Clearing the way for opening day at Iron Creek Preserve

A volunteer removes debris from the old cabin site during a workday. Photo courtesy of Legacy Land Conservancy.

Editor’s note: This article was originally published in Legacy Land Conservancy’s September 2024 E-News and is republished here with permission. Iron Creek Preserve is a brand-new nature preserve in Manchester Township that will open to the public sometime next year.

by Pam Bierzynski, Legacy Land Conservancy

As soon as the ink dried on the paperwork signaling Iron Creek Preserve was officially on the books, Legacy’s stewardship team eagerly took the reins from the land acquisition team.

Behind the scenes, our Preserve Stewardship Manager has been preparing for years for this moment. With an exhaustive multi-year plan in hand, complete with a detailed list of short-term opening-related tasks, staff is diligently working on checking off the most immediate needs to ensure Iron Creek is accessible and safe when we open it to visitors.

“We cannot wait to welcome the public to Iron Creek Preserve soon,” Legacy Land Conservancy Preserve Stewardship Manager Kyler Moran said. “But our priority remains ensuring it is welcoming and has clear guidelines in place so that we can protect the natural areas as well as the safety of the public while on the property.”

The land on Iron Creek has been well taken care of thanks to stewardship-minded donors Sybil Kolon and Maan Abdulbaki; however, protecting, preparing, and maintaining a property for public use is still an enormous undertaking. Unbeknownst to many, there is actually quite a bit of work to do before “opening” a new preserve to the public.

With an eye on spring 2025 and thanks to a grant from the National Fish and Wildlife Foundation, Legacy is tackling specific work like trail prep, which will impact signage design this winter and their installation next spring, and focusing on debris cleanup within certain portions of the preserve.

Staff is concentrating on maintaining, expanding, and documenting existing trails on the property. They’ve already put in hundreds of hours maintaining existing trails and improving the ecology of the preserve’s fen through the removal of invasive species like reed canary grass, purple loosestrife, and autumn olive. Trail improvements are still underway, and we anticipate the final trail system to exceed a mile in length by opening. Once completed, detailed maps will be produced and design of kiosk and way-finding signs, including boot-brush stations, will get underway.

This summer staff also completed the final disposal of materials from the deconstruction of the farmhouse, ground tiles, and surrounding debris. And with the help of volunteers over multiple workdays, the team removed invasive species among important restoration areas and hauled away the remains of other fallen structures like the old cabin in the interior of the preserve.

Another more complicated piece to the opening puzzle has been addressing safety needs at the newly designated trailhead. Legacy has contracted a local engineering firm to inspect the current pedestrian footbridge and provide bid packets for construction of a new one, as well as to delineate a low-impact parking area. The product of this work is expected in October and will inform the budget and next steps.

There are a lot of moving pieces to the Iron Creek Preserve opening, so it’s easy to see why we don’t have an exact opening date set yet. However, one by one, we’re checking things off our list and we’re doing all we can to ensure that when we do open Iron Creek to visitors, it is accessible and safe. We are very grateful for all our partners and volunteers who are helping us along the way, and we are so excited to share this unique and beautiful preserve with our community as soon as we can!

You can help Legacy Land Conservancy get one step closer to opening day! Volunteer for an upcoming workday. There are two scheduled in September, on Wednesday, September 25, from 3pm to 5pm, and  Saturday, September 28, from 10am to noon. For details, to RSVP that you will be participating, or for more volunteer opportunities, visit www.legacylandconservancy.org/events. As an added bonus, coffee and doughnuts will be provided at every workday!

AmeriCorps member Annika Moran installs a boundary stake along the Preserve border. Photo courtesy of Legacy Land Conservancy.

Existing trail within the preserve. Photo courtesy of Legacy Land Conservancy.

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by Sara Swanson

Sara Swanson is an editor, writer and founder of the Manchester Mirror.