Delaware Nature Society

Conservation

Through Delaware Nature Society's Natural Resource Conservation programs, you can help protect the health of our environment and restore local watersheds. No matter what your interest, there is something for everyone from volunteer monitoring to habitat creation for homeowners and opportunities to provide a strong voice at government meetings. Explore the links below to discover how you can make a difference in these important efforts.

New Castle County Yard Waste Ban!
On January 24th, 2008 the Cherry Island Landfill will no longer take yard waste (grass, leaves, prunings, brush and shrubs, garden materials, Christmas trees, and tree limbs up to 4" in diameter). This will generally affect northern New Castle County. Click here for more information.

Delaware Nature Society Advocacy
Through proactive initiatives and oversight of national, state, and local activities, the Nature Society works to secure necessary protection measures while monitoring enforcement actions to ensure proper stewardship of Delaware's natural resources.

Backyard Wildlife Habitat
The Backyard Wildlife Habitat™ program, conducted through a partnership between the Delaware Nature Society and the National Wildlife Federation, provides provides official certification for properties that meet four criteria necessary for wildlife habitat: food, water, cover, and places for wildlife to raise young.

Stream Watch
Delaware's streams, rivers, ponds, and lakes are precious resources for drinking water and recreational uses such as fishing, boating, and swimming. Our waterways provide habitat for a wide variety of plants and animals. There's a problem, though...

Land Preservation
As a leader in recognizing and protecting Delaware's significant natural resources, in 1964 the Delaware Nature Society established a Land Preservation Program in which landowners either donate or place voluntarily restrictions on their property to conserve its important natural, scenic and agricultural resources.

Delaware Nature Society Preserves
Four nature preserves owned by the Delaware Nature Society are managed to maximize their value as wildlife habitat and environmental education resources. They serve as models to the region for conservation management techniques.

    - Burrows Run Preserve
    - Flint Woods Preserve
    - Marvel Saltmarsh Preserve
    - Cedar Bog Preserve

Seasonal Projects
Help restore Middle Run Natural Area near Newark, Delaware. Since 1992, thousands of volunteers have planted close to 30,000 trees and shrubs and 20,000 tree seeds on 67 acres of abandoned farm fields in New Castle County's Middle Run Natural Area Park. Thank you for your help in this pioneer project to accelerate hardwood forest succession in Delaware's piedmont, increasing the forest interior habitat and the forested buffer next to Middle Run!

Red Clay Valley Scenic Byway
The Delaware Nature Society's nomination of twenty-eight roads into the Scenic and Historic Highways program was approved in April 2005, making the Red Clay Valley Scenic Byway the State's second designated byway.

The nomination application received a strong endorsement by the state agency Evaluation Committee and the Scenic and Historic Advisory Board. Members of the Evaluation Committee indicated that "[T]he quality of the remaining natural and scenic resources in this area are extremely significant. Not only the type of landscape but also the large amount of it that exists in its undisturbed state, makes it special and unique to Northern New Castle County and Delaware." And, "[T]he resources identified in this application and both the current and future preservation efforts of those resources, 'epitomizes what the Scenic Byway Program is all about'."