Jane Menchyk, a land protection manager with the Western Pennsylvania Conservancy, points out features on property recently acquired by the conservancy in Slippery Rock Township. The conservancy will add the 38-acre site to the Wolf Creek Narrows Natural Area.

SLIPPERY ROCK TWP — The Western Pennsylvania Conservancy has plans for 38 acres located a little bit north of Route 108.

The conservancy bought the property from the Alida Hines/Moore estate in October for $323,000.

Jane Menchyk, a land protection manager with the conservancy, said the conservancy saw that the property was for sale and contacted the family.

“Property comes to us in a number of different ways,” Menchyk said.

Gwilym Price, attorney for the estate, said that the land has been in the family for a few generations.

“It's great to see families ensuring that the land can be enjoyed by future generations,” Price said.

The property, which is located on Miller Road, features part of a wetland, springs and a variety of trees. It also serves as a habitat for birds, including a pair of ospreys.

Menchyk said that the property will be added to the nearby 164-acre Wolf Creek Narrows Natural Area.

She said that there are three main plans for the land: planting native grasses and wildflowers, extending trails and planting trees.

“We have a number of ideas,” Menchyk said.

In a statement, conservancy President Thomas Saunders said the goal is to permanently protect enough of the Wolf Creek area to have forest and wetland habitats for wildlife, and to keep water quality in the creek high.

About 22 acres of the land was recently used for farming. The conservancy will remove structures from the property. It also hopes to increase signage and parking near the land in the future.

Menchyk said it likely will take a few years to accomplish these goals.

“To do this work, we're going to have to fundraise,” Menchyk said.

She said that the conservancy is contacting different groups to see if they can help it out or assist with fundraising.

“There's nothing solid yet,” Menchyk said.

She said that the area around the creek is a deep valley. The theory as to why the valley exists is that old caves collapsed when glaciers were melting thousands of years ago.

“It's kind of like going back in time when you go to this part of Butler County,” Menchyk said.