Explore French Creek in Venango County
About a 90-minute drive north of Pittsburgh, in Venango County, there’s a new, beautiful, forested Western Pennsylvania Conservancy-owned nature preserve — great to visit for getting a sense of the French Creek watershed.
French Creek is an ecologically important and beautiful stream, whose branches meander from Erie County in northwestern Pennsylvania and from southwestern New York, south to where it empties into the Allegheny River in Franklin, Pennsylvania.
For decades, French Creek has been the focus of conservation work by the Western Pennsylvania Conservancy, French Creek Valley Conservancy and other organizations such as Ducks Unlimited, Audubon and the Pennsylvania Environmental Council.
The Western Pennsylvania Conservancy has protected more than 6,000 acres in the French Creek watershed, resulting in places to visit and explore, such as the West Branch French Creek and South Branch French Creek conservation areas and others dotted along various segments of the stream and its tributaries.
This new preserve along French Creek, called French Creek Hemlocks Natural Area, is 250 acres with more than a mile of stream frontage. Parking is available along Deer Creek Road in French Creek Township. You can experience the preserve by walking along the trail near the floodplain. The Conservancy plans to add more trails in the future.
As you explore the preserve and creek, you’ll be at one of Pennsylvania’s large streams that is least impacted by modifications such as dams and channelization, and still largely in its natural form, with meandering stream branches, islands and braided tributaries that cut through the Allegheny Plateau section of western Pennsylvania.
It’s a wonderful stream for a late-summer or fall canoe or kayak trip, shady in many places and scenic in its entirety. And it’s known for its impressive biological diversity, home to a wide array of species, including more than 80 fish species and almost 30 mussel species.
For more information about visiting this property, visit WaterLandLife.org/Preserves and search French Creek Hemlocks Natural Area.
Thomas D. Saunders is president and CEO of the Western Pennsylvania Conservancy, a nonprofit organization dedicated to conserving and beautifying the region’s exceptional places.
Thomas D. Saunders is president and CEO of the Western Pennsylvania Conservancy, a nonprofit organization dedicated to conserving the region’s exceptional places.
