page_title: Trexler Nature Preserve
section_title: Ranges
hierarchical_section_title: Trexler Nature Preserve / Topography / Ranges
caption_attribution_description: English: Picture of the Northern Range at Trexler Nature Preserve
context_page_description: The Trexler Nature Preserve is an 1,108 acre county park owned and maintained by Lehigh County, Commonwealth of Pennsylvania. 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.
  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. When Trexler died in 1933, the preserve, by will, passed to the care of the County of Lehigh. Lehigh County assumed title in 1935 and has been in control of the site ever since.
  In May 1975, in an attempt to raise awareness of the preserve, the County launched a new initiative to draw visitors—the Lehigh Valley Zoo. Although the zoo returned some public use to the land, the great majority of the preserve remained closed to the general public and the herd sizes of bison and elk continued to dwindle.
  In 2004, Lehigh County suffering from an uncertainty of then-recent budgets, proposed to close the zoo portion of the preserve.
context_section_description: Since 2006, the preserve has been split into three areas (known locally as ranges):  the Northern, the Central, and the Southern Range.  Each range is marked by its own distinctive topography and flora.
  The Northern Range begins in Schnecksville and is bounded in the east by Hegel's Run and in the south by Jordan Creek. It is best described as the "uplands" of the preserve.  Starting from either Jordan Creek or Hegel's Run requires a steep northerly ascent up Mill Hill.  Once on top of the ridge, there are sweeping views of the entire Lehigh Valley and, particularly, the Kittatinny Ridge.  During summer, there can be some agriculture development of the uplands. In the early 2010s, the preserve attempted to grow both corn and turnips in its rocky and eroded soil.  When the land is not under agricultural development, it consists mostly of grass lands whose territory is perpetually threatened by encroachment of autumn-olive.
  Since the early 2010s, the Northern Range has also been developed by the Valley Mountain Bikers. They have developed mountain biking trails through dense thickets of autumn-olive.  The trails are open to the public and can be accessed via the North Range Utility Road and parking lot.
  The central Range is the largest of the three ranges; it also contains the greatest variation of topography.  It is bounded on the north by the Jordan Creek and Hegel's Run and on the south by Old Packhouse Road—a portion of the southern end is occupied by the Lehigh County composting facility.  The Central Range is subdivided into eastern and western sections by the Jordan Creek.
  The Eastern Central Range begins south of Hegel's Run and is centered around the dramatic Elk Ridge, which is the highest point in the preserve and also forms the extreme easterly extent of the Schochary Ridge.  Elk Ridge is home to the preserve's bison and elk herds.  The extreme eastern boundary which borders Lehigh Carbon County Community College is marked by a deciduous tree-line of walnut, oak, and maple receding into grasslands interspersed with autumn-olive.  Atop a grassland ridge line in the Eastern Central Range is the post-modern Prairie School styled environmental education center.  Opened in 2010, the Trexler Environmental Center is located in a 2,700-square-foot building that has been Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) certified.  The center is on one of the highest parts of the preserve and features straight lines, a low profile, and muted colors which merge the building into dramatically rolling grasslands.  It also has a rooftop observation area, a community room for environmental education programs and meetings, and restroom facilities for park visitors.  The building also houses satellite offices for the Lehigh County Parks Department and the Pennsylvania Bureau of Forestry.
  The Western Central Range begins south of Jordan Creek and is centered around the Lehigh Valley Zoo.  Because of the presence of the zoo, and the road connectivity (including the Jordan Ford), this is the most visited section of the preserve.  This section has views of west-facing Lowhill Township grasslands.  The lowland sections provide views of eastern Pennsylvania river valleys, and fishing opportunities.  The Trexler Border Trail, as it descends off the western veld and down into the Jordan Creek Valley, is surrounded in spring and summer by fecund native wildflower, which draw abundant native butterfly and birds.  The Trexler nature trail, which follows Jordan Creek from the ford has views of the river, as well as mixed deciduous and conifer forest and exposed shale formations which are often covered in damp mosses.  There are bird blinds in this area for ornithologists.
  The Northern boundary of the Southern Range is Old Packhouse Road and its Southern the boundary of a commercial orchard.  This range is the least visited and most ecologically precarious of the three with only a single trail leading into this area—the Trexler border trail.  At one time, large parts of this range were in production as an apple orchard.  Stands of old a
caption: The Northern Range at Trexler Nature Preserve
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