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〕 | long_EW = W | elevation_imperial = 751 | elevation_round = 0 | elevation_note =〔 | area_unit = acre | area_imperial = 1108 | area_round = 0 | area1_imperial = | area1_type = | length_imperial = | length_orientation = | width_imperial = | width_orientation = | highest = Elk Ridge (Upper Bison Paddock) | highest location = | highest_lat_d = 40 | highest_lat_m = 39 | highest_lat_s = 50.22 | highest_lat_NS = N | highest_long_d = 75 | highest_long_m = 37 | highest_long_s = 17.49 | highest_long_EW = W | highest_elevation_imperial = 751 | lowest = Jordan Creek (Ruheton Bridge) | lowest_location = | lowest_lat_d = 40 | lowest_lat_m = 38 | lowest_lat_s = 16.88 | lowest_lat_NS = N | lowest_long_d = 75 | lowest_long_m = 37 | lowest_long_s = 30.25 | lowest_long_EW =W | lowest_elevation_imperial =369 | established_type = Trexler Nature Preserve | established = 2006 | established1_type =Trexler Deer Reservation | established1 = 1901 | established2_type =Trexler Game Preserve | established2 = 1935 | management_body = Lehigh County | management_location = | visitation = | visitation_year = | map = Pennsylvania Locator Map.PNG | map_caption = Location of Trexler Nature Preserve | map_locator = Pennsylvania | website = }} The Trexler Nature Preserve is an 1,108 acre county park owned and maintained by Lehigh County, Commonwealth of Pennsylvania.〔County of Lehigh, Dept. of General Services, "Trexler-Lehigh Game Preserve Master Plan" (Allentown, PA, May 2006), 1–1.〕 The preserve is situated in Lowhill Township and North Whitehall Township and the land that comprises the preserve was originally purchased between 1901 and 1911 by local industrialist General Harry Clay Trexler.〔County of Lehigh, Dept. of General Services, "Trexler-Lehigh Game Preserve Master Plan" (Allentown, PA, May 2006), 1–2.〕 It was originally Trexler's desire to stock the preserve with big game animals such as bison, elk, and deer with the express goal of saving the North American Bison.〔 When Trexler died in 1933, the preserve, by will, passed to the care of the County of Lehigh.〔 Lehigh County assumed title in 1935 and has been in control of the site ever since.〔County of Lehigh, Dept. of General Services, "Trexler-Lehigh Game Preserve Master Plan" (Allentown, PA, May 2006), passam.〕 In May 1975, in an attempt to raise awareness of the preserve, the County launched a new initiative to draw visitors—the Lehigh Valley Zoo.〔County of Lehigh, Dept. of General Services, "Trexler-Lehigh Game Preserve Master Plan" (Allentown, PA, May 2006), 1–3.〕 Although the zoo returned some public use to the land, the great majority of the preserve remained closed to the general public and the herd sizes of bison and elk continued to dwindle. In 2004, Lehigh County suffering from an uncertainty of then-recent budgets, proposed to close the zoo portion of the preserve.〔 A local group, the Lehigh Valley Zoological Society, formed to assume private control of the zoo under a lease arrangement with Lehigh County.〔 Concurrent with the transfer of the zoo to private control, the Trexler Trust brought civil suit against the County of Lehigh demanding, under the terms of Trexler's will, that the entire preserve be opened to public use and that public funds be devoted to that public use.〔County of Lehigh, Dept. of General Services, "Trexler-Lehigh Game Preserve Master Plan" (Allentown, PA, May 2006), 1–3 to 1–4.〕 The county, under pressure from the Trexler Trust, acceded to a settlement in 2006. As part of this settlement, Lehigh County agreed to open the entire preserve to public use and to rename the non-zoo portion of the park from the "Trexler Game Preserve" to the "Trexler Nature Preserve." Since re-opening the entire preserve to public use, extensive efforts have been made to increase passive recreational activities, such as hiking and mountain biking (by building an extensive trail system) and archery hunting and fishing (by changing cull policies and stocking the Jordan Creek). In addition, efforts have been made to eradicate invasive plants which colonised large parts of the preserve after nearly a century of inartful range practices. == History == European settlers have used the land that is now the Trexler Nature preserve since at least the 1760s. In that decade, Micheal Mosser purchased a large tract of land in Lowhill Township and erected a gristmill on Mill Creek—giving the creek its name. This mill was one of the first of its kind in the county, and certainly the first in Lowhill township. In 1800, John Hollenbach started a competing mill on the creek's east side.〔Lehigh County Historical Society, ''History of Lehigh County, Pennsylvania: And a Genealogical and Biographical Record of Its Families'' (Allentown, PA: Lehigh County Historical Society, 1914), 741.〕 These mills carried on throughout the nineteenth century and into the twentieth. In 1901 local industrialist General Harry Clay Trexler, began purchasing much of the surrounding farmland in order to form a "deer reservation."〔Lehigh County Historical Society, ''History of Lehigh County, Pennsylvania: And a Genealogical and Biographical Record of Its Families'' (Allentown, PA: Lehigh County Historical Society, 1914), 1037.〕 Trexler was native to the Lehigh Valley; he was born in Easton in 1854. He made his fortune in timber and concrete and by the turn of the twentieth century was a wealthy man. Trexler enjoyed, like many well-to-do men of the age, hunting and wilderness.〔Gail Bederman, ''Manliness & Civilization'' (Chicago, IL: University of Chicago Press, 1996), 170–215.〕 Trexler was an early environmentalist, he believed that much of the big wild game in America had been hunted to the brink of extinction, and that efforts were needed to protect the remainder.〔 Acting this belief, in 1901, he began to buy dozens of farmsteads in Lowhill Township and North Whitehall Township to create a game reservation. At its inception, this reservation was known as the "Trexler Deer Reservation."〔 A contemporary source described the project as follows:
The deer reservation continued under the supervision of P.S. Fenstermacher, a prominent and politically connected Allentown farmer,〔Pennsylvania Department of Agriculture, ''Annual Report of the Pennsylvania Department of Agriculture'', vol. 22 (Harrisburg, PA: WM. Stanley Ray, State Printer 1917), 448.〕 until Trexler's untimely death in 1933.〔 Trexler's will provided that the deer reservation be devised in fee simple to Lehigh County.〔 The will also made provision that the land be used "for use as a public park, by the citizens of () County()"〔County of Lehigh, Dept. of General Services, "Trexler-Lehigh Game Preserve Master Plan" (Allentown, PA, May 2006), 1–2. See also Trexler Trust website〕 Probate of Trexler's will was settled in 1935 and left the county owning the renamed "Trexler Game Preserve". For the next forty years, the preserve was open only on Sundays, with informal petting and feeding exhibits. In 1969, the game preserve commission engaged McFadzean, Everly & Associates to plan and develop a children's zoo at the site. This twenty-nine acre zoo opened 18 May 1975. The exhibits became more formalized, and the animal collection was expanded to include exotic animals from Africa, Asia, and Australia. Construction costs for the zoo originally estimated at $400,000 quickly ballooned to more than $2,000,000. Admission projections, originally estimated to reach 650,000 by 1977 only reached 112,342 that year.〔 As the legacy cost of construction increased and admissions stayed languid, budgets became increasingly stretched. In the early 2000s, Lehigh County floated the idea of closing the zoo. In 2004, the private Lehigh Valley Zoological Society was formed and brokered a lease with the county whereby the zoo would be maintained, but under private control. Concurrent with the transfer and lease of zoo operations, the Trexler Trust brought civil suit against the county claiming that the county was obliged to open the preserve land to the public.〔 Lehigh County acceded to a $1.9 million settlement and the Trexler Trust committed to provide another $850,000.〔County of Lehigh, Dept. of General Services, "Trexler-Lehigh Game Preserve Master Plan" (Allentown, PA, May 2006), 1–4.〕 These monies were to be used to reopen the entire preserve to the general public. In the winter and spring of 2005 and 2006, respectively, interviews and public meetings were conducted to determine how to return the preserve to public use. The overwhelming response was that the land should be brought back to its natural state (much harmed after years of inartful range management) and that passive recreational facilities (such as hiking trails) should be constructed.〔County of Lehigh, Dept. of General Services, "Trexler-Lehigh Game Preserve Master Plan" (Allentown, PA, May 2006), 1–6.〕 In response to this input, Lehigh County commissioned and built a new trail system and, as of 2013, continues efforts to reclaim the land from damage caused by inartful range management. 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「Trexler Nature Preserve」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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