Berks Nature Secures Increased Protections for Local Drinking Water Under the New Fleetwood Reservoir Woodland Conservation Easement – Technologist

Press release shared by Berks Nature, July 12. Photo courtesy of the land trust. 

In June 2024, Berks Nature established a new conservation easement with the Fleetwood Borough to protect 190 acres of woodlands, adding yet another valuable safeguard to the Oley Hills’ pristine waterways and the local community’s drinking water.

The rough and rolling topography of the Oley Hills are an extraordinary regional treasure: recognized as a conservation focal area within the Pennsylvania Highlands Region for its exceptional natural, recreational, and cultural resources and warden to six Exceptional Value waterways: the region’s most valuable watersheds.

Oley’s forested wetlands too – a habitat in decline across the United States – play a valuable role as water purifiers, flood defenders, and as wildlife nurseries and homes.

The Fleetwood Borough’s recent conservation easement – 190 acres of wooded wetlands and mixed hardwood forest – is the most recent addition to a growing network of protection across the Oley Hills.

From the woodland’s natural springs and wetlands, the headwaters of the Willow Creek (a tributary to Maiden Creek) originate. So clean and abundant are these springs that the property has supplied the Fleetwood Borough with drinking water since 1909, earning the property its name: the Fleetwood Reservoir Woodland.

The newly placed easement will preserve the integrity of this woodland, and its ability to support cool, clean drinking water to its downstream neighbors, in perpetuity.

The now protected Fleetwood Reservoir Woodlands are also a testament to the deeply rooted conservation ethic of the Oley Hills community and the power of a people united by purpose. Since 1989, Berks Nature has helped place nearly 3,400 acres of the Oley Hills under conservation easements, forever protecting the intrinsic natural value of this land.

Funds to purchase the Fleetwood Reservoir Woodlands easement were provided through the PA Department of Conservation and Natural Resources’ Community Conservation Partnership Program (C2P2).

Berks Nature is a 501(c)(3) non-profit conservation organization that has been serving the Berks County community since 1974. We believe that nature is essential to our quality of life. Our work centers around this value, from land preservation and trail management, to community gardens and environmental education, to our State of the Environment report and summer Eco-Camp; protecting, stewarding, and connecting people to nature and Berks County’s unique mosaic of natural resources.

For more information contact Regan Moll-Dohm, Director of Communications, [email protected] or at (610) 372-4992 ext. 111