You’ve likely driven by the Winkler Botanical Preserve, and possibly never noticed. It’s 45 wooded acres in Alexandria’s West End, tucked between apartment and office towers and I-395. Within the preserve, the urban landscape and rush of car traffic gives way to a mature forest filled with native plants, and the sound of a cascading waterfall.

The preserve is being donated by the Winkler family to NOVA Parks, the regional parks authority.

“It’s going to have a profound effect for generations of young kids learning about nature,” says Paul Gilbert, executive director of NOVA Parks. “It will also be just a great place for everyone else to come and explore and have a little decompression time.”

NOVA Parks will take over operations of the preserve starting Oct. 1.

Gilbert calls the preserve an “oasis of of nature and beauty.”

While the preserve has been open to the public since its creation, it hasn’t exactly been advertised. There are no signs posted leading to the preserve, and inside there are no trail markings on the 1-mile loop.

Gilbert says NOVA Parks intends to get more people using the park.

“We’re very interested in having more programing going on there focused on nature education,” Gilbert says.

The preserve was created in 1979 by philanthropist and environmentalist Catherine Winkler Herman. Her husband, Mark Winkler, was a developer who built up much of the area surrounding the preserve.

The land was severely degraded when the Winklers acquired it, previously used for agriculture. “It was an area where where pigs had been kept,” says Gilbert. “They really did a beautiful job of bringing in a lot of natural stone to build up the waterfall and line the streams and then bringing in a wide collection of native plants from from the region — it’s really a showcase of native plants.”

In addition to the native plants, trail, pond and waterfall, the preserve also includes a wooden lodge that looks like it belongs in the Appalachian mountains, not a stone’s throw from a freeway that carries nearly 150,000 cars a day.

As part of the donation, the Winkler family is giving NOVA Parks $1 million for capital investments in the preserve, and $3 million for an endowment to support educational programs. The Winklers are also giving the City of Alexandria $1 million for education and engagement for people visiting the preserve.

Alexandria Mayor Justin Wilson thanked the Winklers for the gift. “A generation of Alexandria youth, including both of my children, have enjoyed the outdoors at the Winkler Botanical Preserve,” Wilson said in a press release. The transfer to NOVA Parks and the financial donations will “ensure the accessibility of this natural space for generations to come,” he said.