Natural Lands - The Magazine of Natural Lands Fall/Winter 2018, Issue 153

10 N ATUR A L L A NDS . WI NT ER 2 018 –2 019 11 a career in conservation. Montrose Wellsboro 81 Carbondale Scranton Milford 84 30,000 Williamsport Wilkes Barre acres saved 380 81 80 Stroudsburg 476 Hazelton Lewisburg P E N N S Y LVA N I A Easton Allentown NEW 78 JERSEY Quakertown Reading 81 Doylestown 476 Harrisburg Trenton Pottstown 76 95 76 Lancaster 276 Norristown 81 PHILADELPHIA Coatesville West Chester York Camden Media Chester se Wilmington Pk Millville 2,000+% increase in people engaged via events & volunteerism Ex pr es sw ay Vineland Washington Atla nt Baltimore 70 95 Frederick Glassboro 55 MA RYL AND J Elkton w e Ne 95 pi k rn Tu Delaware Bay The year is 1953. In the Chestnut Hill community of Philadelphia, a mild-mannered accountant by the name of Allston Jen- kins has decided to take a stand. He’s learned Shell Oil is planning to dump dredging spoils from the Schuylkill River in the Tinicum marshes, which would destroy the bird habitat he’s come to love. That same year, Molly Keim is born in Phoenixville, Chester County. Allston Jenkins goes on to form the Philadelphia Conservations, which became Natural Lands. The very same organization Molly Keim Morrison would later lead through a period of unprecedented growth and triumph. Fourteen years and more than 30,000 acres later, Molly has retired. But, as with Allston, her achievements have forged a legacy that will last for generations. The rolling hills and open vistas of Chester County formed the land- scape of Molly’s childhood, specifi- cally her grandparents’ dairy farm in northern Chester County. “From an early age, I was aware of the impor- tance of land and how the protection of land was a core element in how a community thinks about itself,” she says. “I started to understand that, without a proactive effort to identify and protect open spaces, our quality of life—and part of our identity— would be diminished.” After a brief stint as a teacher, Molly’s career shifted fortuitously 295 83

Natural Lands - The Magazine of Natural Lands Fall/Winter 2018, Issue 153 | Page 12