What Nature Preserves Can I Visit Through Delaware Nature Society?

Delaware Nature Society manages nature preserves and nature centers that are generally open to visitors, including Ashland Nature Center and DuPont Environmental Education Center. The key condition to check before any visit is the site's Notice section: closures from storm damage or maintenance happen, and they affect specific areas rather than the whole property. In the notice shown on the site, Ashland's Nature Nook, pollinator garden, and butterfly habitat were closed until further notice due to storm damage, while trails remained open during normal hours and the Visitor Center lobby had modified hours. DuPont Environmental Education Center was closed August 24–28 for maintenance.

What the site tells you about visiting

Delaware Nature Society describes its work as connecting people and nature through education, conservation, and advocacy, and it invites the public to "visit our preserves, join local activities, become a member, or volunteer." The preserves and centers are the physical places where that happens.

Two locations are named directly in the site's content:

The site does not publish a single complete list of every preserve on the page captured here, so treat the table above as what is documented, not an exhaustive inventory.

How to check before you go

1. Open delawarenaturesociety.org and read the Notice section at the top of the homepage. This is where temporary closures appear.
2. Confirm which specific area is affected. Closures can be partial — in the Ashland example, the buildings and garden areas were closed while the trails stayed open.
3. Check the Visitor Center hours for the day you plan to visit, since the notice showed day-by-day changes rather than a standard schedule.
4. If you are going for a program rather than a walk, check the program's own conditions. Bird Banding, for instance, is cancelled in windy or wet weather even though it is free.
5. Use the "Visit" and "Programs and Events" links on the site to confirm current details, since notices are dated and change.

Programs that come with a preserve visit

Some of the easiest reasons to visit a preserve are the scheduled programs, which pair a location with a guided activity:

• Bird Banding at Bucktoe Creek Preserve — see birds up close as trained professionals band and measure them to track movement and survival. Free, weather-dependent.
• Hawk Watch at Ashland Nature Center — help identify and count migrating birds of prey from hawk watch hill. Free, listed for ages 8–99.
• Knee High Naturalists: It's Fall, You All at Abbott's Mill Nature Center — outdoor nature discovery for ages 2–5 with Teacher Naturalists. $15.00.

Common snags

• Assuming trails are closed when a building is. The Ashland notice closed indoor and garden features but explicitly kept trails open during normal hours.
• Showing up without checking the notice. Closures are posted with dates and can start or end on short notice.
• Treating a free program as always-on. Free programs like Bird Banding still depend on weather.
• Confusing a program fee with admission. The $15.00 figure applies to the Knee High Naturalists program, not to visiting a preserve generally.

Getting involved beyond a visit

If you want a longer relationship with the preserves, the site lists four routes: visit programs and events, donate, become a member, or volunteer. There is also an email list signup for updates on events and conservation efforts. The site uses a "Subscribe" link under Get Involved, so membership and updates are the paths the organization promotes rather than a one-time ticket.