Natural Lands Trust, the region’s foremost conservation organization, protects the forests, fields, wetlands, and streams that are essential to the sustainability and quality of life in eastern Pennsylvania and southern New Jersey.

In other words, they don’t just talk a good game about preservation, they do it. And they are all extraordinarily nice people too. From staff to volunteers to trustees, these people are just terrific. It is so nice (and refreshing) to be around people who just so obviously love what they do.

This year’s Stardust was at Stroud Preserve in West Chester. If you have never been, go. It is so beautiful a place it takes your breath away with the sheer majesty of the surrounding landscape and vistas. It is over 500 acres of heavenly beauty.

The Natural Lands Trust applies  a comprehensive approach to conservation that includes permanently protecting natural areas, providing leadership in natural resource management, and creating opportunities for people to connect to and learn from nature.  They began in 1953 as the “Philadelphia Conservationists”. In the early days a lot of what they saved was then turned over to government agencies or other non-profits.  But in the 1960s they changed their course ever so slightly and became the stewards of the land and environments they were saving….and the Natural Lands Trust was born.

To date they have preserved tens of thousands of acres, and each acre saved is a testament to the vision and generosity of their founders as well as the thousands of landowners, donors, volunteers.

So this is a group so worthy of much generous support. You can see what they are doing, it is not some fuzzy hypothesis of ” if you donate X we will do Y”, it’s real, it’s tangible.

I had never been up and in the Stroud Preserve which was donated to Natural Lands Trust by Dr. Morris Stroud in 1990. This wildlife habitat is also a unique site for research by the Stroud Water Research Center, one of the premier stream research labs in North America.  And in addition there are also structures on this land which are fabulous and listed in the National Register of Historic Places.

I took a lot of event photos, and have shared a few in this post. But anyone who wants any needs to contact the Natural Lands Trust.  Because if people want photos I am NOT asking to be paid for them, I wish a donation to be made to the Natural Lands Trust for them. What they do is so very important.

And yes, these people throw fabulous events.  So many events these days are more hype than anything else. Their events are pretty, tasteful, and oh so much fun! (Click here for all event photos taken by me.)

Thanks for stopping by!