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Aerial view of a portion
of the Honey Hollow Watershed
Photograph from National Historic Landmarks collection
Views of Forrest Crooks'
House and the watersheel on the Miller farm
Photographs from National Register collection |
Created in 1939, the Honey Hollow Watershed Conservation
Area was the first small upland watershed in agricultural
use to demonstrate that soil, water, and wildlife conservation
and flood prevention could be achieved through cooperative
local action. The Honey Hollow Watershed consists of five
farms totaling about 650 acres located along the Delaware
River north of New Hope, Pennsylvania. It was established
when local farmers, dismayed about the erosion of their fields,
applied to the Soil Conservation Service for assistance in
developing a comprehensive soil conservation plan. The project
attracted national attention and became a model of cooperative
farmers' action to conserve natural resources. The history
of the watershed in regard to conservation began in the 1930s,
when the owners of the farms along Honey Creek observed how
their fields were washing away. Cultivation by machinery had
caused serious sheet and gully erosion on the upland farms,
while siltation struck those on the downslope. It was obvious
that the erosion must be checked, or else the land would be
ruined for agricultural use. The five owners of the farmland
in the Honey Hollow watershed combined efforts and took their
tale to the regional office of the Soil Conservation Service
in Upper Darby, Pennsylvania. The Regional Director, Dr. J.
P. Jones, agreed to provide the technical assistance needed
and the landowners agreed to band together and carry out the
soil and water conservation practices prescribed for each
tract. Within the next two years terraces and diversion ditches
had been constructed to control runoff on steep slopes, long
dense hedges had been planted to check erosion and provide
waterlife habitat, and several ponds were built and stocked
with fish. Almost overnight the "Honey Hollow Project" attracted
attention from high levels in the Department of Agriculture,
as well as farmers seeking ways to improve their land. Vice
President Henry Wallace visited in 1944, and came back other
times. Louis Bromfiled, novelist and conservationist, was
also a good friend of the project. The Watershed still retains
all the conservation measures adopted in the late 1930s, terraces,
contour-plowed fields, diversion ditches, wildlife hedges,
ponds, and treelands. It is now a National Historic Landmark. The Honey Hollow Watershed Conservation Project is located
in Solebury Township in Bucks County. All the sites are along
R.D. #1 in New Hope. They can be seen following Upper York
Rd. where it makes a right onto Creamery Rd. Honey Hollow Watershed is managed by Bucks County Audubon Society in partnership with Tuckamony Farm and the Heritage Conservancy more information
is available on their website or visit
the Audubon Visitors Center, 2877 Cremery Rd, Solebury Township,New
Hope. |