“The wildlife and its habitat
cannot speak, so we must and we will.”
~ Theodore Roosevelt
~ 1858-1919
~ Naturalist & Conservationist
~26th President of
The United
States of America
~ 1901-1909
With the late afternoon air
perfumed with the scent of honeysuckle and the early May landscape brightened
with bloomin’ wild yellow mustard, this beautiful white-tailed button buck
pauses from grazing ~ with his mama doe nearby ~ on a hillside of the Central
Range of the 1,100-acre Trexler Nature Preserve, Schnecksville, Pennsylvania.
When
the late General Harry C. 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.
