A Willistown Township couple are being hailed as “heroes of the countryside.”
Rawson Run, a tributary of the Crum Creek, winds through the northwestern border of the Rawsons’ 25-acre property
David and Therese Rawson have donated a conservation easement to the Willistown Conservation Trust, which protects their entire 25-acre property. Located along the southeast border of Willistown Township, the property abuts hundreds of conserved acres, extending the contiguous area of protected lands near the trust’s 83-acre Kirkwood Preserve, the trust announced on Monday, Aug. 8.
According to the trust, the Rawson property consists of a variety of undisturbed natural features and habitats, including gently rolling grasslands, mixed woodlands of oak, hickory, tulip poplar and beech trees, and 1,000 feet of Rawson Run, an important tributary of the Crum Creek.
The easement restricts future subdivision and building on the property to just one additional secondary residence. Scenic views of the land and ecologically sensitive areas are protected by the easement, as it restricts the location of landscaping and secondary structures, the trust said.
Under the Rawson family’s careful stewardship for over 50 years, the conservation easement donation represents the ultimate gesture of love for the land. With it, future generations can be assured that the land will be here essentially in its present state for all to enjoy forever since the easement is attached to the land in perpetuity. So even if the land is sold, future owners must follow the restrictions.
Chadds Ford's Martha King takes a break from chopping. She trains three days per week, chopping three to five logs per session.
Martha King has packed a lot of experiences into her 27 years, some of which involved travel. And while travel is not unusual for a young adult from Chadds Ford, her reasons are a little different from those of others.
Martha King is a lumberjack who competes in various worldwide lumberjack championships.
She’s been around trees her whole life. Her parents, Rob and Katharine King, own and operate Chadds Ford Tree Service.
Martha King recently returned from her fifth Lumberjack World Championship, this one in Hayward, Wisc. She has also competed in Germany, France and Australia. She won a championship in Paris in 2015, competing in a field of 13 women from seven countries.
“I came out on top. That was pretty good,” King said.
She didn’t do as well this last time in Hayward, though. King said she made it into the finals in two events. She came in second in the underhand chop, her favorite event, and fourth in one of the two-person events.
Martha King’s axe blade is a blur as she powers through a swing.
“I was really disappointed in the underhand because we had good wood the first two days. I cut fairly quickly, fairly well, but made a few mistakes. But I was on the cusp of a world record if I hadn’t made a mistake,” she said.
On day one, she scored a personal best, chopping an 11-inch aspen log in 29.58 seconds. The next day, however, she lost time by missing a clean first cut and wound up chopping extra wood that didn’t need to be cut. That mistake cost her two seconds and the win.
King began competing in 2007 while attending Penn State, where she earned a Bachelor of Science degree in animal sciences, and minored in wildlife and fisheries science and forest science. Like many people, King is still trying to figure out what she wants to do with her degree.
“I feel like I’m pretty well-rounded in that I’ve worked with my father doing the tree work. I work at a specialty sawmill right now. But I worked at a pig farm in Germany. I helped manage that. I got to be the farmer, veterinarian, nutritionist, all that. That was super cool. I’ve worked with pheasants, and I worked at the New Bolton Center with mares and foals in the NICU and ICU. So, I’ve got all those different experiences. Ideally, if I had time and enough funds, I’d probably go back to school. I’m considering becoming a chicken vet.”
Had she had time for other classes while at Penn State, she said, she would have also studied avian sciences.
“If I could work more with animals, that would be great, but ideally, if I could get an awesome sponsorship and just chop wood for the rest of my life, I’d be happy, too,” she said.
She describes herself as a naturally competitive person who grew up as a tomboy. Most of her friends were boys, and she loved proving them wrong when they said girls couldn’t do what the boys can.
“It was always cool to try to beat them at things. If I could prove them wrong, that felt good,” she said.
Martha King acknowledges that her father was a strong influence in her decision to get into wood chopping. Rob King also competed at Penn State when he was a student.
“When I was growing up, on Friday nights we’d watch slides of dad doing the chopping and the sawing. I always admired that. I thought it was interesting,” she said.
There was still a wood-chopping team at the school when she went to Penn State, and she was one of the few girls who made the team.
When it comes to chopping, Martha King said she trains, on average, three days per week chopping three to five logs per training session. She cuts back right before a competition to stay loose.
“You can’t chop well if you’re tense. Muscles need to be relaxed to do what they need to do,” she said.
King added that her traveling and competing has been a great way to meet people and make some life-long friends.
She added that her mother, Katharine King, would have preferred her getting into something a bit more feminine, but is fully accepting of her competing.
“She’s knows who I am and she’s always encouraged me to pursue my passions. Once she realized I was serious about it, she’s been really good.”
While preparing to demonstrate her chopping skills, Martha King slid some chain mail over her socks before putting on her shoes.
Rich Schwartzman has been reporting on events in the greater Chadds Ford area since September 2001 when he became the founding editor of The Chadds Ford Post. In April 2009 he became managing editor of ChaddsFordLive. He is also an award-winning photographer.
The Chester County Health Department is offering free work-site wellness programs for interested businesses located within the county.
Through this collaborative initiative, the Chester County Health Department will guide Chester County businesses in the development and implementation of effective wellness programs, said a department press release.
“The addition of a results-driven wellness program is one of the most effective ways that a business can help its employees adopt healthier lifestyles while decreasing health care costs, rates of absenteeism and work-site stress,” Jeanne Casner, director of the Chester County Health Department, said in the release.
The Chester County Health Department’s worksite wellness program can assist in the creation of a wellness action plan specific to a business’s employee profile; coordinate elements of a wellness program, including biometric screenings, massage therapy, on-site healthy cooking demonstrations, raised garden beds and education on health topics such as cholesterol management and sleep hygiene.
In addition, the program can lend technical assistance to businesses to implement wellness programs, and assess the extent to which a business’s current wellness program has implemented evidence-based, health-promotion strategies.
The project is funded by the state’s Department of Health’s Preventive Health and Health Services Block Grant. Chester County businesses interested in enrolling in the worksite wellness program should contact Elizabeth Herzberger, Chester County public health educator at eherzberger@chesco.org or call 610-344-5205.
