401 East Gay Street
West Chester, PA 19380
USA
On Wed. Nov. 12, 2014, 4CP will host David D. Shields, Director of the Brandywine Conservancy’s Land Stewardship Program. Mr. Shields will give an overview of the Conservancy’s nearly 50 years of preserving land in the Brandywine Valley and beyond, largely through the use of conservation easements. He will discuss how conservation easements work and how they can promote sustainable preservation of water, agricultural, forest, and other natural resources for future generations to offset rapid land development in Chester County and the elevated GHG emissions that can result. The Conservancy’s Land Stewardship Program assists public and private landowners in developing and implementing plans for the long term use, management, and permanent protection of their properties. The Conservancy has directly protected and facilitated the preservation of nearly 60,000 acres in southeast PA and Northern DE.
Mr. Shields supervises an 11-member staff that solicits, plans, authors, administers, and enforces conservation easements. He has spent 30 years in land conservation and has been directly involved in the protection of over 25,000 acres, including more easements (452) than any other land trust in PA. In 2011, Mr. Shields co-authored a history of the Conservancy’s King Ranch project, titled Catalyst for Conservation.