Winkler Botanical Preserve Transferred To NOVA Parks System

ALEXANDRIA, VA — The NOVA Parks system has gained land after the Winkler Botanical Preserve was transferred in a ceremony Thursday.

The 44.6-acre preserve, located at 5400 Roanoke Avenue in Alexandria's West End, features trails, streams, a pond, a waterfall and native plants. The preserve was established in 1979 by environmentalist and philanthropist Catherine Winkler Herman in memory of her late husband, real estate developer Mark Winkler. Their daughter Tori Winkler Thomas designed the preserve to protect native plants and wildlife.

Along with transferring the land to NOVA Parks, the Winkler Organization is providing $1 million to NOVA Parks for capital needs and over $3 million to support educational program and future improvements.

"The enormity of this gift cannot be overstated," said Cate Magennis Wyatt, board chair of NOVA Parks. "Catherine Winkler Herman’s vision and Tori Winkler’s brilliance have created an unparalleled botanical oasis within our highly urbanized Northern Virginia."

The Winkler Organization also made a $100,000 grant to ALIVE!, which provides food assistance and other programs to people in need in Alexandria. The grant will support food and other necessities for families in neighborhoods near Winkler Botanical Preserve.

With the transfer of ownership, educational offerings for children will return to the preserve. The park's log cabin headquarters called Catherine’s Lodge had provided ecological education programs to children in partnership with Alexandria schools. Now NOVA Parks will develop new environmental education programs for school groups in partnership with the city, and summer camps will return to the preserve.

Alexandria Mayor Justin Wilson, NOVA Parks Board Chair Cate Magennis Wyatt, former President and CEO of Mark Winkler Company Randal Kell, and ACPS Interim Superintendent Melanie Kay-Wyatt attended the transfer of ownership ceremony.

"A generation of Alexandria youth, including both of my children, have enjoyed the outdoors at the Winkler Botanical Preserve," said Wilson in a statement. "With the funds the City is receiving to help our school-age children go to the Preserve and the renewed programming that NOVA Parks will bring to the site, a new generation will be enriched in this wonderful place."

Tori Winkler Thomas, a landscape architect and urban planner, ran and maintained the preserve for over 25 years before her retirement. Catherine Winkler Herman died in 2007.

NOVA Parks, a conservation organization that operates parks, nature preserves, historic sites and other places in Northern Virginia, was founded in 1959. With the acquisition of Winkler Botanical Preserve, it will manage 35 parks encompassing 12,380 acres of parkland in the region.