Natural Lands

These services include redrafting a township's zoning ordinances to incorporate open space, thereby using development to save land.

The organization's approach to conservation includes: Natural Lands was founded in 1953 as the Philadelphia Conservationists, Inc., by a group of birdwatchers who wanted to protect what is now the John Heinz National Wildlife Refuge, a tidal freshwater marsh in Tinicum Township, Pennsylvania.

[4] Led by Allston Jenkins, a local accountant who was new to birding when he founded the organization, The Philadelphia Conservationists achieved their goal of protecting the Tinicum Marsh from being filled with sediment dredged from nearby waterways by the following year.

Sharp's Woods Preserve[7] in Chester County, Pennsylvania, had 28 acres, and is still owned and stewarded by the organization today.

Growing Greener: Conservation by Design is a program that Natural Lands launched in 1997 to help Pennsylvanian municipalities and independent developers conserve open space, preserve property assets, promote interconnected greenway networks, and maximize the quality of residents’ living conditions during the development process.

The communities that have adopted Growing Greener Conservation by Design ordinances are currently setting aside an average of 62 percent of the land in new developments as open space.

Member benefits include: Of the 44 properties Natural Lands owns and manages, 19 are open to the public daily, free of charge, from sunrise to sunset.