ransversed by the East Branch of Brandywine Creek, characterized by upland meadows, woodlands, agricultural fields, and several small ponds and streams, and situated just 15 miles from the Stroud Center, the 332-acre Stroud Preserve is a place of scenic beauty, historic interest and economic value. To a visitor it offers a variety of extraordinary vistas. To the Center staff it offers the rare opportunity to do long-term research on a site that has been preserved forever.

Formerly known as Georgia Farm, the Stroud Preserve was created by Dr. Morris W. Stroud shortly before his death in 1990. It is a unique collaboration among three of the region’s most important research and environmental organizations. Dr. Stroud, who was Dick Stroud’s elder brother and a pioneer in the study of geriatrics, bequeathed the ownership of his farm to the Natural Lands Trust, with instructions that the land and water be managed for the benefit of science, education and the environment. He simultaneously donated conservation easements to the Brandywine Conservancy to assure the permanent integrity of the landscape. And he granted the Stroud Center perpetual use of the entire property to conduct scientific research and education programs. He charged the Center to develop a long-term research plan that would advance the knowledge, appreciation and understanding of streams and rivers and the conservation of their watersheds.

Dr. Stroud then took the necessary steps to assure the success of this collaborative effort by providing endowment funds to all three organizations — to manage the land for research, inspect and defend the easements, and carry out the scientific and education programs. His novel gift to future generations came as no surprise to his family, friends and colleagues, who remember his resolute belief in scientific research as the ultimate source of knowledge for the benefit of humanity. Today, his vision is reality.

The Stroud Preserve is part of the Environmental Protection Agency’s National Monitoring Program, a network of sites which have been set up across the nation to evaluate how land use and human practices affect water quality. It is the only such site in Pennsylvania. The Preserve is also used for a host of public education programs and as a graduate research site for local universities.

The long-term research project that led to the EPA designation is focused on the role riparian tree buffers play in mitigating stream pollution in an agricultural watershed. In conjunction with the U. S. Forest Service, Stroud scientists have set up experiments in three small watersheds on the Preserve in an effort to understand how buffers filter agricultural nutrients — such as nitrogen, phosphorus and other chemicals — which pose a major threat to downstream waters and the Chesapeake Bay. The study, which began in 1992 and will stretch over the entire span of a forest’s maturation, is part of a broader effort by Stroud scientists to analyze the impact of streamside forests on the quality of water in our streams and rivers.