At the August 11, 2026 meeting of Lower Makefield's Park & Recreation Board, an Eagle Scout candidate presented a construction plan for Five Mile Woods. He proposed a new ADA-compliant boardwalk set 6 to 10 inches off the ground, so it would last longer and small animals could pass underneath. A board member asked for a map showing the current and future boardwalk projects. Other members agreed the community should be able to see what's underway and what comes next. The motion passed unanimously.
That request for a map tells you something about the boardwalk. Many people who drive past the preserve on Big Oak Road, near the Kohl's shopping center, probably think of its accessible boardwalk as something the township built and finished. The record shows something else. The boardwalk has gone in one section at a time, mostly by volunteer labor, and roughly $10,000 in grant money has paid for each phase. It's still being built. The public workday this Saturday includes boardwalk construction on its task list.
A Trail Measured in Grant Cycles
The township bought Five Mile Woods in 1979. The 300-acre preserve is mostly wooded, and it sits on the Fall Line, where the Atlantic Coastal Plain meets the Piedmont. For most of its history, the uneven, often muddy trails kept out anyone who couldn't manage that footing. The accessible route came together in stages:
- April 2023. PECO named Lower Makefield's Five Mile Woods accessibility project as a Green Region grant recipient. A month later, the Parks & Recreation Director reported that the grant had been paired with a $10,000 fee-in-lieu match, and that the Board of Supervisors had voted to add another $10,000 to make the path wider.
- April 21, 2024. The first ADA trail opened with a ribbon-cutting at the Friends of Five Mile Woods Earth Day open house. Patch described it as 675 feet of composite-lumber boardwalk on the Sphagnum Trail, which is 0.28 mile long. So less than half of that one trail was accessible at the start.
- August and September 2025. The Board of Supervisors took up a Home Depot purchase of boardwalk materials, capped at $13,158.72, with a 2025 PECO grant of $10,000 covering part of it. The purchase was discussed on August 20 and approved unanimously on the consent agenda September 3. That same month, Vista Today reported that the township, a two-time Green Region winner, had used its latest award for more than 700 linear feet of accessible boardwalk and new ADA-compliant parking.
- May 20, 2026. The Board of Supervisors approved the township's Parks and Recreation ADA Transition Plan 2.0. Monica Tierney, Director of Parks and Recreation, prepared it with Lisa Huchler, chair of the Disability Advisory Board. The plan says the 2025 PECO grant would fund a loop connecting the accessible path and platform to the classroom area.
- September 8, 2026. The township's fall open house notice told visitors to "stroll on our new 800-foot accessible boardwalk" through a wildflower meadow, woodlands, and wetlands.
The length has been given as 675 feet, then more than 700, then 800, depending on the year and the document. None of the township's public materials explains exactly how the newest section connects to the earlier ones. That's the gap the board's map request is meant to close.
What $10,000 Buys in the Woods
Construction crews would spend $10,000 quickly. On the Sphagnum Trail, the money mostly buys materials. The 2025 materials order alone was capped at $13,158.72, more than that year's PECO grant, and the township covered the difference. Volunteers supplied the labor. Vista Today reported that more than 50 of them worked on the project and called it "entirely led by volunteers." The ADA Transition Plan describes the 2024 installation the same way: community volunteers with township support and a $10,000 grant.
That arrangement explains the pace. Each phase depends on one grant cycle, one materials order, and enough Saturdays with enough people. The route ends at a lookout and environmental-education area deep in the woods. Before the boardwalk, many residents couldn't reach it.
"It's not just about making it wheelchair accessible; it's about making it possible for everyone to enjoy. With the new accessible features, individuals with arthritis, joint replacements, and other mobility challenges can now get outside and experience this local treasure. We've seen families who were never able to hike together now enjoying the woods side by side."
Monica Tierney, Director of Parks and Recreation, Lower Makefield Township, speaking to Vista Today in September 2025
The Next Section Sits Six to Ten Inches Up
The Eagle Scout project approved in August has three parts. The first is a new ADA-compliant boardwalk raised 6 to 10 inches above the ground. The second is covering the existing boardwalks with composite material for better footing, which matters on wet planks under fallen leaves. The third is preparing materials for future boardwalk sections, so the next phase is already being stockpiled while this one goes in.
John Heilferty, the township naturalist, discussed the design and safety measures with the board, including the use of paver stones and composite materials. When a board member asked whether construction would close the trail, Heilferty said disruptions should be limited and a short detour would keep the grounds open on workdays. If you walk the preserve on a Saturday morning this fall and find part of the boardwalk rerouted, that's probably why.
Why the Ground Here Calls for a Boardwalk
The raised design fits the terrain. The preserve's own description lists meadow, woodland, and wetland along the accessible route, and it warns that the other trails have uneven surfaces that can get muddy. A 2017 local report on the preserve named Queen Anne Creek, an oak-beech forest, and rare plants among its features, all shaped by the Fall Line running through the property. PECO's 2025 write-up said botanists actively study the rare and endangered plants growing there.
That's also why the preserve's rules are stricter than a typical township park's. Five Mile Woods is open dawn to dusk, and it prohibits collecting anything, pets, and bikes. Dog owners have a separate October date. The township's special events calendar lists a Doggie Halloween Parade on Saturday, October 24.
Saturday Morning at 1305 Big Oak Road
The Friends of Five Mile Woods hold workdays on the second Saturday of every month from March through November, and anyone can come. The current listing describes the work as trail maintenance, trash pickup, general upkeep, and helping build new boardwalks.
- Next date: Saturday, October 10, 2026, 9:00 a.m. to noon
- Meeting point: the preserve headquarters on Big Oak Road, at 1305 Big Oak Road
- Weather: the workday is canceled in bad weather
- After October: the stated schedule puts the season's last workday on Saturday, November 14, though that date hasn't been posted separately yet
- Questions: Heilferty can be reached at [email protected]
Scout troops thinking about their own projects can contact the township's Parks and Recreation office at [email protected], according to its volunteer opportunities page. The same page lists an October tree planting with details still to come.
The 2022 Play for All plan identified Five Mile Woods as a focus for environmental programming, with possible ties to day camps and senior programs. Making those ideas work depends on people being able to get into the woods, and so far that access has come from about 50 volunteers, a handful of $10,000 grants, and a few hundred feet of composite boardwalk per phase. The part going in this fall will sit 6 to 10 inches above the wetland floor.
I've lived in Yardley since 1985, and work like this is a big part of why Lower Makefield feels the way it does. If you'd like to talk about the township's quieter corners, or about what it's like to own a home near places like Five Mile Woods, Amy VanDenburgh is glad to hear from you. Let's Connect.
