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Edgar T. Wherry 1936 Mrs. Ross, Mr Adams and Miss Bewly on the Marsh Marigold Trail, 1941 Virginia Bluebells at the Preserve School Group, 2008

Make your 2009 Annual Fund gift today by printing the donor form and mailing it to Bowman's Hill Wildflower Preserve. You may also call the Preserve at (215) 862-2924 and we will be happy to assist you in making your gift.

(This form is in PDF  format and can be opened through Adobe Acrobat Reader. If you do not have Adobe Acrobat Reader installed, please click here and download it free.)

Dear Preserve Friend,

In 2009 we celebrate Bowman’s Hill Wildflower Preserve’s 75th anniversary! What a milestone event for the Preserve and the community. Support from our Annual Fund donors has been a key component in keeping our Preserve open and growing.

Since 1934 we have been dedicated to education, native plant conservation and stewardship of the natural world that surrounds us here in Bucks County. How it began and how we got to where we are today is a story worth telling.

The Preserve was an idea conceived by a few Bucks County conservation-minded visionaries during the Great Depression. They envisioned the area, already endowed with a wealth of colorful native wildflowers and a diversity of trees, as a sanctuary for Pennsylvania’s native plant species.

Bowman’s Hill Wildflower Preserve opened in 1934. The vision, passion, and perseverance of those early conservationists became the foundation upon which the success of the Preserve stands today.

Over the years the Preserve has enjoyed much success with strong community support. Many of the trails and infrastructure were built during the 1930’s and a wealth of native species plantings by volunteers followed in the 1940’s and 1950’s. The Garden Club of America awarded the Preserve the coveted Founders Fund Award in 1950 recognizing it as “the most worthwhile conservation and horticultural project in the United States.”

In 1965 we opened our Visitor Center to handle growing visitor services and expanded programming and activities at the Preserve. This, in part, as a result of the increasing recognition of the Preserve as an important educational resource.

The Preserve’s members and volunteers played an increasing role in management of the Preserve during the 1980’s and 1990’s as state funding for the Preserve declined. In 1997, recognizing the importance of continuing our Mission, the non-profit association officially took over the management of the Preserve.

Within the last decade Preserve membership has risen to over 2,000 and we see more than 70,000 visitors annually. Today the Preserve is recognized as one of the most important plant repositories in the Northeastern US with over 800 species of native plants, of which over 80 are rare, threatened, or endangered. On our 75th Anniversary we can look back with pride at all we have accomplished, and look forward to all that is yet to come.

We depend on Annual Fund gifts to provide operational support for the Preserve. Annual Fund support enables us to upgrade and enhance our trails, develop new programming and activities, sustain our native species collections, support our conservation symposiums and receive matching grant funding.

As I wander our trails of exquisite natural beauty, I smile at the excited chatter of our visitors making new discoveries or finding old friends among our native plant species. In 75 years all of this has been possible because of the support we have received from you and the many generous individuals that the Preserve is honored to call friends. A generous 75th Anniversary Annual Fund gift will help us continue to serve the community with distinction and fulfill our Mission.

A generous 75th Anniversary Annual Fund gift will help us continue to serve the community with distinction and fufill our Mission.

Thank you for your support.

Miles Arnott
Executive Director
Bowman’s Hill Wildflower Preserve

Make your 2009 Annual Fund gift today by printing the donor form and mailing it to Bowman's Hill Wildflower Preserve. You may also call the Preserve at (215) 862-2924 and we will be happy to assist you in making your gift.

(This form is in PDF  format and can be opened through Adobe Acrobat Reader. If you do not have Adobe Acrobat Reader installed, please click here and download it free.)