Eldora Nature Preserve, on the southern edge of New Jersey’s pine barrens, became The Nature Conservancy’s first preserve established expressly to protect rare moths. Its three loop trails cross meadows, salt marshes, forested wetlands, and pine-oak forests, a mix of habitats that supports rare or endangered species including moths, butterflies, and rare skipper (Problema bulenta), while migrating songbirds and hawks gather there in spring and fall and birds such as field sparrows and prairie warblers use its shrubby edges and open fields. The land was historically farmed, and a house has stood on the site since at least the 1840’s. From 1965 to 1981, the dwelling was the seasonal retreat of entomologist and author Dr. C. Brooke Worth, who recognized the site’s importance to rare moths and protected the property from insecticide spraying. In 1881, he donated 177 acres to the New Jersey Conservation Foundation, which then transferred the property to The Nature Conservancy for management as a nature preserve. Renovation and expansion of the Worth house began in the mid-1990’s, and in October 1998 the Conservancy opened the Delaware Bayshores Nature Center and gift shop.