Lancaster Conservancy has announced the acquisition of 180 acres in Lower Chanceford Township, York County, with healthy forests and panoramic views of the Susquehanna River. The property, which will be called Eagle View Nature Preserve, is directly adjacent to the regional Mason-Dixon Trail and is part of the viewshed for the Enola Low Grade Trail in Lancaster County. This new preserve also sits just outside of an area of land at Cuffs Run that the Conservancy is fighting to protect.

The upriver view from the new nature preserve is vast and captures one of the wider sections of the river. Visitors will be able to enjoy a view of the Conejohela Flats, an important birding area; Highpoint County Park; the Wrightsville Bridge; and the towns of Columbia and Wrightsville.

At the preserve, healthy, mature forests surround a mid-20th-century stone house and guesthouse. The woods, rich with a variety of oak species as well as hickory, sweet birch, and yellow poplar, were at risk of being cut down when the property went up for sale. The conservancy's acquisition of Eagle View will protect this piece of habitat along the river while providing public access to nature and a view of the Susquehanna.

The new nature preserve is within the Pennsylvania Department of Conservation and Natural Resources' Susquehanna Riverlands Conservation Landscape (SRCL) as well as the federally designated Highlands Region. Since the SRCL's designation in 2010, the conservancy has acquired and protected more than 3,000 acres in York County along the Susquehanna River, which includes 12 of its more than 50 nature preserves.

The conservancy continues to seek both public and private grants and donations to cover the costs of acquiring Eagle View. The area will remain closed to the public while the conservancy completes its master planning process for the nature preserve.

Lancaster Conservancy is a nonprofit land trust that has protected more than 11,000 acres of natural land since its founding more than 50 years ago. The conservancy manages over 50 nature preserves in Lancaster County and in York County in the Susquehanna Riverlands Conservation Landscape. To learn more, visit http://www.lancasterconservancy.org.