Guest Blog

Five Ways a Bipartisan Bill Would Help Wildlife in the Delaware River Watershed

For thousands of years, the Delaware River watershed has been a natural haven for people and wildlife alike. But human development continues to put significant pressure on our native animals and plants. While meaningful progress has been made in recent years, through tactics like dam removals and stronger pollution control, far more needs to be done to stabilize population levels for at-risk species.

Fortunately, there’s a federal bill on the table that would do just that. The Recovering America’s Wildlife Act (RAWA), which has strong bipartisan support in Congress and among the American public, would invest $1.4 billion annually to support wildlife conservation led by states and tribes. Here are five key ways RAWA could have a lasting impact on the health of our watershed.

Nyraysia Robinson joins the National Wildlife Federation as the Thrive Outside Greater Philadelphia Fellow

Join us in welcoming Ny, the new Thrive Outside Greater Philadelphia Fellow! Ny has graciously agreed to share insights about her work in a blog, and we encourage you to take the opportunity to learn more about her.

Supporting the Outdoors for All Act and Bridging the Park Equity Gap

Shared green space is an essential part of healthy, resilient, and connected communities, yet 1 in 3 Americans do not live within a 10-minute walk of a park. Often, the country’s poorest neighborhoods have the fewest parks. Trust for Public Land and the Appalachian Mountain Club believe everyone deserves quality outdoor space and are committed to ensuring park access for every ZIP code.   

The National Park Service’s Outdoor Recreation Legacy Partnership grant program (ORLP) is an important tool for bridging this park equity gap. Established in 2014, ORLP is funded through the Land and Water Conservation Fund (LWCF) as a nationally competitive grant program available to municipalities of 30,000 or more residents.​

Faith Will Plant Pollinator Gardens: Sacred Grounds Wilmington Grows a Pollinator Corridor in the Christina Basin

The Coalition for the Delaware River Watershed has advocated for federal funding for the Delaware River Watershed for years. With funding through The Delaware Watershed Conservation Fund, Sacred Grounds Wilmington is putting those federal dollars to work building a closely-clustered pollinator corridor.

CDRW on the Road: Working for Water in Delaware

When you think of the State of Delaware, water doesn’t naturally come to the top of mind. Delaware can lay claim to having twice as many chickens as people and keeping license plates as family heirlooms, but water isn’t typically the first thing people think of – though it should be. When the Coalition for the Delaware River Watershed started their legislative advocacy efforts in “The First State” earlier this year, that was the number one request: remember to vote for clean water.

Coalition Priority: North American Wetlands Conservation Act

In 1989, Congress directed the Department of the Interior to compare the estimated total number of wetland acres in the 1780s [Revolutionary Wartime] and in the 1980s in areas that now comprise each state. This request included an estimated percentage of wetlands loss to be calculated in each state during this 200-year period. To their dismay, a 53-percent loss of historical wetlands was estimated to have occurred over just two centuries.

CDRW Priorities: Land and Water Conservation Fund

The Coalition is excited to highlight many of our ongoing priorities with a new series of guest blogs. We hope this will serve as an educational resource that will encourage our members, prospective members, and the public at-large to advocate for Delaware River Watershed priorities in the coming year. We are kicking-off the series with a guest blog highlighting the amazing work of the Land and Water Conservation Fund through the Appalachian Mountain Club.