Trexler Nature Preserve

Trexler Nature Preserve
Grasslands in Trexler Nature Preserve in August 2011
Map showing the location of Trexler Nature Preserve
Map showing the location of Trexler Nature Preserve
Location of Trexler Nature Preserve in Pennsylvania
LocationSchnecksville, Pennsylvania, U.S.
Coordinates40°39′28″N 75°37′59″W / 40.65778°N 75.63306°W / 40.65778; -75.63306
Area1,108 acres (4.48 km2)
Elevation751 ft (229 m)[1]
Established2006
Named forGeneral Harry Clay Trexler
Governing bodyLehigh County
WebsiteOfficial website

The Trexler Nature Preserve is an 1,108-acre county park (448 ha) owned and maintained by Lehigh County in the Lehigh Valley region of Pennsylvania.[2] The preserve is situated in Lowhill Township and North Whitehall Township and the land that comprises the preserve was originally purchased between 1901 and 1911 by local industrialist General Harry Clay Trexler.[3]

It was originally Trexler's desire to stock the preserve with big game animals such as bison, elk, and deer with the express goal of saving the North American bison.[3] When Trexler died in 1933, the preserve, in accordance with his will, passed to the care of Lehigh County.[3] Lehigh County assumed title in 1935 and has been in control of the site ever since.[4] In May 1975, the county opened the Lehigh Valley Zoo on the grounds of the preserve.[5]

In 2004, Lehigh County reduced its budgets and proposed closing the zoo portion of the preserve.[5] A local group, the Lehigh Valley Zoological Society, formed to assume private control of the zoo under a lease arrangement with Lehigh County.[5] Concurrent with the transfer of the zoo to private control, the Trexler Trust brought civil suit against the County of Lehigh demanding, under the terms of Trexler's will, that the entire preserve be opened to public use and that public funds be devoted to that public use.[6]

The county, under pressure from the Trexler Trust, acceded to a settlement in 2006. As part of this settlement, Lehigh County agreed to open the entire preserve to public use and to rename the non-zoo portion of the park from the "Trexler Game Preserve" to the "Trexler Nature Preserve". Since re-opening the entire preserve to public use, extensive efforts have been made to increase passive recreational activities, such as hiking and mountain biking, by building an extensive trail system and archery hunting and fishing by changing cull policies and stocking Jordan Creek. Invasive plants, which colonized large parts of the preserve after nearly a century of range practices, were largely removed.

  1. ^ "Trexler Nature Preserve". Geographic Names Information System. United States Geological Survey. August 2, 1979. Retrieved December 28, 2013.
  2. ^ County of Lehigh, Dept. of General Services, "Trexler-Lehigh Game Preserve Master Plan" (Allentown, PA, May 2006), 1–1.
  3. ^ a b c County of Lehigh, Dept. of General Services, "Trexler-Lehigh Game Preserve Master Plan" (Allentown, PA, May 2006), 1–2.
  4. ^ County of Lehigh, Dept. of General Services, "Trexler-Lehigh Game Preserve Master Plan" (Allentown, PA, May 2006), passam.
  5. ^ a b c County of Lehigh, Dept. of General Services, "Trexler-Lehigh Game Preserve Master Plan" (Allentown, PA, May 2006), 1–3.
  6. ^ County of Lehigh, Dept. of General Services, "Trexler-Lehigh Game Preserve Master Plan" (Allentown, PA, May 2006), 1–3 to 1–4.