Environmental Sustainability

Land Use

Whatever befalls the earth befalls the son and daughters of the earth.

— Chief Seattle

St. Andrew's campus stands as a monument to the School's long- term dedication to sustainability. For decades, St. Andrew's has worked to promote farmland preservation in Delaware and the Chesapeake Bay area, as these very same areas have traded unique landscapes for generic suburban sprawl, and replaced vast open spaces with rows of shopping centers. By acquiring and protecting our campus of 2,200 acres, we have become a primary source of green space in southern New Castle County, Del. With the rapid destruction of this area's rich farmland, St. Andrew's farms are some of the last remaining portions of the rich, fertile cropland that used to define this part of America.

St Andrew's has been working with our three farmers to increase the number of best management practices to help reduce the amount of runoff and nutrients that are reaching the pond. We are also working in cooperation with University of Delaware on a Conservation Innovation Grant (CIG). The main purpose of this project is to evaluate the use of pellitized broiler litter as an organic alternative to standard fertilizers. Agronomic crop studies are currently underway until 2009, along with a number other studies, including ecology studies evaluating insect and bird usage of native versus nonnative plants and watershed studies looking at the impacts of various elements on Noxontown Pond.

The School has recently entered into a contract with the Delaware Division of Fish and Wildlife's Landowner Incentive Program to reforest 100 acres. We have also been working with the USDA and the Appoquinimink River Association to expand some of our riparian buffers.