Lancaster Conservancy’s Seasonal Stewardship Crew is wrapping up the 2025 season. The group of four young professionals interested in a career in conservation has been hard at work this summer alongside Stewardship staff, tackling projects from tree plantings to trail building.
“Our Seasonal Stewardship Crew has made a major impact on our work again this year,” said Regional Preserves Manager Travis Lyle. “In 2025 I feel that we have had an exceptionally productive crew. They gave us a real boost during the super busy growing season. With their help it’s possible to maintain long trail sections in a short amount of time. They also joined in many new projects including digging in brand new trails, as well as working on creating habitat and removing tons of invasive species from multiple preserves. We could not accomplish as much as we do without their help.”
Seasonal Stewardship Crew installs a bench along the Lloyd Clark Trail at Clark Nature Preserve (Photo by Steve Mohr Jr.)
The crew members gain hands-on experience while learning from the Conservancy’s team of Stewardship professionals, preparing them for a future in the conservation field in addition to helping the Conservancy undertake a variety of projects to improve habitat and recreation access on our preserves.
“It’s always a great experience working with the crew,” said Travis. “We try to give them a well-rounded introduction to conservation and field work. The skill sets they develop and the networking during the season are meant to help them in furthering their education and serve as a green collar training program which hopefully leads to continuing careers in conservation.”
Projects the Seasonal Stewardship Crew worked on this summer included:
- Hiking trail maintenance at preserves such as Wizard Ranch, Welsh Mountain, and Kellys Run.
- Building over 4 miles of new hiking trails across multiple nature preserves.
- Preparing black locust posts that have been sustainably harvested from renewable coppice groves on Conservancy preserves, which will be used for preserve infrastructure such as signage and bridges.
- Installing benches along the universally accessible Lloyd Clark Trail.
- Planting 250 eastern hemlock trees at Tucquan Glen & Pyfer Nature Preserves.
- Maintaining meadows and tree tubes, including pulling invasive plants from restoration sites.
“Having the Seasonal Stewardship Crew was such a huge help this summer. Our full-time staff are constantly engaged in maintenance and projects all over our map of preserves, and it can be challenging to have enough hands available when heavy lifts are required! I love sharing knowledge about the land being protected while also gaining knowledge about the various topics each individual has spent time studying and enjoying in nature!” said Regional Preserves Manager Sean Roberts.
Regional Preserves Managers Sean Roberts and Travis Lyle with Seasonal Stewardship Crew members Daphne Macleod, Nathan Bowman, Jeremy Bechard, and Madison Ferster (Photo by Hylon Plumb)
“One of the most valuable experiences I had this summer was listening to the decision-making conversations between the Regional Preserves Managers,” shared Seasonal Stewardship Crew member Madison Ferster. “Since this was my second summer working on the Stewardship Crew, I had a better idea of the projects and tasks we were working on, which allowed me to focus more on understanding the decision-making process behind the stewarding work we did. It was especially helpful to be able to ask questions about how to preserve ecological features of a preserve while also enabling people to get out and enjoy those preserves. I think participating in these conversations will help me evaluate and analyze new scenarios in my future conservation endeavors.”
Madison is pursuing a career in conservation work locally.
Seasonal Stewardship Crew member Nathan Bowman said, “Something that stands out to me about this season is how much I learned about the whole process of conserving land. I felt as though I got to glimpse not only the direct hands-on work that we were doing each day, but also the process it takes to get there. I saw and learned about first obtaining land to conserve, then creating a plan for restoration, and then executing that plan through all the obstacles that inevitably come. Each step and person is important to the mission, and I truly appreciate that I got to see this firsthand as I worked with the Conservancy this season.”
Nathan is studying environmental science at Messiah University.
Thank you to the Seasonal Stewardship Crew for all their hard work this summer!