Adoption of Conservation and Stewardship Plan

Asbury Woods Adopts Conservation Stewardship Plan

In July 2023, the Asbury Woods board of directors took a monumental step forward in Asbury Woods’ mission to protect, manage and interpret our property by adopting a formal Conservation Stewardship Plan for the 216 acres owned by Asbury Woods. The adoption of the plan was the conclusion of more than 15 months of work by experts in the areas of land use, forest ecology, greenway planning, sustainable trails, stream restoration, and wildlife biology. The purpose of the plan was to inventory, analyze, evaluate, recommend, and provide implementation strategies to manage Asbury Woods for conservation stewardship. The plan covers the unique intersection of Asbury Woods' mission of conservation, outdoor recreation, and environmental education.

Asbury Woods undertook this process in recognition of our responsibility and commitment to actively manage the property in a responsible way, protecting the natural resources and environment while providing opportunities for public use. The long-term goal is to conserve, manage and protect the natural resources of Asbury Woods, ensuring that current and future generations can continue to access this community treasure.

The conservation stewardship plan is an exciting step in helping Asbury Woods identify and prioritize immediate, mid-term, long-term and ongoing activities and projects needed to protect what we all hold so dear. Examples include documentation of threatened plant species on our property that Asbury Woods can take steps to protect; inventory of invasive species and recommendations on strategies to control or eliminate them; a specialized review of the riparian zone and banks of Walnut Creek for the portion that flows through our property with steps to stabilize the banks and slow erosion; more than 150 proposed trail improvements; and suggestions for managing the built environment.

The conservation stewardship plan provides a roadmap for the next 5-10 years as Asbury Woods strives to protect the natural beauty of our property, protect the diversity of flora and fauna, manage the acreage in a way that allows native species to thrive and allows for public use for outdoor recreation and environmental education. In the coming years we will keep you updated on the projects we undertake and we invite you to become engaged in the plan. There are a multitude of opportunities that will be available as we roll out various monitoring strategies, as we undertake invasive plant control and when implementing trail improvements. It will take all of us who love Asbury Woods getting involved and contributing to make the implementation of this plan a reality in the years to come.