Dear Friends,
Our natural lands are experiencing crowds we never expected as our community looks to heal body, mind, and spirit during this difficult time. The COVID-19 crisis continues and we need your help as we work overtime to mitigate this damage and educate our community.
We’ve seen big Jeeps from Maryland and ATVs driving down through Fishing Creek Nature Preserve wreaking havoc on a precious trout stream. We’ve seen cars arriving at our trails from New Jersey, a state that has closed every trail and park, leaving behind their trash and waste.
An ATV in Fishing Creek followed by a photo of an rosyside dace photographed earlier that day in the same stream. Photos and Blog "Just One Person" by Keith Williams, Freshwater JourneysOur preserves need your help! We are addressing these challenges by:
- Adding extra ranger patrols on weekends and holidays
- Planting 400 trees to restore areas damaged by mudding at Fishing Creek Nature Preserve
- Educating visitors with signage and kiosks that include COVID-19 warnings, parking restrictions, and reminders to hike smart, tread lightly, and treat the land with respect.
- Building new parking areas at House Rock and Shenks Ferry Wildflower Preserve to safely manage increased visitation.
We need your help to continue to fund these efforts. Your Conservancy remains strong thanks to the past support of members like you, but the unprecedented level of visitation during this crisis has caused a challenge to our ability to respond.
Thanks to a generous donor who this week offered $15,000 as a match, we are launching a small campaign to meet that match so that we can continue to “PROTECT” our beautiful lands, “RESTORE” any damage, and “EDUCATE” people to be respectful of nature. Please consider an extra gift of $50 or even $100 to help us in this time of need. Click on this link to join friends who are able to help at this challenging time.
With gratitude,
Phil Wenger, President
Lancaster Conservancy
P.S. We know that there are many causes that need your support during these unprecedent times, but we turn to John Muir, Father of our National Parks, who said it best: “Everybody needs beauty as well as bread, places to play in and pray in, where nature may heal and give strength to body and soul alike.”
Cover photo by Michelle Johnsen Photography
