By Richard L. Gaw
Staff Writer

Beneath a clear blue sky on the morning of April 17, over one dozen volunteers planted 135 trees and shrubs throughout a 1.1-acre plot at Phillips Mushrooms in Kennett Square, as part of a project by Brandywine Red Clay Alliance (BRC) to improve stormwater quality on a small tributary to the Red Clay Creek. 

Over several hours, the group – made up of staff from Phillips, BRC and Veolia, a private water utility company that operates a water treatment plant in Stanton, Del. – planted River Birch, Sycamore, Swamp White Oak, Pin Oak, White Oak, Black Gum, Hornbeam, and spicebush, as well as native fruits and nut trees such as Persimmon, Paw Paw and Hazelnut trees.

Grant funding came from the Community Conservation Partnerships Program under the administration of the Pennsylvania Department of Conservation and Natural Resources, and from Veolia.

The property of Phillips Mushrooms, one of the largest mushroom growers in the Kennett area, features the start of tributaries to the West Branch of the Red Clay Creek. The new native trees and shrubs will improve water quality by stabilizing soils preventing erosion, providing a buffer to the streams by soaking up stormwater and excess nutrients before it enters streams. It will also provide shade and nutrients to the streams, as well as provide habitat for land and aquatic wildlife, including native macro invertebrates and the fish that feed on them. 

“Trees are probably the most beneficial and easiest way to protect water,” said 

Brian Winslow, Watershed Conservation Director of Brandywine Red Clay Alliance. “If you drive along a lot of our streams, people mow to the edge, there are no trees and subsequently, there is no buffer from the sun, from nutrients and even from people who get too close to the streams. Our goal is to plant riparian buffers along streams, 35 to 100 feet on each side, with the goal of getting these streambank areas to full shade.

“Our streams are getting warmer, so a lot of the bugs and fish that live in the streams need cold water, and the trees shade the stream and keep the water cooler, and the roots in the soil prevent erosion. Whatever you put on the land – whether it is excess fertilizer or manure – ends up in the water, but as they flow to the stream through a riparian buffer of trees, the trees soak up the extra nutrients and keeps them from getting into streams.” 

The project at Phillips Mushrooms is part of BRC’s plan to plant seven acres of new riparian trees and shrub plantings in the Red Clay Creek Watershed in Chester County over the next three years, in partnership with Veolia. BRC completed Watershed Assessment and Restoration Plans for the East Branch Red Clay Creek in 2010 and West Branch Red Clay Creek in 2023 that provide comprehensive plans to improve water quality in this watershed.

In addition, BRC has completed seven projects on over 2.5 miles of streams along the watershed and will begin a new stream restoration and riparian buffer project in late 2025 along the Parrish Trail on the West Branch Red Clay Creek in Kennett and New Garden townships. 

To learn more about Brandywine Red Clay Alliance, visit www.brandywineredclay.org.

To contact Staff Writer Richard L. Gaw, email [email protected].