Brenner-Penfield Macungie Mountain - Wildlands Conservancy

Getting Here

Main entrance:
6691 Sweetwood Dr, Macungie, PA 18062

Other accessible points:
Our Reimert Memorial Bird Haven is connected through the Tulip Trail.

Activities:

Two very visionary people, Merrill and Nancy Brenner, helped realize the 47+-acre Brenner-Penfield Macungie Mountain Preserve, which is adjacent to Wildlands’ 11-acre Reimert Memorial Bird Haven.

Tulip Trail | Yellow | 1.0 miles
Named for the abundance of large tulip trees found throughout the preserve, the Tulip Trail leads users from the parking lot up to Sheep Rock and down to Reimert Memorial Bird Haven after several steep switchbacks.

Spicebush Trail | Red | .5 miles
This short spur trail takes users through dense spicebush understory before emerging to a mixed hemlock and white pine forest.

This forested habitat connects to the Reimert Memorial Bird Haven and is shared by a wide variety of such as ovenbird and keery, along with species like white-breasted nuthatch, northern cardinal, dark-eyed junco, yellow-shafted northern flicker, hairy woodpecker, downy woodpecker, red-bellied woodpecker, blue jays and more. The small creek that crosses the trail close to the parking lot offers aquatic creatures an ecosystem and a wet reprise for woodland animals.

One easy way to identify what species are nestled in the thickets along the understory and overhead is to look at the trail names: the Spicebush and Tulip (for tulip poplar) Trails. The forest is largely deciduous although patches of pine and hemlock mixed forest grow throughout. Along the stream, skunk cabbage is one of the first signs of spring with large, elephant-ear-like leaves persisting throughout fall.

The local couple long wanted to conserve land for future generations, and in 2019, their wish for a public preserve legacy came true. The lands they helped permanently protect offer a retreat within an ever-urbanizing Lehigh Valley. The Brenners hope their actions inspire others to do their part to restore and sustain the Lehigh Valley and Lehigh River watershed.

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