About the Name
The High Family Nature Preserve is named in honor of the extraordinary generosity of the High Foundation, The Calvin and Janet High Family Foundation, Suzanne High, and Don and Lisa Clark.
Planning Your Hike
The trails at the High Family Nature Preserve are arranged in three loops that traverse different ecosystems. The three loops connect to form one longer loop hike around the entire preserve. By hiking all three trails, visitors can explore the successional stages of an ecosystem from meadow to forest.
Meadow Loop
The Meadow Loop trail is about 0.3 miles total and is the closest trail to preserve parking at Old Trolley Line Park. It has minimal elevation change as it travels through meadow, savannah, and the outer edge of an early successional forest. Habitats like meadows and savannahs are rapidly disappearing from our landscapes, which is why the Conservancy will continue to invest in ongoing stewardship to help keep these habitats and the ecological value they provide in early succession.
Boulder Loop
Along this trail, look for large diabase boulders, which are the foundation for a unique ecosystem that includes a variety of lichens, ferns, mosses, and spring ephemeral wildflowers. Diabase is an igneous rock that formed when molten rock cooled beneath the Earth’s surface 250 million years ago. The Boulder Loop is a natural-surface trail that covers about 0.7 miles total with minimal elevation change.
Stream Loop
The 0.7-mile Stream Loop winds through forest and crosses over small unnamed streams that come to confluence on the preserve before entering the Conewago Creek further downstream. The trail includes one stream crossing via boulders and two via bridges that were built entirely from timber harvested and milled on site. The trail surface is occasionally rocky.
Ecology and Management
High Family Nature Preserve is a keystone parcel of the lowest southern foothill of the PA Highlands and serves as a predominant wildlife corridor between Hellam Hills in York County and the Susquehanna River to the Furnace Hills in Lebanon County.
High Family Nature Preserve serves edge species and forest species equally well. Meadows and old fields with berry canes and red cedars establish a wide edge-habitat before entering the forest. Second-growth mixed hardwood forest; mesic in areas, hydric in others, small upland hilltops. Trees and shrubs include red and white oaks, ash, hickories including a fair population of shagbark, maples, tulip poplar, and black cherry and understory species of ferns and some common wildflowers. Look out for ground nesting birds and songbirds in the canopy and understory. Woodpeckers and sapsuckers are common sights. Hawks and other birds of prey cruise the meadows and sometimes fly just under the forest canopy.
Emerald ash borer, an invasive insect species, caused significant mortality in the ash population. A salvage harvest of hazard trees was conducted in 2019 with funds reinvested into the preserve.
Watershed
Two cold, unnamed streams converge within the preserve before joining the Conewago Creek and emptying into the Susquehanna River at the Conewago Falls just beneath the York Haven Dam.
Hunting Information
High Family Nature Preserve is open to Archery Only Hunting. Respect property boundaries and safety zones. All Pennsylvania Game Commission Rules and Regulations apply. See ‘Where to Hunt’ for more details.
Report Hunting Violations: PA Game Commission Centralized Dispatch Center at 1-833-PGC-HUNT (1-833-742-4868) or 1-833-PGC-WILD (1-833-742-9453)
Acquisition History
This land was acquired from and partially donated by the Elizabethtown Area Park Authority in 2009 with funding from the PA Department of Conservation and Natural Resources and the Natural Lands Preservation Fund of Lancaster County.
Amenities
Parking and port-a-johns are available at the neighboring Old Trolley Line Park.