Trexler Nature Preserve Now Open In Lehigh County

The Trexler Nature Preserve in Lehigh County opened this fall, giving residents and visitors the chance to explore the improved trails, fishing areas and natural landscape.

The Department of Conservation and Natural Resources contributed $700,000 in grants for trail building and the Delaware and Lehigh National Heritage Corridor gave $40,000 for signs placed all around the campus.

“Conservation is about partnerships. Trexler Nature Preserve is a great example of truly collaborative work through Lehigh Valley Greenways, a partnership meant to conserve this unique landscape,” said DCNR Deputy Secretary Cindy Dunn at the grand opening celebration. “We are pooling our resources to support a multi-purpose environmental education center here at Trexler that we like to call the ‘sister’ to Jacobsburg Environmental Education Center at the other end of the Lehigh Valley. This center will provide a home to our regional fire fighters and foresters, and a great opportunity for educators to connect people to nature.”

The 1,108 acre preserve, which contains the 29-acre Lehigh Valley Zoo, was deeded to Lehigh County as a public park by businessman General Harry Trexler in 1935. At that time it was home to bison, elk and Virginia deer.

“Harry Trexler wanted people to embrace nature and form a relationship with the land, never knowing, but perhaps foreseeing, that one day housing developments, shopping malls and urban sprawl would replace much of our pristine forests and rolling farms,” said Lehigh County Executive Don Cunningham.

The $2.75 million upgrade of the preserve improved wheelchair accessibility and expanded the trail system, making hiking, biking and horseback riding easier and more enjoyable throughout the 1,108 acre campus. The Fish and Boat Commission created a fishing area for children and people with disabilities, and they stocked Jordan Creek with trout and improved the stream.

All non-natural invasive species, such as autumn olive shrubs, were removed to give the natural flora space to grow.

For more information, visit the Trexler Nature Preserve website. (Reprinted from DCNR Resource newsletter)