NEWS

Wildlands Conservancy Celebrates Grand Opening of 34-acre preserve, Brenner-Penfield Emmaus

By Molly Bilinski

Residents of the Lehigh Valley for decades, Merrill and Nancy Brenner have prioritized environmental stewardship, supporting efforts to conserve the greenspaces they have cherished for future generations.  

“We’ve always been oriented to protecting nature,” Merrill said. “Once we became engaged with

Wildlands, we saw where we could make an impact.”

That impact was realized Wednesday. Wildlands Conservancy, alongside friends, partners, and supporters, hosted a ribbon-cutting at Brenner-Penfield Emmaus Preserve. Thirty-four acres of permanently conserved land is now officially open for residents not only to enjoy, but also learn the important history of the landscape. 

“We have enjoyed the area for so many years, and we want to be sure that future generations are left with some beautiful, natural, open space to appreciate,” Nancy said. “If you don’t jump in to save it, it may be gone before anyone realizes it.”

A ‘tremendous gift to Wildlands, nature and our community’

Brenner-Penfield Emmaus is Wildlands’ 14th nature preserve and 10th in the Lehigh Valley.

“The work that this community has done to protect this wonderful landscape is really impressive,” Christopher Kocher, Wildlands’ president, said, thanking partners at Emmaus Borough, Lehigh County, Shelter House Society, the state Department of Conservation and Natural Resources, as well as Wildlands staff and community supporters.

“We are especially grateful to our longtime friends, passionate conservations and visionaries, Merrill and Nancy Brenner,” he continued. “Their passion and drive to leave a legacy of protected nature preserves continues today.”

The preserve is named in honor of the Brenners, as well as Nancy’s father, Henry Penfield. 

He always loved nature and appreciated its abundance, and often pined for land stewardship, Nancy explained. When she moved to the Lehigh Valley, Nancy was amazed at the beauty of the area and knew her father would have loved it here, too.

“Their tremendous gift to Wildlands, nature and our community will have a lasting impact on the Lehigh Valley,” Kocher said. “They remind us of the incredible positive impact people can have on our community, just like the ones who set our mission in motion more than 50 years ago. I hope their selfless giving and incredible passion inspires others to support Wildlands Conservancy in moving forward our conservation and education mission.”

Efforts to preserve the land started a decade ago, Shane Pepe, Emmaus’ borough manager, said, when officials were considering selling 18.5 acres that had been donated decades prior. That’s when Wildlands shared the idea to permanently preserve it and create trails for residents and visitors to enjoy. 

“This has always been a vision of our community,” Pepe said. “It’s always been part of what our town has been focused on: the health, the wellness, the physical fitness, the passive recreation opportunities for our community, and you can see that. 

“You can see that with what we’ve done here with the Wildlands Conservancy. You can see what we’ve done throughout the entire town.”

Michael A. Henry, a board member of Shelter House Society, said the board is delighted to welcome the preserve as a neighbor, noting that it is a perfect opportunity to attract new visitors to experience both history and nature.  

“While enjoying the preserved nature, visitors can also visit and learn about and support the history and preservation of the Shelter House,” he said. “It’s a history worth learning about, and a history beginning worth preserving.”

Shelter House, a colonial Germanic cabin, is one of the oldest continuously inhabited log structures in the Lehigh Valley.

Claire Jantz, Deputy Secretary of Conservation and Technical Services at the state Department of Conservation and Natural Resources, noted the importance of having a preserve close enough for residents to walk to. 

“Every community deserves a place like this,” she said. “That is one of the core principles, I think, of the work that we do — where we can go for a walk, spend time with our friends and family, experience nature, and enjoy the outdoors without having to go too far from home, and this kind of access really matters.” 

Recreation, history and habitat

When combined with Emmaus’s South 4th Street Recreation Area and Shelter House properties, the Brenner-Penfield Emmaus Preserve offers community members and visitors nearly 50 acres of permanently protected land in the greater South Mountain landscape to explore.

Open daily from dawn to dusk, the area has 1.5 miles of trails for hiking, biking, trail running, birding and exploring, including the Charcoal and Foundry trails, as well as the Oley Path. Each loop trail is about half a mile, is rated either moderate or difficult and offers visitors a peek into history.

The Charcoal Trail includes views of the charcoal flats, flattened areas where early colonists made charcoal. The Foundry Trail was named for remnants of an old foundry that still stand, which visitors will pass as they make their way through the woods. The Oley Path has historical ties, too. It was used by early Lenape people to transport jasper to the Lehigh and Delaware rivers.

The majority of both the Charcoal and Foundry trails are situated inside the Brenner-Penfield Emmaus Preserve’s boundaries. A small section of the Foundry Trail crosses the Shelter House Property and extends into the South 4th Street Recreation Area, connecting to the Oley Path, where the parking lot and trail access is located. 

In addition to recreation opportunities, the preserve provides critical habitat to native wildlife, including turtles, foxes and migratory birds. 

After the ribbon-cutting, Wildlands officials Carl Martin, director of property stewardship, and Michael Hock, senior manager of preserved lands, led a guided tour, and more than a dozen participants set off on a hike through the woodland preserve. 

The group walked along the path through the young forest, passing birch, red maple and hickory trees, before heading deeper into the preserve, where tulip trees towered above the understory, made up of spicebush, easily spotted with its bright red berries. 

“You’re walking through history here,” Martin said, describing the historic iron and foundry operations, as well as the charcoal flats. 

Wildlands was intentional about the trail design, Hock said, explaining that, over time, flat trails can hold water, creating mud, while steep trails can erode and wash out. 

“We really try to focus on kind of that middle ground of the topography and making sure we’re not just going straight up a mountain,” he said. “We’re really conscious about where we put those grade reversals, put those switchbacks, and ultimately put the trails.”

‘If they could do it, maybe we could do it’

Brenner-Penfield Emmaus is the second preserve Merrill and Nancy have helped realize, and their third time conserving land, through their work with Wildlands. 

After living in apartments and condos around the Valley for about three decades, the couple retired, purchasing a house and land in Longswamp Township  for their forever home. Working with Wildlands, they preserved 18 acres on their property through a conservation easement. 

“Through the easement process, we learned about conserving land and all the other things that Wildlands does,” Merrill said. “We decided to make that a priority and became much more involved, by volunteering and additional conservation.”

Through their work with Wildlands and other community partners, Brenner-Penfield Macungie Mountain was established in 2019 and then expanded in 2022. The nearly 50-acre preserve, which features two trails as well as an overlook at Sheep Rock, near the top of the mountain, is adjacent to Wildlands’ 11-acre Reimert Memorial Bird Haven.  

Both Merrill and Nancy said they’ve seen the tremendous benefits of having community preserves after that experience, and expect the same with the new preserve.

“Being in nature has many health benefits as well as importance for wildlife and the environment,” Nancy said. “Having preserves very close to where people live gives everyone the opportunity to experience these places.”

And, while it can be a difficult process to get land preserved, it isn’t impossible — especially with the right partnerships, support and guidance. 

“At first glance, you might think, ‘Oh, I could never do that. That must be so expensive and so difficult for one person to do,’” Merrill said. “And that’s why we’ve consciously made the decision to let people know it was us, because it’s like, ‘Well, if they could do it, maybe we could do it.’ We’d like to encourage people to try.”

By coordinating with private citizens, state and local government, businesses and volunteers, Wildlands is able to facilitate preservation projects that will forever benefit the community, he added. 

But, the couple’s conservation efforts aren’t done yet. With the easement at their Longswamp property, and both preserves, they’ve fallen just shy of 100 acres permanently preserved. 

“We’ve now conserved 99.4 acres — a wonderful, yet frustrating, total,” Merrill said, chuckling. “So, we definitely want to conserve more and be able to say, ‘Well over 100 acres.’”

Wildlands acknowledges the support of its giving community, especially Merrill and Nancy Brenner and the Pennsylvania Department of Conservation and Natural Resources, for making Brenner-Penfield Emmaus a public nature preserve.

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About Molly Bilinski 

Molly Bilinski is an award-winning journalist and storyteller based in Monroe County. She’s written for the Spotlight PA, LehighValleyNews.com, The Morning Call, The Press of Atlantic City, and the Reading Eagle, among others. When she’s not writing, she can usually be found reading, baking, or out exploring the many parks, trails, and preserves in the Poconos and the Lehigh Valley. Find her on Instagram and LinkedIn. 

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