To support the Appalachian Trail Conservancy’s (ATC) efforts to protect the Appalachian National Scenic Trail (A.T.) and the Delaware River Watershed, Heron’s Eye helped to develop outreach tools that will be used by the ATC to advise key partners in best practices that protect forested headwaters and strengthen riparian buffers — forested strips along rivers and streams — in the townships through which the A.T. passes in Pennsylvania and New Jersey.
The project was supported by a grant awarded by the William Penn Foundation.
In collaboration with the ATC and WDesign, Heron’s Eye:
- Provided content and message development.
- Provided copy editing.
This work to educate partners and implement best conservation practices along the A.T. is complementary to a larger regional effort, the Delaware River Watershed Initiative (DRWI), which involves more than 65 partners. The William Penn Foundation announced more than $40 million in new funding for the DRWI in 2018, which stands among the country’s largest non-regulatory conservation efforts to protect and restore clean water.
The DRWI is a collaborative effort among non-governmental organizations working together at an unprecedented scale to protect and restore clean water in the Delaware River watershed, the source of drinking water for 15 million people in Pennsylvania, New York, New Jersey and Delaware. Many sections of the Delaware River are part of the National Wild and Scenic River System and are enjoyed by millions of paddlers, boaters, anglers and swimmers annually.
