It’s not often a vote can shape what a place looks like for generations. On Nov. 3, Delaware County voters get that chance — the opportunity to protect the water they drink, wildlife around them and the open spaces that make this county worth calling home.
The Delaware County Water Quality, Natural Areas, and Wildlife Habitat Protection bond will allow the county to borrow up to $120 million to protect drinking water sources and water quality, conserve trees that clean our air and wetlands that prevent flooding, safeguard wildlife habitat and keep our natural areas from being lost to development.
As a lifelong resident of Delaware County and the executive director of The Nature Conservancy in Pennsylvania and Delaware, I urge everyone to vote YES on this ballot initiative.
At the heart of this ballot measure is the Green Ways Grant Program. Between 2019 and 2023, it awarded grants to municipalities and nonprofits in every corner of Delco until the money ran out. A YES vote would reinstate it, giving Delco communities the power to protect their own drinking water and natural areas for the long term.
Without this measure, Delco has no other source of funding for this critical work. These funds can only go towards conservation — protecting water, wildlife habitat, air quality and open space. If the measure fails, there would be no money for the Green Ways Grant Program, and the county could forfeit millions in matching grants from local townships, Harrisburg and Washington, D.C. — dollars that are only unlocked when local funding is in place.
We’ve seen what’s possible when this funding exists. Conservation partners like Natural Lands and the Darby Creek Valley Association have used support from the Green Ways Grant Program to protect land and help keep communities healthy and safe in the face of pollution and flooding. Flooding is one of the most pressing challenges facing our region, and it doesn’t respect county lines. It’s why this bond matters — the wetlands and natural areas it would conserve are what hold back stormwater — and it’s why The Nature Conservancy is at work in the Lower Darby Creek watershed, in partnership with Delaware County.
The Lower Darby Creek watershed spans roughly 10,000 acres across Philadelphia and Delaware Counties, draining through the John Heinz National Wildlife Refuge — America’s first urban national wildlife refuge and home to Pennsylvania’s largest remaining freshwater tidal marshes. More than 600,000 people live within 5 miles of the refuge, and for decades neighborhoods have faced chronic flooding that puts homes and habitats at risk. There, the Nature Conservancy is helping lead a collaborative effort to identify how nature-based solutions can reduce flooding, restore habitat, and improve water quality for people and wildlife across the watershed.
From the wetlands and forest at Delco Woods to the rail-trail that winds along Chester Creek, these are the places that make Delco so special and worth protecting. We owe it to future generations to preserve them. The Nature Conservancy is proud to stand with our partners and with the coalition behind this measure. On Nov. 3, vote YES.
Residents can learn more and sign up for updates at www.voteyesdelcowater.org.
