Owen Owens holds Living Waters, How to Save Your Local Stream. (credit: Hinda Schuman/Inquirer)

By the time Owens retired in 2000, as director of Ecology and Racial Justice, his legacy in preserving, developing and cherishing the Creator’s gifts was broad and inclusive. A wide range of responsibilities for National Ministries and motivational writing in ten books gave Owens opportunities to address authoritatively such areas as evangelism, church renewal, prayer, financial stewardship, human rights and racial justice, and ecological responsibility.

Now retired, the author of Living Waters: How to Save Your Stream can be found tirelessly practicing what he preaches.

Owens, at 71, hardly is ready to leave the fragile ecosystem of Valley Creek in southeastern Pennsylvania unattended. The Philadelphia Inquirer described him in spring of this year as “a fly fisherman ... whose mission — one of several — is to save Valley Creek.” Owens’ lifelong journey of embracing the resources of and challenges to God’s world continues.

The Valley Forge chapter of Trout Unlimited, which Owens cofounded in 1976, has been engaged in a largely successful effort to stabilize and protect a wild trout population in the once-threatened waterway. What now is a Class A wild trout stream, one of a few in the state, not long ago was an impending ecological disaster. By the mid-1980s, farm runoff, sewage, pollution from PCBs (polychlorinated biphenyl, a toxic chemical compound), and even cyanide leaked from a nearby steel mill had killed much of the existing fish population. Health concerns forced local officials to end restocking of Valley Creek with hatchery trout.

Exacerbating the situation was silt from long-removed dams that narrowed the stream flow. In addition, storm waters eroded the channel and filled in overhanging banks, preventing the growth of trees that would have cooled the currents as needed.

But Owens and his peers remained undaunted. The return of wild trout (which can be fished all year, but must be released) has called for proactive efforts to guard their environment. Trout Unlimited, with its energy and clout, dissuaded a well-known Philadelphia developer from two huge projects that would have added significant quantities of new sewage. And mega-retailers WalMart and Home Depot agreed, under pressure, to build structures in their new Exton properties that collect and channel into the ground rainwater from roofs and parking lots.

Another goal was met by siphoning cool water from the depths of nearby closed Warren Quarry to refresh the under-shaded creek. While a future strategy is formidable, Owens feels it is also clear and attainable: stop or alter planned development that adversely affects Valley Creek.

But the existing situation is more problematic. As much as 25 percent of the area watershed is encumbered by concrete or macadam, significantly reducing ground water soakage. “And how does a little group of volunteers focused on restoring a stream deal with something as big as a watershed?” asks Owens.

This is partially answered by a coalition, Valley Creek Restoration Partnership, formed with a simple goal: get more water into the ground. Its many strategies include such things as planting new bank trees, encouraging ecologically-sound designs for new parking lots, and calling on homeowners to build water gardens fed by downspouts.

Final chapters of Valley Creek’s wild trout reclamation story have yet to be written, but the ecological turnaround has been dramatic, thanks to Owen Owens and like-minded stewards. Admittedly, this is a local story of particular interest to environmentalists and those who love trout fishing, but it has universal application as an inspiring account of honoring a God who delights in all of creation.

And Owen Owens, whose work with National Ministries motivated countless people to focus on God’s call to stewardship, hopes the Valley Creek initiative will be a catalyst for action. “We figured that if we tackled Valley Creek it would have an impact throughout the state and across the country.”

Rich Schramm served as deputy general secretary for Communication of American Baptist Churches USA from 1996-2005.

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