Help a local Girl Scout let Bird Town take flight in Chadds Ford

So what’s the latest on Bird Town in Chadds Ford? Let’s do a quick overview and call to action, then we’ll swan dive into the tweets and deets. 🐦

Chadds Ford teenager Emma Marcotte is a junior at Unionville High School. She’s a Girl Scout and the founder of the Unionville High School Ornithology Club. If you haven’t already guessed, Emma’s a fan of birds. 💘

Emma and several other long-time resident volunteers want to bring Bird Town PA to Chadds Ford. It would cost the township $100 and a single resolution. This group has already volunteered to do all the work, and the Chadds Ford Open Space Committee has formally recommended approval.

Bird Town offers a wide variety of educational materials and program ideas for hosting community events focused on bird awareness and habitat conservation. The events create connections and meet-up opportunities among neighbors and with other Bird Town groups (called clutches) in the region. Bird Town membership also opens access to significant grant awards to support local Bird Town programming.

In today’s divisive culture, Bird Town offers an amazing array of opportunities for neighbors to coalesce around a shared passion for birds and work together to protect the cherished green spaces in Chadds Ford. 💚 Also, potential cash. 💸

And yet, based on the discussion at the February 26th Board of Supervisors workshop meeting, at least two of our three supervisors are skeptical enough to potentially block it. They have not taken a formal vote, so there’s still time for the community to weigh in and for supervisor sentiment to swing.

Right now, Emma needs your help to show our township leaders that the community believes the Bird Town Chadds Ford chapter is worth the $100 investment and one adopted resolution. She put together a letter of support that you can sign to indicate your support for the township, allowing Emma and the rest of the volunteer group to lead this community engagement and conservation effort.

Sign Emma’s Letter of Support here — it takes about 30 seconds.

Want more details before you sign the letter of support? Let’s dive in!

What Is Bird Town PA?

Bird Town Pennsylvania is a statewide program run in partnership with the PA Audubon Council. For 14 years, across 17 counties, it has partnered with local municipalities to support bird habitat conservation, native plant stewardship, environmental education, and community engagement.

Local chapters conduct neighborhood bird walks, plant native gardens at local schools and parks, lead educational programming for kids, and host other community events. Volunteers organize events and programs using a ready-made framework and Bird Town resources, so no one has to start from scratch. (Groups can design their own bespoke bird-loving events too, but most groups start by using the framework already in place to make it easier for everyone.)

Bird Town is about birds and their habitat. But it’s also one of the better excuses we have right now to simply get to know our neighbors. Bird walks, garden workdays, plant swaps, and library programs are low-stakes, in-person activities that bring neighbors together across the usual dividing lines. People of all political stripes enjoy birds and nature, especially in a town like Chadds Ford, so deeply committed to the conservation of our open spaces.

We don’t have to agree on much to show up and plant a native tree together or walk through a nature preserve with binoculars to observe the grace of birds in flight. In a moment when finding common ground feels harder than it should, Bird Town is a perfect format to reconnect over impressive nests, expansive wings, and the varied songs of our feathered friends.

Bird Town Chadds Ford would be joining good company. As of March 2026, eleven municipalities in each of Delaware and Chester Counties are already certified Bird Towns, including our neighbors in Concord, Middletown, Westtown, and Kennett. Statewide, the program has grown to nearly 100 certified communities.

Bird Town membership also unlocks access to DCNR mini-grants of over $30,000. This potential funding is only available to participating municipalities. Why not take advantage of this potential funding and all these resources instead of asking volunteers to piece it all together on their own?

Bird Town requirements (it’s not much)

Bird Town is almost entirely volunteer-led. Once established, the group requires little to no effort or financial commitment from township staff or elected officials.

Emma’s involvement in Bird Town is connected to her Girl Scout Gold Award project, which focuses on youth education and bird awareness; it’s a natural fit. The Gold Award, like the Eagle Scout award, represents the highest achievement in scouting. In addition to Emma, the initial volunteer team includes her mother, Anna; Brenda Grove (a 40-year Chadds Ford resident and church Green Team leader); and Seetha Raju (a resident since 2003).

With the volunteer team in place, the township needs to provide three simple things to allow the group to move forward:

• Submit an application (prepared by the volunteers)
• Pay a one-time $100 fee, which covers two signs and educational materials
• Pass a resolution expressing support

There is no ongoing financial commitment, no required staff time, and no mandated ordinances. The volunteer committee handles everything, including the annual report to Bird Town. Bird Town is a community initiative that costs almost nothing and delivers so much to neighbors, open space, and (of course) the birds.

How Bird Town CF started + how Emma got involved

Township staff brought the idea of Bird Town Chadds Ford to the Open Space committee in mid 2025, and the program’s wings spread.

Bird Town PA was formally introduced to the Open Space Committee at the June 18, 2025, meeting with welcoming arms. The committee discussed the preliminary steps to join: passing a resolution, forming a volunteer committee, and submitting a $100 application.

Many program requirements appeared to align with activities the township was already doing. A preliminary review by township staff suggested Chadds Ford might qualify for Silver status, the middle certification tier, before doing anything new. The Open Space Committee expressed interest in learning more and scheduled a meeting with representatives of Bird Town PA.

The township then featured Bird Town in both its July and August 2025 newsletters, sharing the presumed Silver-level status with residents and inviting participation. It seemed Bird Town was on track for success in Chadds Ford. A quick look around all the green space in our community, and it’s clear that Bird Town makes so much sense! 🌳

Long-time Chadds Ford resident Anna Marcotte (Emma’s mom) saw the Bird Town initiative in the township newsletter and reached out to express interest in volunteering. She mentioned that Emma was particularly interested in contributing to youth initiatives and educational programming on bird awareness, which was the focus of her Girl Scout Gold Award project. The township welcomed the interest, and Emma began developing ideas for how a youth component might take shape within a Chadds Ford Bird Town program.

Bird Town + Girl Scout connections in Chadds Ford

This isn’t the first rodeo at the township for Emma’s Girl Scout troop, run by Anna. Most recently, the girls volunteered to help the township work on the file digitization project. They were knee deep in musty, moldy old papers as the township invested in modernizing its record-keeping.

A while back, the Girl Scouts and Emma’s troop responded to the township’s request for help when the Tot Lot opened. The Girl Scouts planted all the bulb plants at the entrance to the township building and the playground. Anna and Emma thought Bird Town would be another great opportunity for local youth to engage with township leaders for a good cause while also building community for neighbors.

In a serendipitous full-circle arc of local history, Emma loved the idea of including Sunset Hill Preserve in her Gold Award project through Bird Town programming. Decades ago, Sunset Hill was a Girl Scout camp. While it’s had a quiet recent history, the township is preparing to open it as a new public preserve with walking paths for residents to enjoy.

Emma expressed interest in adding educational bird signage and installing birdhouses on the preserve to support local bird habitat. How neat that a local Girl Scout hopes to return to a property her predecessors once enjoyed, helping to steward it for the next generation of Chadds Ford residents. ✨ It would be a meaningful inaugural chapter for a new public space.

Bird Town presented at the February 26th public meeting

Supervisor Samantha Reiner, who has been engaged with the Bird Town proposal from the start, appeared supportive. The reservations came primarily from Supervisor Timotha Trigg, with Supervisor Kathleen Goodier noting that this was her first time seeing the proposal and that she had more homework to do before forming a firm opinion.

Controversial topics like ordinances and climate change

Trigg’s central concern was that, by joining Bird Town, the township would be affiliating with an organization whose broader menu of activities includes issues she’s uncomfortable with, such as suggested ordinances, climate change, and partnerships with conservation networks. She said:

“I very much would like to support what it is that I hear you want to do. I very much agree, it’s a worthwhile endeavor. However… Bird Town, apparently, is a municipal program, and as a municipality, our responsibilities are really different… not sign us up for a program that is a municipal program, fundamentally a municipal program that looks for municipalities to change ordinances and adopt climate.”

Bird Town PA President Heidi Shiver, who attended the meeting via Zoom to present Bird Town to the supervisors, explicitly and repeatedly clarified that none of those things are required. They are suggestions on a menu of over 150 options. Most municipalities don’t pursue more ordinance activities, and Bird Town will never push them to do so.

Lack of sustainable volunteer support

Trigg expressed concern that Bird Town would lack sufficient volunteer support, particularly because it included a local teen who would likely head off to college. Three other residents, who have lived in Chadds Ford for decades, attended the meeting and publicly expressed their commitment to the endeavor.

Additionally, the Open Space Committee (volunteers appointed by the township) acts as the primary liaison between the volunteer group and township staff. This relationship helps ensure that the Open Space Committee members shoulder and vet the bulk of any requests from volunteers (for additional programs, specific funding, etc) before they reach the desk of staff or supervisors, and such requests would be part of the “business as usual” cadence between Open Space and the township staff.

Committing the future board to anything

Trigg also expressed concern that future boards would feel bound by the decision. In the February 26 public meeting, she said:

“I’m really reluctant to commit a future board to the goals and agenda of an outside group, especially when they have goals and an agenda that are not universally embraced in the community.”

💭 Really? That’s our new standard for operation? The board doesn’t commit to an outside group’s goals if they’re not “universally embraced” in the community? I wonder what that means for the future of Painter’s Folly? Or advocacy against The Shoppes at Concord (Save Ridge)? Or Calvary Chapel special event permits? Or a new Sheetz on Route 202? Or continued use of the open field along Route 202 as a parking lot for local car dealers? Outside groups have agendas in all of these matters, each of which faces pushback from a meaningful contingent of residents.

Boards make binding commitments all the time. They approve zoning changes, development projects, infrastructure investments, personnel hiring, and more. The township recently made a significant investment to digitize its records (with help from the Girl Scouts), committing itself to digital records well into the future.

The idea that a Board of Supervisors can’t make decisions that commit future Board members to anything is asinine. How does governance function if no board can commit to anything beyond its own term?

Moreover, the township can leave Bird Town whenever it wants. Shiver had to clarify this after Trigg suggested the membership was permanent: Shiver said:

“Certainly, if you don’t want to be a Bird Town anymore, you certainly can step away from the program, for sure, and we don’t do any arguing with our bird towns or our municipality leaders. We’re always there just as a supportive role, providing resources and information and a framework to help you move your ideas forward.”

Maybe Trigg’s comment about making decisions with impacts beyond current terms did not convey the intent. If that’s the case, I hope that opens the door for Bird Town to move forward. If it was the intent, that’s incredibly concerning to me.

“Hawks need to survive, also.”

After raising substantive concerns about the program’s optional climate-adjacent activities, Trigg spent several minutes of the public meeting asking Shiver for personal advice about the hawks eating songbirds in her yard.

Shiver patiently explained that hawks are also birds and need to survive; hawk predation is natural and part of a healthy ecosystem. She went on to remind the room that pesticides and climate change have harmed habitats and reduced insect populations, ultimately harming the bird population.

Bird conservation, it seems, is welcome when it’s personal and complicated when it’s a community program.

Why Bird Town and not just a local club?

At the same February 26th meeting, Trigg asked why volunteers can’t just host bird-related activities without formally joining Bird Town, or choose a different organization that doesn’t mention climate change or municipal ordinances in its materials (even though it’s clear that all those activities could be entirely ignored). In short, Bird Town offers infrastructure and funding potential not available through subpar alternatives.

Bird Town is designed to build community

Bird Town PA has spent 14 years building out an infrastructure for great community programming: program templates, educational materials, event frameworks, grant applications, and a statewide network of volunteer leaders who’ve already figured out what works. Township staff reached out to approximately 10 neighboring municipalities that are currently participating in Birdtown. Every one that responded said the experience was positive.

When Emma’s group wants to host a native plant sale or run a school program about migratory birds, those resources already exist. They don’t have to build, write, or fund them from scratch. Why reinvent the wheel when you could just use the resources already available in Bird Town?

No access to their grant funding programs and regional meet-up events

Without Bird Town membership, the group loses access to DCNR mini-grants available only to Bird Town municipalities. They also miss out on one of the program’s genuinely underrated benefits: the regional Bird Town clutches, where local Bird Town group leaders from neighboring municipalities meet in person to share ideas, coordinate efforts, and collaborate on initiatives that cross township lines. That’s not something a standalone local group can replicate.

Alternative programs don’t fit the bill and exceed the bill

Timotha suggested becoming a member of the Cornell Lab of Ornithology instead. This program is more expensive ($44 per year for an individual supporter) and doesn’t offer the array of community events that Bird Town offers.

It also cares about climate change. The Executive Director says on the About page, “When birds disappear, they’re signaling that we’ve stressed our landscapes and oceans.” (“we’ve stressed our landscapes and oceans”… that’s human-induced climate change in different words 😉). Aligning with this organization wouldn’t address the Board’s hope of avoiding discussion of the “controversial” issue of climate change’s impact on bird habitats.

As a reluctant compromise, a member of the Open Space committee tentatively suggested that the township help residents create Backyard Bird habitats. This idea, however, is more expensive if members complete the certification and ignores the community-building and group-education elements of the project (which are fundamental to its purpose).

Bird Town PA makes the most sense

The framework for this non-partisan, community engagement group exists. Neighbors are ready to use it. Volunteers are ready to lead it and do the work to keep it active. The only thing standing between Chadds Ford and all of that is a $100 and a municipal resolution acknowledging township support.

What does it take to be a Bird Town?

Bird Town PA’s certification program¹ is built around a goal-and-activity worksheet spanning five strategies:

• Municipal Actions
• School and Youth Actions
• Community and Individual Engagement
• Partnerships, and
• Advocacy

Across those five strategies, there are over 150 suggested activities. To earn Bronze certification — the first real milestone — a group needs just 6 to 15 points, with most activities worth 1 to 3 points each. In practice, you’re completing somewhere between 5 and 10 activities out of more than 150 options. Notably, the township’s own preliminary review suggested Chadds Ford already qualifies for Silver.

A very small number of activities ruffled some feathers among the supervisors. Those concerning activities fell into a handful of specific goals: passing various local ordinances, promoting energy-related initiatives such as municipal solar and climate action plans, and joining secondary designations such as Bee City USA or the National Wildlife Federation’s Community Wildlife Habitat program.

These “controversial” activities accounted for about 15-20 of the more than 150 options, and every single one of them is optional. Furthermore, any action that requires resources or funding beyond the capacity of volunteers or Open Space Committee members must be approved by the Committee before being presented to the Board for approval or rejection.

The other 130-plus activities on the worksheet? Things like:

• Planting a native garden at a local school
• Installing nest boxes in a local park
• Hosting a bird walk for residents
• Running a library program about birds
• Partnering with Girl Scout groups on a community project
• Creating a bird-friendly garden with school students
• Organizing a native plant sale or tree giveaway
• Celebrating World Migratory Bird Day

The volunteer group told the Board they already have enough ideas to pursue Gold-level certification, and none of them require the township to pass an ordinance or take a position on anything. Certain members of the Board seem prepared to block access to a framework of 150+ community-building activities because roughly 10% of them mention topics they’d prefer to avoid. Topics that, again, no one is asking Chadds Ford to pursue.

On consistency

Over the years, the Board has enthusiastically supported Eagle Scout projects, as it should. A recent Eagle Scout project installed a Little Free Library at Turner’s Mill Park. Unlike this Gold Award-adjacent endeavor, the township welcomed the Eagle Scout project without apparent concern about maintenance, sustainable stewardship, outside agendas, or the burden of commitments to a future board.

Currently, there are no books in the Little Free Library, likely because the entire area is closed for the construction of Walkable Chadds Ford.

When the project was approved, who signed up to be the ongoing steward for the Little Free Library? Who makes sure it’s not filled with inappropriate materials for the young children at the nearby playground or doesn’t become home to a wasp’s nest? Was anyone concerned that a future board might feel beholden to its upkeep? Is anyone worried that the mission of Little Free Libraries, which includes a commitment to diverse books “representing BIPOC, LGBTQ+, and other diverse voices to promote understanding, empathy, and inclusion,” doesn’t align with an agenda that is “universally embraced in the community”?

To be clear, I love Little Free Libraries, and I’m happy we have one available at the township park. I’ve been writing and sharing about them for years (here, and here, and here). I should probably stop by to drop off some books (and maybe you can too!) when it reopens. 📚

I’m just highlighting that the scrutiny applied to this proposal — ongoing obligations, outside organizational affiliations, sustainability of stewardship, underlying agendas, and implications for future boards — does not appear to have applied to the Little Free Library. For a board otherwise eager to support youth achievement, the threshold seems to depend on which youth organization is doing the asking.

Why It Matters

Bird populations are in a genuine, well-documented crisis. North America has lost an estimated 3 billion birds since 1970 (NYT gift link). Community-level conservation programs are part of what moves the needle locally toward real solutions. They’re also really effective ways to rebuild the social fabric of our lives, which continues to deteriorate as harsh, shallow online interaction dominates our lives and silos our experiences.

Bird Town is exactly what we need: more reasons to spend time outside together, more collaborative projects, and more neighbors who know each other’s names. Don’t let the political become the enemy of the apolitical. This is a program about birds, backed by a Girl Scout, supported by decades-long community volunteers, with a beautiful connection to a piece of Chadds Ford history that’s about to become a public treasure.

Let’s let it fly. 🦅

Time to take action

If you haven’t already, sign Emma’s letter of support (especially if you live in Chadds Ford township, because those signatures will carry the most clout).

Sign Emma’s Letter of Support.

Watch Connect Chadds Ford for updates on when Bird Town PA returns to the Board of Supervisors meeting agenda. Both in-person and virtual options are available, and public comment is open to all residents. I’ll let you know when it’s on an upcoming agenda, so you can speak up and let supervisors know you support the initiative.

Don’t agree? Let me know why. What did I miss? Where do the costs or risks outweigh the benefits?

1. Bird Town is in the process of implementing a new status framework (that’s quite similar but slightly less restrictive). Because Chadds Ford started the process under the old framework, it will still apply for now. Even as the new framework becomes the standard, the essence of a broad range of eligible activities and standards remains the same. ↩︎