into their landscapes. Naturally occurring in a specific region without human intervention, native plants have adapted to the climate and soil over time, making them easier to grow and maintain, plus they directly benefit pollinators, wildlife, and the local ecology. With the Brandywine Native Garden Hub, users can search for and learn more about native plants specific to Pennsylvania and northern Delaware, save their favorites to personalized “Garden Boards,” and browse through a suite of educational resources to help enhance their gardening success.
“We are so excited to share the Brandywine Native Garden Hub with our broader community,” said Stephanie Armpriester, Director of Conservation and Stewardship at the Brandywine Conservancy. “Our main goal with this new website is to break down barriers for those interested in getting started with native plants and to provide them with all the tools they need to begin their garden journeys. With this accessible online resource, we hope to inspire beginners to join us in our important mission-related work in their own backyards and landscapes. It’s also a perfect companion tool to the slate of educational programs the Brandywine Conservancy offers around native plants throughout the year, as well as our annual Native Plant Sales, both here on our campus in Chadds Ford, PA and in Western Pennsylvania at our Penguin Court Preserve.”
Now available at www.NativeGardenHub.org, the Brandywine Native Garden Hub contains information on more than 250 native plant species found in our region. Each plant profile contains everything you need to know about the plant—from growing conditions to key attributes and wildlife benefits—along with photos that show different growth stages. Users can also personalize their searches by filtering for plants according to their garden’s specific growing conditions, including sunlight exposure, soil type, and soil moisture. Plants can even be sorted by the user’s preferred attributes and benefits, including plant type, height/width, peak bloom time, bloom color, deer resistance, fragrance, and more.
To help visualize and plan their dream gardens, users can create a free account to build personalized “Garden Boards” that are customized to their unique growing spaces. Boards can be curated for the spaces users currently have, the type of gardens they are looking to start—such as a container garden for smaller spaces or one designed to attract specific pollinators—or even boards for future garden inspiration. Once users set up their boards, they can “pin” their favorite plants while browsing to save them for building out their garden plans. Users can also add, edit, and create as many Garden Boards as they’d like, which can be referenced at any time on both desktop and mobile devices.
To equip users with even more tools for success during their gardening journeys, the Brandywine Native Garden Hub also features a wealth of educational resources. Users can dive into our beginners guide for getting started with native plants or browse through other articles, including topics on how to prep a container garden, tackling invasive species, and seasonal gardening tips. Additional articles will be published throughout the year for continued learning.
For more than five decades, the Brandywine Conservancy has been a trusted leader in growing and promoting the use, preservation, and appreciation of native plants. The Brandywine Native Garden Hub is the latest extension of this work, providing a digital platform to help gardeners bring the benefits of native plants to their own landscapes. To start your journey with native plants, visit www.NativeGardenHub.org.
The launch of this new online resource also comes at the perfect time, right before the return of the Brandywine Conservancy’s annual Wildflower, Native Plant & Seed Sale on May 10-11, 2025 (with early member access available on May 9). Held outside in the Brandywine Museum of Art’s courtyard in Chadds Ford, PA, the sale includes a wide variety of native wildflowers, grasses, ferns, vines, shrubs and trees. The Brandywine Native Garden Hub is a great resource to reference in advance of the sale and can be used to create a “shopping list” with a custom Garden Board to bring to the event. More information on the Native Plant Sale can be found at www.brandywine.org/native-plant-sale.
Created by the Brandywine Conservancy, the Brandywine Native Garden Hub was designed and developed by Infantree—a creative agency based in Lancaster, PA—and made possible through a generous grant from the Allegheny Foundation.
About the Brandywine Conservancy:
The Brandywine Conservancy protects water, conserves land, and engages communities. The Conservancy uses a multi-faceted approach to conservation. Staff work with private landowners who wish to see their lands protected forever and provide innovative community planning services to municipalities and other governmental agencies. The Conservancy currently holds more than 510 conservation and agricultural easements and has facilitated the permanent preservation of over 70,200 acres of land. The Conservancy is a program of the Brandywine Conservancy & Museum of Art.
About the Brandywine Conservancy & Museum of Art:
The Brandywine Conservancy & Museum of Art preserves and promotes the natural and cultural connections between the area’s beautiful landscape, historic sites, and important artists. The Conservancy protects the lands and waters throughout the Brandywine Valley and other priority conservation areas, developing sustainable approaches to emerging needs and assuring preservation of majestic open spaces and protection of natural resources for generations to come. The Museum of Art presents and collects historic and contemporary works of American art, engaging and exciting visitors of all ages through an array of exhibitions and programs. The Brandywine unites the inspiring experiences of art and nature, enhancing the quality of life in its community and among its diverse audiences.
Posted 4-15-25
It wasn’t you, nor was it me
By Steven Brodsky
… who made this tree:

Photo by Steven Brodsky
“Trees,” by Joyce Kilmer: https://www.poetryfoundation.org/poetrymagazine/poems/12744/trees
The tree was photographed yesterday.
The Joyce Kilmer poem was published in August 1915.
This post originally appeared at: Conversations About Faith – delcoculturevultures.com.
Posted 3-25-24, Reposted and Revised 11-21-24
In a proper season
By Steven Brodsky
… appeared this frog (and the shadow it cast upon a lotus leaf):

Photo by Steven Brodsky
Ecclesiastes 3 KJV (biblehub.com)
This post appeared in the Conversations About Faith section of this column.
Posted 4-25-24, Reposted and Revised 8-14-24
Exquisite is the monarch butterfly chrysalis stage
By Steven Brodsky
… as pictured here:

Photo by Steven Brodsky
I can’t say that I find the adult stage of the monarch butterfly to be more exquisite than the monarch chrysalis stage.
Which stage is more exquisite?
Not an easy question (for me) to answer.
It’s easier to simply enjoy seeing these two life stages of the monarch butterfly in the great outdoors!
Posted 8-7-24
Coming into the peace of some wild things
By Steven Brodsky
… with this photo and “The Peace of Wild Things”:

Photo by Steven Brodsky
Posted 7-9-24
Most people can relate
By Steven Brodsky
… to the kind of death that was experienced by the character in Seamus Heaney’s poem “Death of a Naturalist.”
Posted 7-12-22
A Conversation With Katie Fallon, Author of ‘Vulture: The Private Life of an Unloved Bird’
By Steven Brodsky
Katie Fallon is a co-founder of the Avian Conservation Center of Appalachia. She’s worked with many species of raptors and other kinds of birds. Katie’s books include Cerulean Blues (2011) and the recently released Vulture: The Private Life of an Unloved Bird. Her essays have appeared in a number of literary journals. She has a lifelong love of nature. I’ve heard that the first word she ever spoke was “bird.”
Your new book gives vultures, particularly turkey vultures, the positive attention these non-predator raptors deserve. What brought about your interest in these maligned birds?
I’ve been fascinated by vultures for at least fifteen years. There was a roost near where I lived in West Virginia; every day I’d drive by this big, old dead tree with ten or so turkey vultures hunched in it. They became a familiar sight, and I looked forward to seeing them. Vultures are big and kind of dramatic, and in flight, there’s nothing more beautiful. In addition, they’re the ultimate recyclers—they turn death into life.
Many people in the U.S. have an aversion to vultures. Speak about this.
I think vultures remind people of their own mortality. It can be a little creepy to think about a large, dark bird waiting to consume your body when you die. In general, I don’t think people in the US are comfortable with thinking of our bodies as food. Vultures remind us that life will continue after we die, and that some life will continue because we die. They remind us of our animal bodies. Which can be unnerving!
In the absence of vultures, we’d have major health issues to contend with. Tell us why.
Vultures clean up our ecosystems by removing animal carcasses that could potentially contaminate soil and water. They can eat animals that have died of anthrax and botulism. In the absence of vultures, mammalian scavengers could increase in number, and many mammalian scavengers such as raccoons, skunks, feral dogs and cats can spread rabies; vultures do not. Several vulture species in India have suffered catastrophic population crashes in the last twenty years, and public health has suffered. India leads the world in human rabies cases, and the number of cases has increased as the number of feral dogs increased in the absence of vultures.
People get close to vultures by attending your presentations that feature non-releasable birds. How are these birds acquired? How are they trained?
The nonprofit I co-founded, the Avian Conservation Center of Appalachia, keeps eight non-releasable raptors for educational purposes (you need permits from the US Fish & Wildlife Service to do this, of course – the birds aren’t pets or personal property). All of our birds were injured wild birds that cannot return to the wild. We have three vultures. Lew the turkey vulture was hit by a car and suffered an injury to his shoulder that prevents flight. His “girlfriend,” Boris, was shot in the wing, and by the time she reached us the bone had already healed incorrectly. Our black vulture is Maverick, and he was hit by a car, which resulted in a shoulder injury that prevents adequate flight.
Our birds are all trained using positive reinforcement. We avoid negative reinforcement and punishment, and we try to empower the birds to have some control over their environments. We condition behaviors by offering food rewards when the birds perform the behaviors. Vultures (especially our black vulture!) learn quickly, and they are a lot of fun to work with.
What myths and misunderstandings about vultures do these presentations help to dispel?
People are surprised at how clean and charismatic the vultures are – and how beautiful they are up close, despite their featherless heads.
What vulture behaviors do people find to be most interesting?
People often ask if vultures throw up on us; our education vultures usually don’t (unless they get scared). Vultures also expel liquid waste on their legs and feet, probably to clean them as well as to keep cool. This often fascinates people as well.
Which species of vulture are found in Pennsylvania and neighboring states?
We have turkey vultures and black vultures. During the last Ice Age we may have had California condors, too, and possibly some other now-extinct vultures.
What has been learned about migration of these species?
Hawk Mountain has taken the lead on turkey vulture migration research. Dr. Keith Bildstein and his team have placed transmitters and wing tags on turkey vultures all over the Americas. They’ve learned that our eastern turkey vultures are partial migrants—some spend the winters in Florida, some on the New Jersey shore, some in Virginia, and in many places in between. Many western turkey vultures are complete migrants, leaving their breeding ranges in Canada and heading all the way to South America. And still others in the American southwest migrate into Central America and return. It’s fascinating how the different subspecies have different migratory strategies. Dr. Bildstein and his colleagues have ongoing research projects about turkey vulture migration, and are discovering more all the time.
Vultures have spectacular flying ability. What makes this possible?
Turkey vultures are very light – they have almost the same wingspan as a bald eagle but weigh less than half what an eagle weighs. Their wings are long and broad, and are made for soaring.
How high can they fly?
The Ruppell’s vulture holds the record for the highest-flying bird. Unfortunately for that individual, it was hit and killed by a jet flying over Africa at 37,000 feet.
Vulture: The Private Life of an Unloved Bird informs readers about lead toxicity in vultures. What is the extent of the problem? How do vultures ingest lead?
Vultures (and eagles, hawks, crows, ravens, and owls) can ingest small pieces of spent lead ammunition in animal carcasses or “gut piles” left by hunters. When someone shoots a white-tailed deer, for example, the deer is usually field-dressed, and many of the organs are left. This can be a delight for vultures and other scavengers! In ecosystems, scavengers often follow the big predators to clean up the leftovers; here, the same thing is happening—a human is the big predator, a gut pile is the leftover, and a vulture or eagle is the scavenger. However, if small lead fragments are still in the gut piles, avian scavengers can inadvertently ingest the lead and become sick. Lead toxicity from spent ammunition is the biggest obstacle in the way of California condor recovery.
The Avian Conservation Center of Appalachia provides rehabilitation for injured birds. What kind of care do vultures receive?
We’ve treated vultures with a wide variety of injuries and ailments—broken bones, head trauma, lead toxicity, soft tissue injuries. Every bird we admit receives an immediate comprehensive examination by an avian veterinarian, and is then treated as necessary with antibiotics, antifungals, anti-inflammatories, fluid therapy, or chelation therapy. They also receive orthopedic surgery if necessary. We do our best to get the birds back out in the wild if possible.
It must be very joyful to enable an injured bird to regain flight ability. Please tell us about a memorable release.
Two and a half years ago we released a female turkey vulture that had been shot with a shotgun—she had three pellets embedded in soft tissue. We had to leave the pellets in her body because removing them would cause damage. Once she was nursed back to health, we released her wearing a transmitter to track her movements. We learned that she travels to northern Georgia in the winters and comes back to West Virginia in the breeding season. We are thrilled that this vulture was able to return to the wild—and thrive!
Vulture watching is growing in popularity. Turkey vultures are very widespread. Where are some of the best places and times to observe them?
In many parts of the southeastern United States, you can see turkey vultures any day of the year in a variety of habitats. In the winter, vultures can be observed roosting together in and near many cities: in Virginia, check out Leesburg, Staunton, Radford, Pulaski, and Charlottesville; in West Virginia, many vultures can be observed migrating in the fall over Hanging Rock Tower in Monroe County and over Harper’s Ferry in the eastern panhandle. During the summer and fall, the overlook at Cooper’s Rock State Forest near Morgantown, WV, is a sure place to see turkey vultures. Hawk Mountain in Pennsylvania, of course, is an excellent place to watch turkey vultures and birds of prey during migration, especially in September and October.
What stimulated your interest in nature?
I’ve always been an outdoors person. I grew up in northeastern Pennsylvania, and I had horses as a kid. I spent a great deal of time with my horses, trail riding and competing, and when I got a bit older I often went hiking and camping with friends and family. One of my favorite childhood hiking spots was Ricketts Glen State Park—it’s filled with hemlock trees and many gorgeous waterfalls. It’s definitely worth checking out if you visit northeastern PA.
Was “bird” your first word?
Yes! My parents had bird feeders in their yard when I was a baby (well, they still do) and my mother says she used to hold me in front of the window to show me the birds at the feeder. One day, she said, “Look at the birds! Look at the birds outside.” And I nodded and said, “Bird.” I haven’t stopped talking about them since.
Katie Fallon’s website address is: www.katiefallon.com.
Posted 4-6-17, Reposted 10-29-19