By Ken Mammarella
Photo by Jerrye and Roy Klotz, MD
What Delaware waterways have the outstanding natural, cultural, or recreational values required to join the White Clay Creek on the elite list of America’s 228 Wild and Scenic Rivers? That’s a question that advocates have considered for several years.
After a reconnaissance study of 43 waterways in Delaware, prepared by the University of Delaware Water Resources Center in partnership with the Coalition for the Delaware River Watershed and the National Park Service in 2021, the Delaware portions of Red Clay and the Brandywine creeks emerged as the top contenders.
Both waterways arise in Pennsylvania, then flow through some of Delaware’s most beautiful farmland and woodlands, important habitat, and culturally and historically significant areas, burbling under quaint covered, bridges and past state and national parks along the way. Wild and Scenic designation would provide a host of protections for the watersheds.
The coalition began the push in 2021 by convening regional stakeholders. The progress to-date has been a collection of partner feedback and input to choose Brandywine and Red Clay as potential designations.
“Wild and Scenic designation would be a lovely benefit for paddlers, fishermen, hikers, and other users for generations to come,” says Jen Adkins, Executive Director of Delaware Nature Society, which has managed the Ashland Nature Center on the Red Clay Creek since the mid-1970s. “It would preserve the unique cultural and ecological character of the area, increase recreational opportunities, and become an amazing source of pride for Delaware.”
The White Clay Watershed
The national Wild and Scenic River program was created by federal law in 1968 to preserve and protect selected rivers, or portions of them, in their free-flowing state. Rivers in the system must possess “outstandingly remarkable scenic, recreational, geologic, fish and wildlife, historic, cultural or other similar values,” according to the law.
Many people may associate Wild and Scenic with iconic rivers such as the Rio Grande or majestic landscapes like Yosemite National Park, where the Merced flows past geologic features made famous by photographer Ansel Adams. But smaller waterways share the glory.
In 2000, White Clay Creek became the first waterway designated Wild and Scenic not as a single river corridor, but as a watershed, meaning the designation covers parts of the main stem and several of its tributaries—a total of 94.7 stream miles. The 107-square-mile watershed spans portions of northwestern New Castle County and lower Chester County, Pennsylvania, making it the largest Wild and Scenic River in the Northeast.
White Clay is known for its scenery, birdwatching and trout fishing and for historic features such as 19th-century century mills. It is home to the endangered bog turtle and the broadest mature Piedmont forests left in Delaware. Part of an exceptional aquifer, the watershed is also an important source of drinking water.
In different ways, the Red Clay and Brandywine also possess similar values, making the effort of having them designated Wild and Scenic worth some hard work.
Proven Benefits
Shane Morgan is director of the White Clay Creek Program for the White Clay Watershed Association. Formed in the 1960s to oppose the building of a dam on the waterway, it now works to enhance water quality, natural resources, and quality of life in the area. Since 2000, Morgan has noticed many benefits of Wild and Scenic designation.
“I think that the Wild and Scenic designation elevates our applications for grants,” she says. “When funders see that, they know it is something special. In fact, less than half a percent of all the rivers in the United States have this designation as Wild and Scenic.”
Increased funding for White Clay has allowed for a strong water quality monitoring program that includes monthly testing at six sites year-round and expanded testing at 32 sites in July for bacteria. Funding has provided for increased education, including the annual CreekFest celebration each May.
“And we have definitely preserved more open space,” Morgan says. “A lot of our funds from the national Wild and Scenic program are put to preserving open space. Because of that open space, we have trail easements, so there’s a lot of trail connections and recreational opportunities.”
Increased awareness and funding have also enabled the watershed association to provide financial and technical assistance to homeowners in the White Clay watershed to improve stormwater management on their properties with rain gardens and other landscaping, increase biodiversity with native plants, and upgrade conservation practices.
“My absolute favorite program, Catch the Rain, created something we weren’t necessarily expecting: improved relationships with the homeowners, who reach out to us if they see something that they think we should be aware of, so it provides more boots on the ground,” Morgan says. “And sometimes they become invaluable volunteers.”
The progress was made possible by the White Clay Watershed Association, its volunteers, and its partners, including local, county and state governments, the Brandywine Conservancy, Natural Lands, the Stroud Water Research Center, the University of Delaware Water Resources Center, and the National Park Service.
A few of those partners—UD, Stroud, the Brandywine Conservancy—plus the National Parks Conservation Association, Delaware Nature Society, and others, seek the Wild and Scenic designation for the Red Clay and Brandywine.
Says Grant DeCosta, director of community services at the Brandywine Conservancy, a Wild and Scenic designation for the Brandywine “would be so complementary to the centuries of knowledge we have about the waterway, the long history of scientific study and research, and the cultural importance of the watershed,” which includes the famed Brandywine School of illustration founded by Howard Pyle in 1898,
The Application Process
Getting a waterway into the Wild and Scenic River program takes time and money. The candidates must be proposed to the National Park Service. NPS must study the waterways to ensure they meet the program’s standards—including support from local stakeholders and the broader community for the designation—then makes a recommendation to Congress. A waterway can be included only after Congress passes a law to allow it or if the secretary of the Interior makes a special declaration.
Then there’s the decision on how to manage the waterway. Traditional Wild and Scenic Rivers flow mostly through federal lands and are managed by federal agencies. “Partnership” Wild and Scenic Rivers flow mostly through non-federal lands are managed by the National Park Service with a local council.
The White Clay is a partnership river, as are all the nearby Wild and Scenic Rivers: the Maurice, Great Egg Harbor and Musconetcong in New Jersey and the Lower Delaware in Pennsylvania and New Jersey.
Proposals for both the Red Clay and Brandywine would include the waterways and adjacent land in Delaware and Pennsylvania. UD’s 2021 reconnaissance report recommends further study, and money for that must still be raised to move the study along.
Once a river or stream is part of the National Wild and Scenic program, however, funding can be leveraged for projects that improve water quality, conserve wetlands and open space, protect and plant native species, and create opportunities for recreation.
A Wild and Scenic River designation for either waterway would mesh nicely with existing designations for nearby roadways: the Red Clay Scenic Byway and the Brandywine Valley National Scenic Byway.
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About the Author: Ken Mammarella is a Delaware native and longtime journalist who in his spare time likes to explore the terrain by bike.
Learn more
Study of Potentially Eligible National Wild & Scenic Rivers in Delaware
The National Wild and Scenic River System
White Clay Creek National Wild & Scenic River
Partnership Wild and Scenic Rivers: A Primer
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