The Lancaster Conservancy is adding a nearly 19-acre property to a nature preserve in Mount Joy Township in northwestern Lancaster County.
The conservancy announced Tuesday that it is acquiring a tract owned by the Florschutz family. It extends roughly southward from the southeast edges of the Shaw Family Nature Preserve between Casell Road and North Market Street and is mostly forested, with a small meadow.
The tract is in an area at high risk for development. Instead, it will contribute to the Shaw Preserve’s role in buffering the Conewago Creek, a critical local habitat for fish, reptiles and amphibians. It brings a significant amount of wooded acreage to the preserve, which is largely farmland.
“The surrounding area has experienced growth in warehouses and other development, and buffering the Shaw Family Nature Preserve is of the utmost importance,” said Kate Gonick, the conservancy’s general counsel and senior vice president of land protection, said in a statement.
The sale price was not immediately available.
The conservancy began the process of acquiring the Shaw Preserve in 2011. In 2020, it secured an sales agreement for 155 acres for $2.1 million, completing the transaction the following year. It is named for Elizabethtown businessman, philanthropist and conservationist Barry Shaw and his family and was dedicated last November.
The Conewago Creek and the Conewago Recreation Trail run along the northwest edge of the preserve. Visitors can access the trail from a parking area at 2385 N. Market St., Elizabethtown.
The 155 acres acquired in 2021 included a portion northwest of the creek in Londonderry Township, Dauphin County. The conservancy transferred that acreage to the township to facilitate stream restoration.
