Abrams Creek Wetlands Preserve

Take a self-guided audio tour of the Abrams Creek Wetlands Preserve using your smartphone and discover what makes the area so unique and special.

Audio Tour

Use the interpretive signage along the Abrams Creek Wetlands Preserve section of the trail to assist with seasonal migratory bird watching and environmental education.

The focus of these guided nature walks, held in the spring and fall, will be on birds, flowers, trees, and signs of the season.

Tour Dates (seasonal)

Preserve Map(PDF, 1MB)

Video

Since 1999, the City of Winchester, with assistance from Shenandoah University’s Environmental Studies Program, has worked hard to conserve the city’s unique and beautiful Abrams Creek Wetlands Preserve. In 2019, the Winchester-Clarke Garden Club joined the partnership with a significant contribution. Several activities will be conducted this fall to honor and maintain these important wetlands and the community is invited to participate.

The City recognizes the importance of the Abrams Creek Wetlands Preserve and is committed to preserving it in its natural condition. Grazing animals, such as bison and elk, and periodic fires formerly kept the marshes open to the sun. Since these activities no longer occur, the City must take on the natural roles of fire and grazing animals in preventing shade-producing trees from taking over the marshes. Winchester Parks and Recreation (WPRD) staff maintain the Preserve according to the property’s Management Plan (2007). As part of this plan, WPRD staff regularly cut trees and shrubs, especially species that are invasive, and will conduct this activity again this fall (2019). In addition, the Winchester-Clarke Garden Club (WCGC) assisted in the 2019 cutting and contributed $39,000 in grants and donations to help the effort and bring more attention to the Preserve:

• $30,000 – Garden Club of America Founders Fund Award (provides funding for conservation, an observation platform in the lower marsh, and educational materials such as brochures and audio walking tour)
• $7,000 – Garden Club of Virginia Bessie Bocock Carter Conservation Award
• $2,000 – Winchester-Clarke Garden Club Donation

The GCA Founders Fund Award was a national competition and members of all affiliated U.S. garden clubs were involved in the voting. The Garden Club of Virginia award was a state-wide competition and the Bessie Bocock Carter Conservation Award was the first-place award. 

Since the Preserve is a bird sanctuary, the cutting must take place between mid-August to mid-October and March 1-April 1.

The City of Winchester dedicated the Preserve and the first mile of the Green Circle Trail in October 2003. The Preserve is the City's first formally protected natural area. Prior to that, Shenandoah University Environmental Studies (SU-ES) students had studied these wetlands since 1997 and led a public field trip there in 1998 - a year before the pathway was built, and 5 years before the Preserve was established. Nearly 100 people attended.