Natural Lands is working to make the outdoors more accessible
ADA-compliant trails enable greater access to nature for visitors with varying mobilities.
The views, thoughts and opinions expressed in this blog are the author's own and do not necessarily reflect the views of the Land Trust Alliance, its staff, its board of directors or any other individuals associated with the organization.
The accredited Natural Lands has announced the completion of an ADA-compliant trail at its Sadsbury Woods Preserve in Coatesville, Pennsylvania. The trail will enable greater access to the preserve for visitors with varying mobilities.
Visitors can access Sadsbury Woods Preserve’s ADA trail from the parking lot and follow it into the woodland for about .11 miles. Trail users will be able to view the preserve’s rain garden, which filters runoff from the parking lot into a beautiful and purposeful planting of water-loving species, a large reforestation area with hundreds of native tree seedlings, and the towering woodlands that define Sadsbury Woods Preserve. At the entrance to the forest, visitors can relax on a pair of benches made from a large chestnut oak that blew down in a storm.
“Visitors can listen to the birdsong and look for a range of bird species,” said preserve manager Erin Smith. “The preserve is part of the largest remaining unbroken forest in Chester County. These woods provide critical habitat to songbirds, especially neotropical migrants that winter in South America and breed in our region. To survive, they need food and protection from weather and predators — all things the preserve’s forests provide.”
The trail is particularly enchanting in spring with a carpet of ephemeral wildflowers. Visitors can enjoy an ever-changing display of species, including mayapple, bloodroot, spring beauty, wild geranium, hepatica and Jack-in-the-pulpit.
“Natural Lands is committed to stewarding the open spaces under our care to ensure their conservation value and also to provide outstanding experiences in nature to our hundreds-of-thousands of visitors,” said Oliver Bass, president of Natural Lands. “We are eager to improve accessibility through strategic infrastructure improvements such as this trail at Sadsbury Woods.”
Information about what to expect at each of the land trust's nature preserves, and at Stoneleigh: a natural garden, can be found at natlands.org/accessibility.
As the Greater Philadelphia region’s oldest and largest land conservation organization, Natural Lands has preserved more than 136,600 acres, including 40+ nature preserves and one public garden totaling more than 23,600 acres. About five million people live within five miles of land under the organization’s protection.