Press release by Lancaster Conservancy shared 20 August 2026
Safe Harbor Partners | Lancaster Conservancy, PPL, Chesapeake Bay Foundation, Pheasants Forever, and the Natural Resources Conservation Service, and PA Game Commission (not pictured) | Credit Avery Van Etten
Lancaster Conservancy (the Conservancy) is excited to announce the opening of a new hiking trail at Safe Harbor Nature Preserve in Conestoga, Lancaster County. The trail takes visitors through a restored meadow and patch woodlands that provide critically important grassland and edge habitat for pollinators, birds, and other wildlife.
“The trail at Safe Harbor Nature Preserve provides a direct opportunity to observe, up close, the life that abounds in these ecosystems as well as to connect physically to the Conservancy’s essential work in ongoing habitat restoration and long-term management,” said Lancaster Conservancy Senior Vice President of Stewardship Brandon Tennis.
Planning for the ecological restoration of this 26-acre meadow at Safe Harbor Nature Preserve began in 2019. For decades prior, the area was a hay field that was cut and bailed multiple times a year, offering little habitat value because of the harm to ground-nesting birds and small mammals during the hay cutting process. By transitioning this field into a native grassland meadow, the Conservancy created a large area of productive habitat suitable for ground-nesting and migratory birds, large and small mammals, and a wide array of pollinator species.
“Meadows provide an array of ecosystem services,” said Lancaster Conservancy Forester Eric Roper. “The structure and species composition provide valuable nesting and foraging habitat for small mammals and birds. Forbs provide nectar and pollen for pollinators. Meadows can act as sponges during high water events, absorbing moisture and filtering sediment before it reaches our waterways. Insects overwinter in the hollow stems of dead plants and the thick thatch (accumulation of dead biomass). Meadows are also a valuable carbon sink with their deep root During the restoration process, the Conservancy also installed a half-mile natural surface trail that winds through the meadow, so visitors can explore the wildflowers and observe the pollinators up close.
This project was specifically designed to provide habitat for five pollinator species identified as species in need of critical care in the Pennsylvania Wildlife Action Plan: the American bumblebee, regal fritillary, columbine duskywing, frosted elfin, and monarch butterfly.
Thirty-two species were included in the seed mix, developed in consultation with the Natural Resources Conservation Service and Pheasants Forever. The custom seed mix was produced by Ernst Conservation Seeds using local ecotypes. Pennsylvania Game Commission provided the drill seeder that was used for the planting.
Safe Harbor Restoration Area | Credit Avery Van Etten
In the first year after the meadow was planted, species blooming included switchgrass, big bluestem, foxglove beardtongue, common yarrow, black-eyed Susan, partridge pea, narrowleaf mountain mint, common milkweed, purple coneflower, wild bergamot, and plains coreopsis. The species blooming each year will continue to shift as the meadow becomes more fully established. Even in dormancy, this meadow will provide crucial habitat for insects in leaf litter and the hollow stems of dead plants, and dried seed heads will provide a valuable winter food source for birds and small mammals.
In addition to the meadow species, 7 acres of the restoration area were planted with native trees and shrubs, provided through the Chesapeake Bay Foundation’s Keystone 10 Million Trees Partnership, which will offer nesting and roosting habitat for turkeys, cover habitat for large mammals, and forage for species like white-tailed deer. The trees and shrubs also provide perches for a wide range of bird species.
The Conservancy acquired Safe Harbor Nature Preserve in 2019 as part of a nationally recognized landscape protection project known as the PPL Project. Power delivery infrastructure remains onsite, with a right-of-way retained by PPL. Working with PPL, the Conservancy developed a planting strategy that incorporates native species and meaningful habitat without interfering with the transmission lines that cross the field, balancing infrastructure needs and critically important wildlife habitat.
This restoration project at Safe Harbor Nature Preserve was funded by the Natural Resources Conservation Service through the Environmental Quality Incentives Program.
The preserve is located in the Susquehanna Riverlands Conservation Landscape, a landscape designated by the Pennsylvania Department of Conservation and Natural Resources which includes the municipalities that border the Susquehanna River in Lancaster and York counties. The native grassland and trees planted at Safe Harbor Nature Preserve help to protect the quality of water flowing into the Susquehanna and eventually the Chesapeake Bay.
Safe Harbor Nature Preserve is open to visitation from dawn to dusk as well as archery-only hunting during Pennsylvania Game Commission hunting seasons. Visitors are reminded not to pick the wildflowers growing on Conservancy nature preserves – leaving the flowers where they are ensures that wildlife continues to have access to the food and shelter the plants provide, now and in future seasons.
About Lancaster Conservancy
Since 1969 the Conservancy has been working to save important natural places for people and wildlife. As more land is lost each year to development, it’s our mission to protect and maintain carefully selected habitat in its natural state as a balance to our growth.
Each conservation project is as unique as the property itself, and we are grateful to work with wonderful partners who allow us the flexibility necessary to save nature however possible!
The Conservancy protects natural lands (forests, meadows, wetlands, etc.), preserving them in their wild state forever. Though we do not preserve farmland, in Lancaster County we often work closely with our sister organization, the Lancaster Farmland Trust, which preserves farmland with agricultural easements.
About Pheasants Forever
Our mission is to conserve pheasants, quail, and other wildlife through habitat improvements, public access, education, and conservation advocacy.
Pheasants Forever | https://www.pheasantsforever.org/
Find a Pheasants Forever Chapter | https://www.pheasantsforever.org/Participate/Find-a-Chapter.aspx
North Central PA Pheasants Forever 630 | https://northcentralpapf.org/ | https://www.facebook.com/PheasantsForeverNorthCentralPA/
Central PA Chapter of Pheasants Forever | http://www.centralpapheasants.org/
Pheasants Forever Northwest Pennsylvania | https://nwpapf.org/
Northeastern Chapter | https://discovernepa.com/cause/pheasants-forever-chapter-803/