People are loving Tucquan Glen Nature Preserve to death.
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Widening the trails and littering them with candy wrappers and drink cartons.
Clogging up narrow rural roads with lines of precariously parked cars.
Wandering onto bordering properties.
That's the word from the neighbors of the Martic Township park overseen by the Lancaster County Conservancy.
It hurts, locals say, because they too love the leafy, 338-acre retreat.
The commotion is "almost overwhelming on weekends any more," said Fred Kyper, who lives across River Road from the trailhead.
Nearby Tucquan Glen Road resident Malinda Clatterbuck said hundreds of people sometimes converge on the winding ravine on Saturdays and Sundays.
On a recent Sunday afternoon, she said in an e-mail, she counted 36 vehicles and eight Amish buggies.
"I don't think people are trying to destroy it," Clatterbuck said. "But there are so many people who come down."
The impact has noticeably increased in the past couple of years, according to Clatterbuck, a volunteer conservancy land steward.
"It's become so popular, I think, because people talk about it."
Which isn't surprising.
The conservancy has long publicized Tucquan as its flagship project and encouraged educational trips and outdoor recreation there.
Now, many school buses descend on the preserve in the spring.
The rushing water, huge boulders and colonnades of tulip poplars have become an irresistable magnet too for hikers, fishermen and stream waders.
The conservancy is well aware of the challenges to the site and is working to reduce the impact, said Carl Martin, director of stewardship and education.
School field trips are a case in point, he added.
"We are directing them to other preserves and giving them a list of places to go."
The conservancy's upcoming newsletter examines "this idea of loving it to death," Martin said.
The sword is a familiar one, and double-edged.
Getting people to appreciate natural areas and help save them by donating land and money is an important goal for all nonprofit land trusts.
But crowds of visitors blunt the outdoor experience, not to mention the vegetation.
"County parks deal with this," Martin said. "Township parks deal with this. Look at Yellowstone [National Park in Wyoming]. Millions and millions of visitors to one pristine place."
Green iconTucquan Glen still harbors deer, foxes, owls, snakes and rare plants, such as Bradley's spleenwort.
Stands of rhododendron lend the gorge a wild aspect.
But the place is no stranger to humans.
In the 1800s and early 1900s, according to the conservancy's Web site, the stream was home to saw mills, grist mills and cider presses.
A dirt road once ran much of the mile or so out to the Susquehanna River.
The preserve started taking shape in 1983 when the conservancy purchased its first parcel there, 97 acres. The nonprofit land trust has annexed additional plots of ground in the years since.
Local residents have turned over land to the conservancy and cheered the group on.
Kyper and the late Rod Harnish built a footbridge so visitors could navigate the south side of the stream as well as the north.
Kyper, who was named conservancy volunteer of the year in 1999, long patroled the area, picking up trash and cracking down on partiers.
"I kicked people out at night," recalled Kyper, who said he has grown disillusioned with the preserve.
He moved to the area in 1981 for the peace and privacy. Now, he said, the Saturday afternoon din can be awful, and hikers occasionally knock on his door when they lose their car keys or have to go to the bathroom.
Clatterbuck, who is Harnish's daughter, has lived near the Tucquan all her life, she said.
Her father donated land, money and conservation easements to the conservancy. Now, though, she added, "A lot of people around here are just frustrated... they've stopped supporting the conservancy."
But Clatterbuck and others are still searching for solutions.
John Ambler, a Lancaster area resident, goes to the Tucquan twice a week in the spring to pluck out invasive plants.
"I have encouraged Carl Martin to work to educate the public about other interesting preserves" and suggested that signs, maps and brochures pointing people to other areas be placed at Tucquan Glen.
Ambler noted that more than a dozen natural areas, including some conservancy preserves, lie within a few miles.
A larger parking lot off River Road was added years ago; now, Amber mused, it might be a better idea to put up "no parking" signs.
The idea of taking out the footbridge has gotten mixed reviews from residents.
Removal of the bridge would only encourage people to build dams to get across the stream, Clatterbuck predicted.
Clatterbuck, who said she has discussed the Tucquan's problems with Martin as well as conservancy President and Chief Executive Officer Ralph Goodno and forester Tom Stahl, contends that the group does not have the manpower to control the area.
"It's certainly gotten progressively worse each year as more people come back here," she said.
Temporarily closing the preserve might allow the land to rebound, she added.
Martin said the conservancy is trying to "ride that fine line" between making Tucquan Glen accessible and avoiding overuse.
Had the preserve not been established, he said, the land might now be built up with houses or threaded by off-road vehicle trails.
On the other hand, he emphasized, "I feel for the neighbors" who used to have the area to themselves.
Clatterbuck has been "our eyes and ears" at Tucquan Glen, he added.
"If this is what they're seeing, then we should certainly respond."
Jon Rutter is a staff writer for the Sunday News. His e-mail address is jrutter@lnpnews.com.
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