The Brandywine Conservancy is excited to announce the publication of a new book chronicling the permanent protection of more than 5,000 acres of land in Chester County, Pennsylvania once owned by the King Ranch of Texas.  

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Catalyst for Conservation traces the history of the Brandywine Conservancy’s work to save the property from development, which ultimately resulted in permanently protecting 4,596 acres by conservation easements and setting aside another 771 acres as the Laurels Preserve. The streams and springs throughout the property continue to provide an estimated six million gallons a day to the Brandywine Creek, which serves as the drinking water supply for the City of Wilmington, Delaware and numerous other communities in the Brandywine watershed. Today, the Conservancy has permanently protected more than 45,000 acres, much of it resulting from the success of what became known as the “King Ranch project.”

Catalyst for Conservation was written by David Shields and Bill Benson. Shields worked on the King Ranch project almost from its inception and currently works as associate director of the land stewardship program of the Brandywine Conservancy’s Environmental Management Center. Benson is the former director of the Chisholm Trail Heritage Center in Duncan, Oklahoma, and conducted archival research about the King Ranch and its former president, Robert J. Kleberg.

Catalyst for Conservation is 112 pages long with more than 100 illustrations. The book costs $24.95 and is available at the Brandywine River Museum Shop and online at brandywine.org.