Lancaster Conservancy grows protected land near Susquehanna River in York County

• Rachel McDevitt/StateImpact Pennsylvania
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  I report on energy and the environment for StateImpact Pennsylvania at WITF.
  
  My work focuses on responses and solutions to climate change in the state legislature and communities around the state. I trace my interest in these issues back to my time as a Girl Scout and this episode of Rocko’s Modern Life.
  
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  I grew up in Cambria County, Pa. and graduated from Temple University. I started at WITF just after Christmas in 2014.

 (Courtesy Lancaster Conservancy)

The site of the Ingrid Graham Historic Hellam Nature Preserve is shown in this map. (Courtesy Lancaster Conservancy)

Lancaster Conservancy is expanding its footprint in York County by acquiring a 56-acre property known as the Historic Hellam Preserve.

The Graham family is donating the preserve, which includes floodplain forest, meadow, a section of Kreutz Creek, and agricultural land, as well as several historic structures such as a renovated 19th century bank barn and farmhouse and a restored 18th century log cabin.

The conservancy will rename the preserve the Ingrid Graham Historic Hellam Nature Preserve, in honor of the woman whose vision led to the development of the site.

“We are so glad that my mother’s efforts to transform this special property from a collection of neglected buildings to a truly beautiful and serene historic homestead, ready for future generations to enjoy and interpret, will now be protected forever,” said Kristin Graham on behalf of the Graham family.

The preserve is located in Hellam Borough and Hellam Township. The conservancy plans to use the site as its engagement and education center in York County. Last year, the conservancy said it served more than 1,300 local K-12 students at its Lancaster County hub.

The Hellam preserve will be part of the conservancy’s Hellam Hills Conservation Area, which is made up of 1,000 acres of contiguous forests that stretches from Wrightsville to the Codorus Creek.

Since 2015, the conservancy has acquired and protected more than 3,000 acres in York County along the Susquehanna River, which includes 11 of its more than 50 nature preserves.

The conservancy said the site is also within the Pennsylvania Department of Conservation and Natural Resources’ Susquehanna Riverlands Conservation Landscape, as well as the federally recognized Highlands Region.

“As well as permanently protecting natural resources, the Ingrid Graham Historic Hellam Nature Preserve will protect significant cultural resources from the Native Peoples that inhabited the region to the European immigrants who populated Hallam Borough and Hellam Township in the 18th century,” said Kate Gonick, the conservancy’s senior vice president of land protection and general counsel.

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