“All good things are wild and free.”
~ Henry David Thoreau
~ 1817-1862
The elk take a winter’s nap in the snow on a beautiful early March afternoon at Trexler Nature
Preserve, Schnecksville, Pennsylvania.
The elk live as a herd on the hillsides of the 1,100-acre preserve’s Central Range.
When the late General Harry Clay Trexler established the preserve in the early 1900s, he did it to save the American bison, elk and white-tailed deer from extinction and assure the species’ survival.
A conservationist along the lines of Theodore Roosevelt and John Muir, General Trexler understood the importance of nature and preserving wildlife in its natural habitat.
A successful businessman who amassed a fortune in the timber and cement industries and founded the Pennsylvania Power and Light Company, General Trexler began purchasing small farms in the low hills of Lehigh County in 1906. By 1913, he had transported eight bison and 20 Virginia white-tailed deer to the preserve. The elk followed soon after.
When General Trexler died in 1933, he bequeathed the property to the residents of Lehigh County. Today, the Trexler Nature Preserve is open to the public for passive recreation and nature watching.
