Delaware Nature Society

DNS Preserves

Four nature preserves - Burrows Run, Flint Woods, Marvel Saltmarsh, and Cedar Bog - owned by the Delaware Nature Society are managed to maximize their value as wildlife habitat and environmental education resources. They serve as models to the region for conservation management techniques.

Due to the fragile, natural features of the preserves, casual visitation cannot be permitted, but seasonal programs provide access to Delaware Nature Society members, and surveys and research projects are ongoing.

Burrows Run Preserve
Located 1.5 miles from the Ashland Nature Center, Burrows Run Preserve features 352 acres including the pristine Burrows Run stream, upland meadows, and Coverdale Farm with historic farm buildings, wooded natural area and idyllic ponds. Studies have revealed 179 bird and 115 wildflower species with 13 rare plants including pale-spike lobelia and American ginseng and numerous butterflies.åÊ In 1996, adult and teen volunteers assisted with an extensive restoration project along the floodplain at Burrows Run, planting native tree seedlings and shrubs to buffer the stream from run-off and enhance the habitat for wildlife. We are continuing a program to remove exotic and invasive multiflora rose, and strategically timed mowing to encourage nesting birds and the proliferation of native plants. Management for butterfly habitat has dramatically increased the population of monarchs, making possible a pilot butterfly program conducted for Red Clay School District. Water quality is being documented in detail on the pristine Burrows Run, through macroinvertebrate and microbiological surveys conducted by Stream Watch college interns as well as by the chemical and physical data provided by Stream Watch Technical Monitors. Birding, wildflower, and butterfly programs are conducted seasonally.Ê

History
Between 1927 and the early 1930's, Crawford and Margaretta Greenewalt acquired Coverdale Farm. They farmed the land and built a home. In 1990, the Greenewalts donated 110 acres in the Burrows Run valley to the Delaware Nature Society plus additional lands to be sold for an endowment. In 1997, Mrs. Nicholas Ridgely du Pont donated 12.6 acres to the Society that enlarged the Burrows Run Preserve and protected old growth woodlands, rare plants, and steeply sloping terrain. In 1998, after four years of planning, the Old Kennett Foundation trustees decided to dissolve the foundation and give all the assets, including 229 acres, the 18th century barn, two houses, and farm equipment to the Nature Society. The Coverdale Farm property includes a champion black tupelo tree (Nyssa sylvatica), which is the third largest of its kind in the nation and the largest in Delaware. Plans were initiated in April 2000 to develop a year-round farm education program at the site. Together with the 352-acre Burrows Run Preserve and other lands protected by the Nature Society and the Greenewalt/Frederick families, a phenomenal 438 acres have been permanently protected.

Flint Woods Preserve
Our Flint Woods Preserve, located in Centreville, Delaware, is a spectacular resource that provides habitat for Neo-tropical songbirds and rare wildflowers among towering, mature trees. In addition to owning and managing the 37-acre preserve, the Nature Society has access to an adjacent 155 acres of private and public land that extends our outdoor "classroom" to 192 acres. Surveys are underway in the Flint Woods to determine the populations of native plants and wildlife. The canopy of giant trees includes oak, hickory, beech, and tuliptrees and towers over mountain laurel, spicebush, and native azalea. 17 species of ferns have been identified including uncommon maidenhair and polypody ferns as well as numerous species of wildflowers including the showy orchis, blue cohosh and tawny ironweed. Birds that depend on deep woods for successful nesting, pileated woodpeckers and Neo-tropical migrants such as the scarlet tanager, have been observed. Programs focusing on forest ecology, birding, fern identification, and spring wildflowers in the preserve are held for members as well as special programs for teachers and university students.

History
Over the period from 1940 to 1970, Robert and Lucile Flint acquired approximately 350 acres in northern New Castle County. In 1990 they created a private foundation and during the period of 1994-1997, the family sold 138 acres to State Parks system and donated to the Nature Society 35 acres to be established as a preserve. Since that time, Peter and Karen Flint and their son purchased and donated a 2.3-acre connecting parcel to add to the preserve and gave a 44-acre conservation easement on a preeminent piedmont forest.

The unique preserves and Coverdale Farm together with the Ashland Nature Center afford exceptional opportunities to develop new educational programs such as "Birds of Two Worlds," in which classes learn the significance of North American forest nesting habitats for migrating Neo-tropical birds.

Marvel Saltmarsh Preserve
Marvel Saltmarsh Preserve, 110-acres near Slaughter Beach and adjacent to Prime Hook National Wildlife Refuge, is the location for our estuarine ecology programs for school classes. Students discover the influence of the tides on the marsh and observe fiddler crabs, saltmarsh cordgrass, osprey, herons, killifish, horseshoe crabs, eelgrass, and egrets as they learn about the value of the marsh and its relationship to the Delaware Bay. The Marvel Saltmarsh is a vital part of the ecology of the estuary, which acts as a nursery for the ocean and bay.

Cedar Bog Preserve
The six-acre Cedar Bog Preserve sits like a jewel within the scenic 75-acre setting of the Abbott's Mill Nature Center pond, forest, and building complex. While the state owns most of the property at Abbott's Mill, the Delaware Nature Society owns Cedar Bog, which was purchased from private ownership to permanently preserve its unique natural features. Cedar Bog Preserve represents a rare example of mature southern forest of Atlantic white cedar and shelters rare plants including swamp pink and cranefly orchid.

Milford Millponds Nature Preserve - Cedar Bog and Issac Tracts
The Milford Millponds Nature Preserve is a 3-mile linear network of connected land along two stream corridors and two millponds; Johnson Branch and Abbotts Pond on the east side, and the Tantrough Branch and Blairs Pond on the west; both emptying into the Mispillion River, outside of Milford, Delaware. These lands are owned collectively by the Delaware Nature Society and the DE Division of Fish and Wildlife. These properties are dominated by coastal plain forests and are teeming with wildlife. Neotropical migratory birds are often sighted, including Yellow-billed Cuckoos, Baltimore Orioles, Scarlet Tanagers and Prothonotary Warblers, to name a few.