The project publication proposes a strategy for managing the White Clay Creek as a National Wild and Scenic River. It was prepared as part of a study to evaluate the White Clay Creek for inclusion in the National Wild and Scenic Rivers System. Legislation was introduced in 2000 Congress by Congressmen Michael Castle (DE) and Joseph Pitts (PA); and by Senators Joseph Biden (DE), William Roth (DE), Rick Santorum (PA), and Arlen Specter (PA) to designate the White Clay Creek and its tributaries into the National Wild and Scenic Rivers System. This legislation, P.L. 106-357, was passed by both houses of Congress and signed into law by President Clinton on October 24, 2000.
The White Clay Creek watershed is one of only a few relatively intact, unspoiled and ecologically functioning river systems remaining in the highly congested and developed corridor linking Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, with Newark, Delaware. The watershed drains 69,000 acres in southeast Pennsylvania and northwest Delaware, and some 95,000 people live within its boundaries. The proposed federally designated areas include all streams of the second order or higher. Under this proposal, the federal designation would include: White Clay Creek, from the confluence of the East and Middle branches in London Britain Township, Pennsylvania downstream to its confluence with the Christina River in New Castle County, Delaware; the East, Middle, and West branches within Pennsylvania; Middle Run, Pike and Mill creeks in Delaware; and all second order streams as shown on the Recommended Designated Area Map.
The plan describes the watershed's resources, identifying the major challenges that threaten them now, or may do so in the near future. The plan recognizes that the resources themselves are tightly twined with the problems that beset them, so that the improvement or deterioration of one watershed element bears directly on the condition of several others. In an obvious example: land use practices affect water quality well downstream.